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“Who are these people?” That petulant question kept running through Emma Wells’s mind as she flipped through a 30-page business plan. As a Herndon, Virginia-based account manager for Cisco Systems, the world’s leading maker of Internet routers and switches, she was supposed to gather intelligence about potential clients and their online ambitions. But Wells, 32, had never encountered anything as brash as the proposal that arrived in November of last year.
Officials at Cogent Communications, a virtually unknown Washington, DC-based company, claimed that it intended to build a new national backbone for Internet service. On a price-performance basis, it declared, the new service would leave every known competitor in the dust. Cogent’s customers, business users in big, urban office buildings, would enjoy Internet connections of 100 megabits a second — fast enough to download full-length movies in seconds. For such an enormous increase in speed, Cogent would not jack up prices. Rather, it would undercut the standard charges for business Internet connections by 30%. To make such a vision come true, Cogent founder Dave Schaeffer declared, he merely needed 12,000 miles of fiber-optic cable and several-hundred-million dollars’ worth of Cisco equipment.
“That’s a huge business concept,” Wells said. “That’s the kind of thing that AT&T or Worldcom might do.” Curious to see who would sketch such big dreams, she decided to visit Cogent’s offices in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC. To her consternation, the company turned out to be a three-person startup. There weren’t even enough chairs to have a proper meeting.
Yet Wells and her bosses at Cisco’s San Jose, California headquarters couldn’t rule out the possibility that Cogent might be onto something big. Schaeffer, they learned, was no newcomer to startups. He had founded six companies, most of which had a telecom twist. He was involved in detailed talks with Lucent and Nortel — two of Cisco’s rivals — for the network equipment that he would need this time around. And Cisco’s top optical-networking experts declared that, from a sheer technical perspective, Schaeffer’s big vision wasn’t so crazy.
Still, what equipment supplier would bet heavily on a company whose workforce could squeeze inside one Mazda Miata? Cisco executives deliberated for a few weeks. Then Schaeffer startled them into action by clinching the first major piece of his plan: negotiating to buy roughly $200 million worth of fiber-optic cable from Williams Communications Group Inc. “At that point,” Wells recalls, “we knew he was serious.”
One year later, Cogent is about to activate its network. Its fiber-optic cables crisscross the United States, connecting hundreds of cities. Cisco has agreed to sell a whopping 800 of its routers to Cogent, which is installing them at urban sites to serve what it hopes will be swarms of business users. Cogent now boasts more than 125 employees and $116 million in venture-capital funding.
Cogent isn’t assured of victory yet. It faces intense competition from at least a dozen other companies trying to exploit similar new technology. Cogent could stumble as it tries to deliver reliable Internet service on a nationwide scale and then tries to woo enough business customers to absorb its costs. But its rollout so far has been fast enough to turn heads in the telecom industry. Now Cogent must struggle to outpace its competition in a world where technical ingenuity alone doesn’t win the game — it just lets you come back for the next round.
Speed (Still) Wins
Cogent’s dash to become a substantial company is partly a reflection of its founder’s personality. As a teenager, Dave Schaeffer raced through the University of Maryland in just 2 years, taking classes all 12 months of the year and packing as many as 25 credits into each semester. He graduated at age 19 with a degree in economics and with a minor in physics. For much of his twenties and thirties, Schaeffer helped run a family taxicab business. By the early 1990s, he had diversified into the paging and mobile-radio industries. Now Schaeffer, 44, is coming at his new career with all the zeal of a midlife executive making up for lost time.
Of course, new technology is opening major opportunities for anyone who can provide businesses with speedy Internet connections. And that means anyone willing to spend heavily and to move fast. The two crucial elements of Cogent’s network — nationwide fiber-optic cable and high-speed routers — are available to anyone who can pay for them. At least a half-dozen upstarts are buying such equipment by the truckload.
In this race, speed wins. Perhaps 40,000 office buildings across the United States are big enough to justify installing high-speed Internet service. Most of those buildings already are served by traditional Internet-service providers. If tenants or building owners rip out those connections for something cheaper and faster, they are likely to do so only once. The first company to arrive on their doorstep with a strong case for making a switch will get their business.
Ironically, when Schaeffer began kicking about the ideas that led to Cogent, he didn’t feel great urgency at first. He’d just stepped down as chairman of Pathnet Inc., a telecom company that he’d founded in 1995. From his own dabbling in the commercial real-estate market, he knew that many tenants weren’t happy with the speed or the price of their Internet connections. In March 1999, he and two aides, who had joined him from Morgan Stanley and from Andersen Consulting, began researching new ways to link business customers to the Internet. Gradually, they realized that there was a huge opportunity to build something cheaper and faster.
Wanting to test his theories, Schaeffer booked a meeting with Brad Kummer, a long-time researcher at Bell Labs whom he had wanted to hire at Pathnet. As Schaeffer sketched out his ideas, Kummer didn’t snicker. Instead, he declared: “Surely somebody must already be doing this.”
When Schaeffer assured him that the answer was no, Kummer goaded Schaeffer to act fast. Schaeffer did — and recruited Kummer to be Cogent’s chief technology officer. Since last February, Cogent’s workforce has been climbing by nearly an employee a day. One of the duo’s first priorities: sketching out the design of Cogent’s backbone, starting with the fiber-optic cable.
On its own, Cogent couldn’t hope to install roughly 12,000 miles of fiber in a matter of months. But major long-distance carriers had been overhauling their own networks, and many had put in so much capacity that they had plenty of strands of unused, or “dark,” fiber that Cogent could buy. A single strand of fiber, no thicker than a piece of human hair, can carry more than a trillion bits of data per second.
Schaeffer and his team quickly settled on Williams Communications, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the major source of their fiber network. Williams, a onetime gas pipeline company, had shrewdly used its rights of way to diversify into telecommunications. At times, Williams had strung fiber-optic cable inside its old pipelines. In other regions, Williams needed dozens of backhoes to dig afresh. Its network didn’t provide comprehensive rural coverage, but that didn’t matter to Cogent. For linking to big downtown office towers across the United States, Williams’s network was perfect.
By early September of this year, Cogent had bought or had leased strands of fiber that covered much of the United States in a huge, sideways figure eight. Starting from a midpoint in Kansas City, Missouri, one giant loop reaches east to connect such cities as Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Chicago. Another loop stretches west to connect Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and every major city between.
In order to offer such high-speed service, Cogent needed to own that Internet backbone itself. Typically, coast-to-coast Internet traffic takes about 13 “hops” from one network to another, searching for routing paths that will get data to its destination. Each hop creates a slight delay in moving the data along. In aggregate, those hops can slow transmission to a crawl. Cogent, by contrast, aims to eliminate almost all of those time-wasting hops — thereby speeding up users’ connections — by keeping data on its own network for nearly the entire journey.
But Cogent’s nationwide Internet backbone would be splendidly useless if it stopped at the outskirts of each big city, like an interstate highway system without off-ramps to local roads. Thus, Schaeffer’s company has bought 5,000 miles of short-haul urban fiber from Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. of White Plains, New York. Cogent also is using Cisco’s optical routers to manage traffic, so messages get to the right place.
A few years ago, it would have taken $3 billion or more to install enough equipment to keep Internet traffic running smoothly nationwide. That’s why only a handful of national Internet backbones have been built to date — and those were done chiefly by long-distance phone carriers that could afford the massive outlays involved. Instead, traffic is often handled by a bucket brigade of regional networks, pitching in to move data from origin to destination.
But now, with routers and other equipment getting faster and more powerful, even a startup can think of covering the entire United States on its own. Schaeffer also decided to keep costs down by building a network that could handle only Net traffic, without being able to carry voice calls as well.
Cogent’s financial forecasts suggested that the new system could break even if it were used by seven to nine tenants each in about 800 office towers across the United States, with each user paying $1,000 a month for its Internet connection. By contrast, corporate Internet users typically are paying about $1,400 a month for the telecom industry’s current benchmark for high-speed service: a T-1 connection that functions at slightly more than one megabit a second — barely one-hundredth of the Internet speed that Cogent promises.
Easy Pitch, Tough Sell
You would think that the stunning price-performance advantages of Cogent’s service would be enough to sell it. Schaeffer thought so too; then he had to think again. In July, the company’s newly formed sales force began knocking on doors. Many decision makers were enchanted by Cogent’s story, the sales force reported — but finding the right person within a law firm, a bank, or a property-management company could be maddening.
Receptionists are trained to ward off any vendor without an appointment, observes Michael McGuire, 47, Cogent’s director of retail sales. Corporate telecom managers have heard so many pitches about cheaper phone service that they steer most salesmen into voice mail and don’t return calls.
Unwilling to give ground, McGuire and Barry Morris, 41, Cogent’s vice president of sales, set up regional sales offices in 13 cities and then told the company’s newly hired sales reps to make 250 cold calls a week. That pace might sound grueling, McGuire conceded, but he thought that a good salesperson could hold to the target count. In fact, he said in August that he wanted representatives to make 17 face-to-face visits each week as well. The top salesperson each quarter in each office would get the keys to a Porsche sports car for 90 days — before giving up the car to the next quarter’s ace.
By September, Cogent had decided to slow down the sales treadmill a bit. In Chicago, sales manager Jim Bubeck said he was happy when representatives made about 200 calls a week. In less than two months of prospecting, Bubeck’s team had already won more than 20 accounts, mostly by offering customers two free months of service, with a third free month if customers urged their landlord to tell other tenants about Cogent.
More and more, the Cisco connection became a big part of the Cogent story. Not only did Cisco sell routers to the startup, but it helped introduce the little company to big potential customers. Cisco also provided $280 million in financing — which let Cogent buy the routers without needing to borrow money from banks or from the capital markets. Such support wasn’t merely a gesture of kindness. In the hotly competitive market for optical equipment, Cisco didn’t have nearly the dominance that it had shown in other markets. If Cogent did well, it stood to reason, the spillover benefits for Cisco could be huge. As Kummer, Cogent’s CTO, gleefully put it: “We’ve become the poster child for Cisco’s optical strategy.”
To attract customers, Cogent is now unleashing a second sales strategy as well: trying to get major landlords to offer the service to all their tenants. Cogent quickly landed Jamison Properties Inc., which owns several buildings in Los Angeles, and it zeroed in on some East Coast prospects. But Cogent’s VP of real estate, Scott Stewart, 37, says he needs to keep cautioning colleagues that such prospects aren’t won overnight. The culture of the real-estate industry is to haggle over deals for nothing more than the sheer fun of haggling, he observes. That can take months, even when talks are going well. And if Cogent ever gets impatient and pleads for a quick decision, the other side smells blood, he warns. “They’ll start making all kinds of new demands.”
Rivals in the business-Internet connectivity market haven’t done nearly as much to build high-speed networks, but they may be farther along in wooing developers. BroadBand Office Inc., a San Mateo, California company, is partly owned by more than 80 commercial real-estate companies, including giant Hines Interests LP. Such competitors as Allied Riser Communications Corp., Cypress Communications Inc., Eureka Broadband Corp., and Yipes Communications Inc., are targeting the same customers that Cogent wants. Those companies typically offer Internet connections of up to 20 megabits per second, with a sliding price scale that lets customers match T-1 performance and save money, or else lets them go for a somewhat faster connection and perhaps pay a premium.
By contrast, Cogent’s sales proposition involves a leap of faith — that at some point business users really will want to access the Internet at 100 megabits a second and will feel that even a T-1 line is unbearably slow. It’s hard to make that argument for most current Internet applications. Static Web pages and standard applications, such as email, work fine at lower speeds.
But Cogent executives argue that Internet users for the past decade have constantly wanted faster and faster connections as new applications were released. In particular, if online videoconferencing takes off, they contend, then Cogent’s speed advantage will have immediate, practical benefits.
While Schaeffer himself isn’t going on many sales calls, he is getting a sense of the company’s dual battles — to prove that its technology works and then to snap up enough paying customers to justify the business model. This past summer, he spent nearly an hour on a conference call briefing Lee Doyle, an influential industry analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Massachusetts. Almost all of their conversation focused on the technical features of Cogent’s system.
A month later, Doyle pronounced himself impressed. “Every company’s got a high-speed Internet offering,” he said, “but Cogent is offering the highest speed. They’ve got a compelling story.” Yet Doyle wasn’t completely ready to let go of his traditional skepticism. “Getting their customer base is the hard part,” he declared. “They have to go to each building and then win people over, one by one. That’s going to be a lot of buildings.”
George Anders (email@example.com) is a Fast Company senior editor based in Silicon Valley. Contact Dave Schaeffer by email


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Consumer spending on the upcoming love-holiday—Valentine’s Day—is expected to be up 8.5% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation and American Express. The largest increases are expected in jewelry purchases and travel, especially lavish trips where “the question” will supposedly be popped.
Unfortunately, most of those love gifts will be bought with borrowed money. That seems to be the trend these days. The Federal Reserve recently announced that in December 2011, Americans increased their borrowing for the second straight month. Credit cards, car loans and student loans lead the way.
Local experts you can trust.Find an ELP
Yes, consumer borrowing rose by $20.4 billion in November and $19.3 billion in December. Those were the two biggest monthly gains in a decade. Meanwhile, the savings rate fell.
Some would spin this as a rebirth of confidence in the economy, allegedly reflecting a belief that the outlook for hiring has improved. Apparently a lot of Americans are placing their bets that these things are true—using borrowed money.
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The good news is that millions of other Americans have learned to take control of their spending and are living within their means. For them, Christmas was part of an overall plan—their budget—which kept them in charge of their spending decisions, instead of relying on impulse. And on this Valentine’s Day, they’ll be doing the very same thing.
Good for them. They won’t be paying for already-eaten chocolate and long-wilted roses for the next three months … or maybe even longer.
Have you budgeted for Valentine’s Day? Has your budget increased this year?

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A friend of mine sent me a message a few weeks back, asking if I thought it would be smart to invest in marijuana or CBD.
My short answer was “no.” For the vast majority of people looking to invest for retirement, to put money away for their children’s education or to simply build a nest egg for all the reasons it’s important to have that extra cash, there are far more reliable ways to do so than cannabis.
But, like the cannabis plant itself, it’s a subject far too complex for a short answer.
“Should I invest in pot?” is the same as asking if you should invest in the World Wide Web 20 years ago. The potential is astronomical, and the hype is almost unbearable. But we don’t know what the world of legal weed is going to look like 10 years from now — just as most of us couldn’t comprehend how a search engine like Google or a social network like Facebook could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Most people who were around for the dot-com boom didn’t realize that Amazon would become the world’s most valuable company (I was a teenager, so I knew everything, of course). Looking back, it seems obvious that people would flock to the convenience of online shopping, but we couldn’t predict how truly disruptive the internet would be.
But the fear of missing out on another boom might be part of what triggers another bubble. The valuations of some publicly traded cannabis companies have soared into the billions, despite the fact that most of these companies have yet to turn a profit.
A savvy investor who knows how to ride the waves of peaks and valleys can clearly make a boatload of money. But watching a company like Tilray surge past $200 a share, then sink below $100 less than a week later, then dip below $30 for a moment in the 10 months that followed, is enough to make the average Joe seasick. Tilray’s an easy example to look at because of its meteoric IPO, followed by a steady downturn and questions about the company’s CEO offloading more than 100,000 shares of his own. But most of the major public companies have weathered their own storms. Cronos dipped below $7 a share shortly after recreational marijuana went legal in Canada, then bounced over $20 and settled in at somewhere in the $12 range. Canopy Growth, known as the world’s largest cannabis company, continues to ride through choppy waters: $55, $33, $46, $27, $50, $40, $52, $38, $24 — all within the last year. Canopy’s biggest asset — a $3.8 billion investment from alcohol titan Constellation Brands — could prove to be its biggest challenge: how to spend that money wisely and make smart acquisitions without falling into the trap of writing blank checks, while also satisfying shareholders’ thirst for profits.
But companies like Canopy and Cronos and Tilray are obviously playing a long game. They’re not investing all that money just dominate the Canadian market with its 40 million residents. They’re looking at the global market, exporting cannabis to Europe, investing in South American production and/or inching into the United States as they wait for the border floodgates to open with a major shift toward legalization.
Now, somewhere in this column I should note that I’m not a finance expert by any stretch of the imagination. I have a degree in English and I took one math class my entire college career. Cannabis stocks aren’t even a subject we follow closely at Marijuana Venture. But I read voraciously and I’m constantly researching the industry. I talk to hundreds, if not thousands, of people every year from both inside and outside the industry, trying to understand better where the industry is at today and where it might be headed tomorrow.
My advice — and I hesitate to even call it that — would be pretty similar to that which any investment adviser would say: Risk only what you can afford to lose; don’t put all your eggs in one basket; due diligence is critical; there’s no such thing as a free lunch; and get-rich-quick schemes are almost always a sure way to lose money even quicker.
Hopefully you or your investment adviser have a better understanding of financials than I do and can interpret the important inner workings of these companies and how they’re managed.
But those numbers might not tell the whole story. Many of these publicly traded companies put a ton of energy into cultivating their own image in the press, without necessarily addressing the bigger picture. Paying closer attention to the industry itself, and not what the financial analysts and marketing professionals are saying, gives me plenty of reason to be skeptical about the “next great investment opportunity.”
For example, beware of “luxury” cannabis brands. I’ve seen little evidence that such a thing even exists. I’m not sure buying weed requires an experience akin to shopping for jewelry, but it probably works in certain communities. I do believe in the long run there will be high-end products that cater to the discerning consumer, just as there are high-end wines, more expensive craft beers and premium brands in every product from cars to clothing. After all, every cannabis consumer says quality is one of the most important factors in their buying decisions. But in practice, most people just want a $3 pre-roll or a relatively inexpensive edible. Like any product, people want quality, but they want it to be affordable. They don’t need — or even want — “the absolute best.” For every bottle of La Fin du Monde sold by grocery stores, they probably sell a thousand cases of Coors Light.
Everybody says they’ve got the secret sauce. Few, if any, actually do. Whether it’s new-fangled technology that can increase production efficiency, a new mode of consumption that consumers will flock to, or an executive team with the best and brightest that corporate America has to offer, most of these companies aren’t doing anything groundbreaking. Reading some of the hype-heavy headlines, one would think cannabis beverages are the Next Big Thing. And maybe they will be eventually, but right now, they probably account for 2% of the market, even in the most mature markets in North America.
Beyond the fact that cannabis is the fastest growing industry in North America, the comparison between tech and marijuana is, in my opinion, pure hyperbole.
At its very core, cannabis is two industries: horticulture and retail. People grow plants; people sell plants. If not for federal illegality and unnecessarily complicated regulations, it’s a pretty simple business. High technology is decidedly not simple. I can’t create my own Facebook. I can’t produce my own iPhone. I can’t manufacture military-grade machinery. I can’t write computer software. But with a couple seeds, I could easily grow my own cannabis in my backyard. That tells me the future of cannabis probably looks more like a tomato than a solid gold nug.
And to some degree, corporate cannabis is what so many people feared. There are too many people looking for a quick buck, willing to bend or break the rules to advance their own interests — the CannTrust situation, with the company allegedly growing in unlicensed facilities and selling that product overseas, comes to mind. Big Weed operates no differently than any other corporate enterprise — and based on their sky-high valuations, might be under even more pressure to perform. Once companies are beholden to stock prices and shareholders, they’ve got a fiduciary duty to put profits ahead of people — and ahead of the industry as a whole. Not all companies will take this mandate as a license to cut corners, break rules and screw the competition, but some will, and these moves could result in lost licenses, damage to a brand’s reputation or even lawsuits and fines.
One cannabis executive said on Twitter recently that he’s met more bad actors in five years of the legal market than he’d met in 10 years of cannabis before that.
I probably sound unimpressed by the business potential of the cannabis industry, but that’s not the case at all. I believe wholeheartedly in the massive growth potential of this industry. The millions of dollars invested will lead to breakthroughs in indoor horticulture. More research will bring about medical advancements and a better understanding of how cannabinoids can be used to treat a variety of ailments — real science, not the anecdotal evidence upon which we’ve relied for years.
There are plenty of reasons to be bullish on cannabis — whether that means buying stock in public companies or investing in smaller, independent operators — but I think it’s really important that people understand the hype and how to look beyond it, and for people in my line of work to be willing to point out the contradictions.
The financial engineers who run major cannabis companies will probably make money by orchestrating these deals, but whether the same can be said of retail investors is anybody’s best guess right now.


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Agritech start out-up Ergos, which allows small and medium farmers in Bihar to retail outlet and market their harvested make via the grain lender notion, has expanded its functions to Karnataka and Maharashtra not too long ago.
“We are seeing enormous response from farmers in Karnataka and Maharashtra, where by around 8,000 farmers have been brought on board. Warehouses have been set up in 22 spots,” reported Kishor Jha, Founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-primarily based Ergos. The company has introduced on board about 1 lakh farmers in Bihar, wherever it has set up warehouses in 240 destinations given that 2012.
Explaining the business design, Jha explained Ergos hires warehouses at village amounts on long expression leases to develop grain banking institutions and connects with the farmers in the vicinity conveying the principle of how to store the deliver to get much better selling prices. For the duration of the harvest year, each and every farmer, mainly the smaller and medium, are in a hurry to sell and the customer has a limited capacity to obtain.
Leveraging its tech-enabled system, Ergos converts the make saved in grain financial institutions into digital stock and a passbook is issued to the farmer with information of quantity and the kind of grains. Presently, Ergos handles six varieties of grains which includes maize, wheat, paddy, soyabean, tur and ragi.
“Once the grain is deposited into the warehouse, it gets fungible. We just take care of the storage, preservation and connecting the farmer to the market and also the economic institution. Engineering plays a good role in digitising the grains, building visibility to the consumer and connecting with them” Jha, a banker-turned agri-entrepreneur mentioned.
Grain banking institutions
Farmers can avail of Ergos’ grain financial institution services at a mere 40 paise per quintal, for each working day, Jha claimed introducing the design is crafted to fit even compact and marginal farmers, who can keep and promote a person bag of grain. The stock administration expenses include things like warehouse rent, chemical cure, fumigation and pest handle to keep the inventory health. “Also we consider insurance policy cover for the warehouse from fire, theft, earth quake and theft among many others,” he claimed.
The grain stored at Ergos’ grain financial institution will continue to be in farmers account until the time he wants to offer for up to 9 months. “If the farmer needs any liquidity, we have various financial institutions and economic institutions on the system like SBI and Sammunati, who lend to farmers in opposition to their grains deposited in the banks by 1 click on,” Jha said.
Jha stated that farmers, who provide their create immediately after 3-4 months of harvest, can realise better worth. Ergos aids farmers in much better rate discovery and their incomes have been larger by 30-40 per cent. Making use of the expert services, farmers can grow to be value makers alternatively than selling price takers, Jha stated incorporating that his company is encouraging small farmers avoid distress revenue. Also, Ergos helps farmers to dispose of the grains that can’t be preserved.
“We are doing work on a massive big system scheduling to pan-India in states these types of like Rajasthan, MP and Odisha in next 3-4 many years, which will essentially aid us to contact base with farmers in 70-80 for every cent of the agricultural parts in the state. Our intention is to established up 3,000 warehouse spots running about ₹10,000 crore truly worth of produce in the 3-4 many years,” Jha reported.
Ergos also deliver advisory to farmers monitoring the development and guides them through the harvest period of time for on-farm processing actions these types of as drying and segregation of the develop and also logistics. “We have 1 romance manager for each and every 300 farmers, who support them in applying our products and services. For farmers, who are not savvy making use of clever phone, there’s an assisted model by kiosks found at the warehouses,” he explained.
For traders and potential buyers sourcing from its platform, Ergos has various kinds of offers with a base cost of 2 per cent, Jha reported. Though the focus has been to cater to the nearby customers in the region, Ergos has off-late commenced connecting farmers with huge prospective buyers nationally.
February 16, 2022


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Holden has brought the LS-X variant back into the Colorado pickup range, with drive-away pricing until the end of the month.
Following a limited edition LS-X last year, the nameplate returns as a ‘special edition’ package deal which includes 16-inch alloy wheels, front fog lights, alloy sports bars and more.
Based on the LS, the LS-X also features the Colorado’s usual selling points including a 3.5-tonne towing capacity, ‘shift-on-the-fly’ 4WD and Holden’s MyLink infotainment system with seven-inch touchscreen.
Rounding out the LS-X package are a Colorado-branded smoked bonnet protector, unique LS-X badging and interior carpet flooring.
Holden’s Executive Director Of Sales, Peter Keley, said the LS-X added to the Colorado’s appeal.
“Colorado is a very tough and accomplished vehicle and now, with the additional LS-X features and an attractive drive-away price of just $37,990, it ensures Holden continues to provide exceptional value for money,” Mr Keley said.
“Additionally with our End of Financial Year Offers, this is an excellent time for customers to visit their local Holden dealer.”
The 2016 Colorado LS-X is on sale now, priced from $37,990 until the end of the month (unless extended).
That price includes free automatic transmission plus three years free servicing.
Later this year, Holden will introduce buyers to an updated 2017 Colorado which was previewed by the Chevrolet S10 pickup in Brazil last month.
MORE: 2016 Holden Commodore Black Sedan, Sportwagon and Ute Released
VISIT THE SHOWROOM: Holden Colorado models - pricing, features, specifications
MORE News & Reviews: Holden | Colorado | Special Editions
- Interested in buying HOLDEN COLORADO? Visit our HOLDEN COLORADO showroom for more information.


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Players of Chronicle: RuneScape Legends are being tasked with overcoming “The Trials of Radimus” in a new episode of the online collectible card game (CCG).
Cambridge games studio Jagex has released a new single-player episode for the Chronicle, in which adventurers take part in a series of challenges set by the Grand Vizier of the Legends’ Guild, Radimus Erkle. Players battle to overcome perilous quests. The game is also now available on Mac for the first time.
“We’ve been planning on giving players a solo campaign mode for quite some time, so we’re really excited to see how they perform in the Trials,” said James Sweatman, the game’s lead designer.
“The addition of Mac support is something we’ve been asked for since our summer launch, so it’s great to be able to open the Chronicle to more players. We’ve worked hard to ensure that Chronicle: RuneScape Legends is the complete CCG package.”


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The Impact Of Innovation On Our Economy
And the dangers of underestimating it
According to the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, “economists estimate that between 50 and 80 percent of economic growth comes from innovation and new knowledge.”
Social innovation is now no longer an option for a successful and prosperous society. Rather, it is now a necessity. With economists attributing the majority of economic growth to innovation, it is quite obvious that the phenomenon has a significantly large role to play not only now, but well into the future.
Let’s face it — the future is all about innovation. From digital health to financial technology, innovation is only going to playing a larger and larger role in the coming years. Needless to say, it can’t be ignored. Innovation is here to stay.
With the world’s financial markets in constant turmoil and turbulence, it’s easy to see why: organizations around the world have not been able to change with time. With the accelerating rate of change in the global business environment, industries and governments have just not been able to keep up. Whether it’s a policy, a product, or a procedure, those who have failed to accept change and adapt with time by embracing innovative practices and scrapping obsolete ones have unfortunately been left behind, struggling to keep charging forward financially.
This can clearly be seen with the global decline in demand for commodities and fossil fuels and the rising demand for sustainable and renewable energy. Oil has been going down the death-spiral for months, and so has steel. These “old technologies” are just not needed in today’s world full of electric vehicles and biodegradable materials. But businesses, however, have failed to adapt to this trend and respond accordingly. With business models relying heavily on these “legacy products”, industries as a whole will all face major financial downfalls (as currently is the case), translating to major overall economic downfall (as currently, again, is the case).
On the other hand, although this positive change in the rising demand for sustainable energy has finally come to be, it has come quite late. Damages to our Earth’s environment are almost at a peak, with some of these damages being irreversible. This goes to show how differences in mindsets regarding the value of innovation can interfere with society’s progress. If everyone adopts the same open forward-driven mindset by valuing innovation equally, the pace of global economic growth would literally be unstoppable.
The impact of innovation on our society as a whole is much more valuable than we think. Not only is it key to propelling our socioeconomic status, for example, but it is also the one thing that can stimulate the global economy and get things back to normal. However, the only way this can be possible is by encouraging change in behaviour and attitude to accept and embrace innovative practices willingly instead of grudgingly. Underestimating the impact of innovation on our economy is a significant danger to global economic health, which will undoubtedly lead to dire consequences (as currently, and quite eerily, again, is the case).


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Samsung is the leading smartphone vendor in India, a lucrative emerging market for consumer electronics companies. Flipkart is one of the largest online marketplaces in the country and Samsung’s products are available on it.
Customers in India can take advantage of the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale to get up to a 50% discount on Samsung smartphones. This is a great opportunity to pick up a new device while also saving some money in the process.
Amazing prices on some of Samsung’s best phones
Samsung India has confirmed the offer for some of its most popular devices as part of the Big Billion Days sale on Flipkart. Customers can get discounts of up to 57% on high-end and popular devices like the Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy S22+, Galaxy F13, and the Galaxy F23 5G.
The highest discount of 57% is available on the Galaxy S21 FE. The device normally costs INR 74,999 ($940) but it’s now available for INR 31,999 ($400). That’s an incredible price for a feature-packed affordable flagship smartphone.
The Galaxy S22+ is down to INR 59,999 ($750) during the same. This is the 2022 model of Samsung’s flagship series with true flagship-level specs and features. The affordable Galaxy F23 and F13 handsets are available at an even more attractive price of INR 10,999 ($138) and INR 8,499 ($105) respectively.
Customers can pick up the aforementioned devices at these great prices during the Big Billion Days sale on Flipkart. The Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy F23 special prices are already live. The Galaxy S21 FE will be available at the reduced price starting September 19 whereas the Galaxy F13 offer goes in effect on September 22 for Flipkart Plus members.


text: Hoping to make it even easier to turn its online maps into collages of local information, Google is introducing tools that will stitch together applications from a hodgepodge of Web sites. Google is hoping to unite the information mishmash by encouraging mashup developers to package the creations into mini-applications called “mapplets” that will be posted under the “My Maps” section of Google’s Web site. Multiple mapplets can be laid over Google’s map simultaneously, meaning a user theoretically could get a glimpse at where homes are being sold in a specific neighborhood while also analyzing the area’s recent crime patterns. While it looks promising, I attempted using the new feature using Firefox but was unsuccessful it getting it to actually work. It may be a browser compatibility issue with the “mapplets” I was adding, so I’ll try testing it again and report back later.


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During the Children’s day, center of Chisinau became even more colorful due to “Căsuţa Mea” Cow Fest 2017, organized by the PR Agency PARC Communications on the occasion of 20th anniversary of LAPMOL company – the leader of dairy industry in Moldova in production of completely natural dairy products from Moldovan milk.
On 1st of June, during the celebration of the International Children’s day, young residents of the capital and their parents got closer to the image of the main source of dairy products from the brand “Căsuţa Mea” – 10 colorful sculptures of cows painted by Moldovan artists during “Căsuţa Mea” Cow Festival 2017.
The main theme of the Cow Festival was the continuity of national traditions in painting. Thus organizators combined local traditions, art and natural Moldovan milk, wishing to draw attention to natural and qualitative dairy products from Moldovan farms.
In the frames of the festival 10 sculptures of cows in full size were turned into real art objects, which were further accessible to spectators in city parks of the capital.


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This Monday is Amazon Prime Day, and like every other year, that means you'll have the chance to get a great deal on some dongles. But this year, unlike every other year, Prime Day means you'll also have the chance to stand in solidarity with workers protesting working conditions at Amazon fulfillment centers.
On Monday, while you were shopping for Echoes, 1,800 Amazon workers went on strike in Spain, and "thousands" more are set to strike on Tuesday in Germany, according to the Washington Post.
"We in Madrid believe that only if we struggle together will we gain recognition for our demands," read a statement from Amazon en Lucha — the group calling for the strike — ahead of the planned protest. "Similarly, only with a joint action at a European level will workers organize in those places where there is no union representation yet."
The workers are striking in protest of a host of issues ranging from low wages to piss-poor working conditions.
Tweet may have been deleted
In a statement to the Observer, the e-commerce giant disputed its striking workers' claims.
"We don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings,” the company spokesperson said.
But whether Amazon recognizes their claims or not, the strikers have generated a raft of negative press about the tech giant on one of its biggest days. And while that's heartening for anyone who cares about the workers of the world, we can't imagine that any of Amazon's higher-ups care too much. After all, Jeff Bezos became the richest person ever in modern history today, and, despite problems like Monday site outages for some customers, the company still claims the cash is rolling in.
"Many [customers] are shopping successfully – in the first hour of Prime Day in the U.S., customers have ordered more items compared to the first hour last year," read an Amazon statement in part. "There are hundreds of thousands of deals to come and more than 34 hours to shop Prime Day.”
The fact that Amazon paid no federal income taxes in 2017 must also be pretty nice.
All of that, plus the seemingly unavoidable conclusion that Amazon appears to simply not care about the wellbeing of its workers (I mean, come on), suggests that this strike is barely registering a blip on Bezos's radar.
But the rich aren't like the rest of us. Those of us who aren't making $230,000 a minute might be reluctant to cross a picket line — even a digital one. And that's a sentiment that striking Amazon workers are counting on as they demand higher wages and fair treatment this Prime Day.


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Less than a quarter of motorists will first visit a dealership as part of their research for buying a new car as the internet continues to be the first port of call.
The research was conducted among 1,000 motorists in June by Redshift Research on behalf of Motoring.co.uk.
The research shows nearly a third of motorists will visit a dealer’s website, 18% will visit a car manufacturer’s site and over a third will research their next car online and get an online car valuation, before visiting a dealer.
The research also reveals that just a fifth of motorists will test-drive up to three models.
Chris Green, co-founder and sales director at Motoring.co.uk, said: “The internet provides a huge source of information and data on new cars at your fingertips and is a convenient way of selecting and narrowing down your next car choice.
“Gone are the days when car buyers visited numerous dealerships to test drive and learn about new models.
“Today’s savvy buyers are a long way down the car buying process by the time they reach the showroom, having already read new car reviews, obtained a car valuation and checked out the model spec and prices.”
Green said it had been no surprise there has been a steady decline in showroom footfall, but dealers can still capture buyers early on in the car buying process by scrutinising their response times and process from online enquiries.
He said: “They should actively engage with their consumers through social media channels like Twitter, even if it’s good or bad consumer feedback.
“Our research at motoring.co.uk shows that immediate response to online consumers is the only way to win in this challenging market. It is vital that dealers value these potential online customers as highly as ‘bricks and mortar’ customers, if they are going to drive footfall and sales.”


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The Sustainable Furnishings Council shared stories of three manufacturer members prioritizing sustainability.
Gat Creek manufactures wood furniture in the United States in its plant in Berkley Springs, WV. As one of the founding members of the Sustainable Furnishings Council, the company has taken strides to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint, as well as using renewable materials from local sources. “We take a holistic approach to sustainability,” says Gat Caperton, President and CEO of Gat Creek. “Everything we do counts toward sustainability.” The company educates its customers on its practices and processes through an education section on its website, creating a transparency about its sustainability practices.
The woods that Gat Creek uses in its furniture — Cherry, Ash, Maple and Walnut — are sourced from Appalachian forests, within a 250-mile radius. Because of the density of the forest, these trees repopulate quickly.
All Gat Creek furniture is crafted domestically, reducing the company’s need for overseas transport, thereby reducing its carbon footprint.
In recent years, the company upgraded its energy/heating systems, which now burn wood scraps as fuel, which is not only a much cleaner burning fuel, it reduces wood waste from furniture production, preventing scraps from going to the landfill.
Currey & Company
Currey & Company, which manufactures a wide array of lighting, decor and furniture, is committed to lessening the impact its processes and products have on the planet, its employees, and communities.
Its design team has fully embraced this ideology. Native and responsibly sourced materials are not only considered fabrication options but are some of the most recognized elements of Currey’s product designs. Most often, the company work with natural materials such as:
- Recycled glass
- Reclaimed wood
- Natural wrought iron
- Responsibly sourced native woods
As a member of the Sustainable Furnishings Council since 2010, Currey has partnered and sponsored yearly events with the SFC and encouraged its colleagues in the industry to join.
Fermob’s commitment to sustainability was not driven by the interest of customers as the company began focusing on this long before sustainability was popular. Fermob, a maker of outdoor furniture and lighting, designs and manufactures furniture to be used in nature, so it was a logical extension of the company’s values to value the environment. Fermob’s mission statement is to be in harmony with nature.
Fermob is one of four companies that have achieved Gold status by the Sustainable Furnishings Council and is also a a member of CITEO, whose mission is to increase recycling.
Most of Fermob’s products are steel and aluminum, two of the most recycled materials on the planet.
The company invested in a new painting line that not only saves eight tons of powder paint per year but also reduces energy use by the ovens. In June 2016 Fermob began to capture the heat put off by the painting line ovens and reuse it so the overall gas consumption was reduced by 8 percent.
In January 2017, Fermob eliminated all industrial water waste from the manufacturing process. This took several years to accomplish.


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Yesterday, Amazon launched their new MP3 store. Key features:
– MP3 format, 256 kbs
– No DRM
– Individual songs priced at $0.89
– Albums priced between $4.99 – $8.99
The store has albums available from locals like Miranda Sound, Megan Palmer, Eric Metronome and Jon Chinn. Indies like Spoon, The New Pornographers and Grizzly Bear. And major label artists like Kanye West and Radiohead.
This definitely isn’t going to be an iTunes killer – nothing will ever “kill” iTunes.. but I think it’s the first legitimate competition Apple has ever had. And competition is always a good thing.


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Spokeo and Concrete Harm: What It Means for E-Commerce, Privacy, and Security
In May, the Court sent the potential class action case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration, marking an intermediary win for Spokeo, which uses a “people search engine” to find, compile, and sell publicly available personal information. The company came under fire for publishing inaccurate personal information about plaintiff Thomas Robins in a case that continues to shape US privacy and consumer protection law.
The ruling has already been cited in several recent privacy breach cases, affecting the plantiff's standing when their data is threatened. Only time will tell where this issue lands as we wait for the Ninth Circuit's next opinion and other pending cases, but in the meantime, the Spokeo decision will be relied upon by defendants in key data breach incidents.
To read Arent Fox's full insights on the case, click here.
This article was originally published in E-Commerce Law Reports.
- Related Practices


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The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club has been busy prepping for the 40th annual Juried Arts & Crafts Holiday Show, which features hundreds of vendors offering gift selections.
The annual event draws vendors from all over the country, and is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year. It also draws shoppers who make the event an annual tradition, in their quest to find just the right gift for someone on their holiday list.
Over the years, the show has grown and changed locations — but it has always served as an important way for the club to raise money to support local scholarships and other causes.
The show is a big hit with families because it provides an outing to a festive holiday venue.
Items that will be sold include handcrafted jewelry, original artwork, photography, woodcrafts and metalwork, candles, soaps, plants and yard art.
The event will be Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Dec. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Keystone Prep High School, 18105 Gunn Highway in Odessa. There’s a $5 charge for parking, which benefits the school. There is no admission charge.
Vendors also have the opportunity to win cash prizes and ribbons in a juried show.
40th annual Juried Arts & Crafts Holiday Show
Where: Keystone Prep High School, 18105 Gunn Highway in Odessa
When: Dec. 7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Dec. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free admission; parking $5 (Parking fee benefits the school)
Details: Over 300 vendors will be offering shoppers myriad options for unique holiday gifts and handcrafted items.
Info: Call the arts and crafts show director at (813) 833-3962.
Published December 04, 2019
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The consumer watchdog is “painstakingly” sifting through data to ensure households are paying less for their electricity after the repeal of the carbon tax.
The latest consumer price index showed electricity prices fell 5.1 per cent in the September quarter, the biggest quarterly drop since records began in 1980.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims told a Senate committee hearing in Canberra on Friday there could be further price falls.
“What we’re going to do in a very painstaking way is to check that all the reductions come through,” he said.
The commission needs to understand what other factors caused price changes when the carbon tax no longer applied.
In August notices were issued to 250 energy companies to estimate to their customers how much the removal of the carbon tax would affect prices.
The ACCC has 30 staff checking the data.
Mr Sims said the commission is not seeing a lot of consumer complaints so far.
However, the commission is investigating claims by Qantas and Virgin that while they had a carbon surcharge when the tax came in, they didn’t pass that on to customers.
The airlines argued there was nothing to remove now that the impost had been abolished.
“We are looking closely at that,” Mr Sims said.


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TechFlash delivers technology news and trends from your city and beyond.
More businesses are using Facebook by in their social media strategies than any other network, a new study says.
The report from InSite Consulting shows that 80 percent of American companies use Facebook, compared to 45 percent that have a Twitter account, 48 percent that are present on LinkedIn and 31 percent that use YouTube.
The survey also found that six out of 10 U.S. companies said they listen to consumer conversations on social media. Eight out of ten American companies said they answer client questions and complaints via social media.
Despite widespread use of social media, the study found little integration of it in business overall strategy.
Only 11 percent of the companies said they integrate their social media approach into their overall corporate strategy, while 17 percent are currently moving in that direction.
Almost 1 of 4 (26 percent) of companies said they are doing nothing with social media and have no plans to do so.
Price of Seattle waterfront building shoots up 374% in less than 3 years http://t.co/thd65YFZOz
Rolling with Seattle's biking execs: Alan Elser of GM Nameplate http://t.co/AqK3iZNwiz
Port of Bellingham finally selling waterfront development sites http://t.co/LjJ5TNG8Wj


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Atos, the leading French IT services provider, is preparing a €4.3bn bid for rival Gemalto.
The proposed merger would, according to Atos, create a global leader in the provision of online security, with companies globally growing increasingly concerned by the threat of cyber attacks.
Gemalto, a digital security specialist headquartered in Amsterdam, has suffered a turbulent year with four profit warnings leading to a share price drop of 38%.
"We believe that a combination of Atos and Gemalto would result in enhanced global leadership in cybersecurity, digital technologies and services," said Atos Chief Executive and Chairman Thierry Breton.
"Atos has carefully considered the interest of the stakeholders of the two groups, shareholders, employees, and customers which will all benefit from the proposed friendly transaction."
Gemalto is part-owned by state-backed French bank bpiFrance, which owns 8.3%, with bpiFrance having already back the proposed acquisition. Gemalto's customers include the likes of Amazon and Alibaba.


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The watchdogs at China’s Ministry of Environment probably weren’t surprised at the shipping delays recently caused by the heavy smog in the major ports in northern China. But the shippers were.
“Most of the time we can berth in one or two days,” said an officer aboard the 119,503 deadweight tonne Nord Vela, anchored off Caofeidian in early January. “But we’ve been waiting four days already.”
The loading and unloading of ships has had to be suspended several times since December. The reason? Poor visibility due to heavy smog. The result? Hundreds of ships sitting idle in China’s ports, waiting to offload cargo into key industrial hubs. And when the smog lifts, shippers have to contend with huge traffic jams.
The shipping industry itself has contributed, in part, to the escalating smog problem in China and elsewhere. Shipping accounts for 15 to 30 percent of nitrogen dioxide emissions globally. Back in August, government agencies in China issued a set of national standards aimed at curbing emissions from the shipping industry. The new standards, however, will take a while to have an effect, and authorities have yet to spell out penalties for shippers who fail to meet them.
Impact of the delays
According to an article from Reuters, “Every extra day a 180,000 deadweight tonne capesize ship waits outside a northern Chinese port to unload its iron ore cargo costs the charterer about $12,000, based on current freight rates, excluding costs for crew salaries and supplies, as well as fuel.”
Multiply that by the estimated 300 ships delayed in China’s northern ports, and the financial impact alone becomes substantial.
But there’s a ripple-effect, as well. The congestion messes up shipping schedules, calling into question the availability of ships languishing in ports socked-in by smog. And in some instances, the delivery of raw materials, such as coal and iron ore for China’s power stations and steel mills, has been delayed for weeks – resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra shipping fees.
Some operators, looking for ways to circumvent the smoggy gridlock at the Chinese ports, have opted to charter other ships at short notice. But that "Plan B" has come at a cost -- and those operators have had to pay rates well above the usual. For example, the capesize charter rates from Western Australia to northern China rose from a seven-week low of $4.93 per tonne on December 15 to a five-week high in January of $6.37 a tonne.
Speaking of the delays the smog has created, business analyst Tim Treadwell pointed out a certain irony. “We provided a lot of the raw materials that created the smog,” he said in reference to the shipping industry, “and now we’re victims of our smog.”
PortVision 360 offers AIS vessel tracking solutions for shipping companies that operate all over the world. Our network of terrestrial receivers as well as satellite coverage provides our customers with the most comprehensive view of vessel activity on the market. To try PortVision 360 for FREE, sign up for our 14 day trial.


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Acer has declared that their new Iconia Tab Android tablet will have a Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution screen and will run on a full-HD quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
Even though only minimal detail about the tablet is available, the NVIDIA Tegra 3 system and quad-core processor alone makes this device a competitor of Asus' Eee PAd Transformer Prime.
The information about this Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet was disclosed by the company in a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012 which was supposed to focus on the company's cloud-based ventures, but ended up revealing the tablet, reports T3.
According to reports, the 1.3GHz Tegra 3 processor-run device has a 1080p "IPS quality" screen. The company spokesman stated that, "It's actually made by another company so we can't call it IPS, but IPS quality."
The spokesman further added, "In fact, it has better colours and contrast than IPS," reports Expert Reviews.
Acer stated that at present the device is a concept model and thus no official launch date has been declared or confirmed by the company, however.


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Eurasian Economic Union, annual results
Jan 20, 2017 10:10 am
Minister for the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics of the EEU Tatiana Valovaya speaks on GDP, inflation and trade in 2016
Over the last year, the GDP of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) remained negative showing -0.3%. The decrease is largely due to the slow down in Belarus and Russia, concludes Minister for the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics of the EEU Tatiana Valovaya.
According to her, however, there are several economic sectors that showed positive growth, including agricultural and industrial production, up 3.2% and 0.2% respectively. “That’s a good result compared with sharp drop back in 2015,” she said at a press conference at MPC Sputnik.
Speaking on annual results, Valovaya highlighted the mutual trade decline moderation in the EEU (down 10.8% compared with down 30.4% in 2015), with some countries even increasing trade volumes. In particular, Armenia has boosted supplies to Belarus (by 2.3 times) and Kyrgyzstan (bu 3.4 times).
Last year also showed significant reduction in inflation, according to Valovaya. “In Dec. 2016 inflation stood at 6%, which is twice lower than in 2015. That’s what I call the key of the sustainable future growth,” she said.
Source URL: http://eurasiatx.com/eurasian-economic-union-annual-results/
Copyright ©2018 eurasiatx unless otherwise noted.


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Hospitality is the Cornerstone of the Tourism Industry
Souvagya Mohapatra, Executive Director, Mayfair Hotels & Resorts Ltd., calls for Hospitality to be given the same push as Travel and Tourism through policy for India to emerge as a truly complete destination
IN HIS Independence Day speech in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the people of India to visit 15 Domestic Tourist Destinations by year 2022. It was beyond a mere appeal to promote tourism. It was reflective of the Government's fast-changing policy outlook towards the sector, which had, for too long, remained low-priority at the policy level, notwithstanding its high economic relevance.
It's indeed, great that the Industry has finally received the attention it deserves, especially as India is a country blessed with tremendous tourism potential. Harnessing this potential is the key to the country's envisioned development goals. For instance, at a time when the Government's spending on Travel and Tourism in 2017 was around 0.1% of the GDP, our sector contributed 9.4% to the GDP. The next year, we contributed around 9.2% of GDP while generating 2.67 crore jobs. A sector that generates healthy revenues while also being employment-intensive, suit both the economic aspirations as well as demographic requirements of our country.
Robust Infrastructure Needed
However, making India a hotspot tourism destination needs to be backed up by a robust infrastructure, in terms of connectivity, accessibility and hospitality. This needs a major overhaul, especially in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Though much has been done to readdress these, much more needs to be done.
The intra-country connectivity has to a great extent improved by the Government’s ambitious UDAN Scheme, that has revolutionised connectivity in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Likewise, the Expressways and Highways too have undergone a massive change in recent times, making travelling between cities fast, safe and affordable. Similarly, the Swacch-Bharat Abhiyan has rejuvenated India’s image as a clean destination while initiatives have also been undertaken to address security concerns.
Yet, these developments in the travel and tourism sector have not been reflected in the hospitality sector, which still bears the brunt of policy indifference. For any place to emerge as a thriving tourism destination, the presence of robust Tier-II and Tier-III destinations which encourage building of hotels is important. Inadequate accommodation facilities are marring the tourism prospects of these destinations.
For example, while Delhi has a room capacity across branded/star category of hotels of around 10320, the eight North-Eastern States with such remarkable tourism potential, collectively have only 2378 rooms. Such data is startling and seriously demands realigning of our policies to promote the inclusive growth of the industry.
Favourable Policy Needed
So, what is hindering the growth of the hospitality industry in these tourism destinations? It's the existing stringent lending norms with interest rates ranging anywhere between 11-14 per cent as against the 4-5 per cent in the developed countries. The short repayment tenure further adds to this adverse funding regime. Similarly, the RBI directive that prohibits banks from funding any land purchases is yet another major constraint. Land acquisition costs for a hospitality project range between 30-40 per cent of the total project cost and funding this whole cost with equity leaves the investor as well as the developer with little financial leeway.
Although the Government has in the recent past made efforts to promote investment in the Hospitality sector by relaxing the FDI norms while also offering a five-year tax holiday for 2/3/4-star category hotels located around the UNESCO-World Heritage Sites, yet this is a case of too little. Considering the levels to which we need to scale-up our accommodation facilities, incentives of this type should be rolled out on a pan-India basis, with particular emphasis on eastern and North-Eastern India. Extending the capital investment subsidy, remission on land conversion charges and interest subsidies, along with conferring the sector with an Industry and Infrastructure status, should be favourably considered to incentivise the establishment of hospitality projects.
Mayfair's Roadmap Ahead
Mayfair operates 11 palatial properties across nine scenic destinations. The properties themselves are an architectural delight of low-rise properties set amidst plush greenery. In its four-decade journey, Mayfair has set new benchmarks in hospitality through its unique concept of offering nature-themed luxury. In the coming five years, we look forward to taking this legacy of success ahead with an ambitious expansion drive.
We will be shortly opening our 12th Resort in Siliguri, which will be a first of its kind, luxury tea resort of India, set amidst thousands of acres of aromatic tea gardens. We will also launch our 13th property in Kolkata, a 250-key property with state-of-the-art conference and banquet facilities. Mayfair will also establish a mega Convention-Centre-cum-Hotel in Bhubaneswar and a Golf & Wellness Spa Resort on the banks of Chilika Lake, Odisha, the works for which are underway.
Mayfair is also considering operating hotels on franchise module and pilot project basis. We are all set to manage and operate a resort located midway between Puri and Bhubaneswar in the Satasankha region. The property will be an exquisite MICE and Wedding venue, scheduled to open in mid-2021. We are also progressively restructuring our corporate set-up.
This article was published in BW hotelier issue dated '' with cover story titled '5 Years Young & Just Begun'
Around The World


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Cognac brand Hennessy has entered into a multi-year partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) to become the official spirit of the NBA, Women's National Basketball Association and USA Basketball.
Hennessy has celebrated those who push the limits of potential through its "Never stop. Never settle." ethos and intends to continue this tradition by celebrating the spirit of the NBA. The partnership tipped off during the recent NBA All-Star 2020 in Chicago, during which the cognac brand served as an associate partner of the NBA Celebrity Game presented by Ruffles. It was also the presenting partner of the pre-game red carpet. Marketing has reached out to Hennessy for additional information.
Giles Woodyer, SVP, Hennessy US said the NBA is a forward-thinking league that embodies its "Never stop. Never settle." mantra. "There’s an energy pulsing through the NBA that compels it to evolve, to push the limits of its own potential. Our new collaborative journey is rooted in this joint passion and will explore the realms of legacy, culture and innovation," he added.
Dan Rossomondo, NBA SVP, media and business development said the partnership offers an exciting opportunity to reach and engage with a broader segment of basketball fans around the NBA's marquee moments.
"As the iconic brand continues to expand its business in sports marketing, we look forward to creating elevated experiences and unique initiatives that celebrate the game of basketball," he said.
Last month, Louis Vuitton inked a multi-year partnership with the NBA to be the first official Trophy Travel Case provider of the league. The trunk is coated in LV’s emblematic Monogram canvas and fitted with traditional brass fixtures. It will house and display The Larry O’Brien Trophy that is presented annually in June to the NBA team that wins The Finals
(Read also: Brands pay tribute to late NBA legend Kobe Bryant)


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ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services
LAST UPDATED : Oct 20, 2020, 11:42 AM IST
- Maruti Suzuki extends car subscription model to 2 new cities
Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday announced that it will be extending its subscription services to Hyderabad and Pune. The Maruti Suzuki Subscribe program is almost 3 months old now. The Maruti Suzuki Subscribe scheme began in Delhi NCR and Bangalore initially and will now operate in four cities in total.


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From the Wires Mar. 1, 2015 03:00 PM PSI Services LLC (PSI or the Company) , a worldwide, industry-leading professional testing... ...http://in.sys-con.com/node/3305369
Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) has claimed around 3,000 lives in the last two years, mostly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and West Bengal. In... ...http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/6867-aes-deaths-in-six-years-govt-puts-in-place-plan-in-60-districts/
Launch signals wireless power going mainstream, drives demand for wireless chargers BARCELONA, Spain, March 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In one of the... ...http://www.itnewsonline.com/prnewswire/Samsung-Galaxy-S6-and-Galaxy-S6-edge-Come-Equipped-with-Qi-Wireless-Charging/366371
Cisco, the global networking products giant, has been closely engaged with the creation of smart cities in the country. Today, with the... ...http://www.financialexpress.com/article/companies/cisco-is-readying-frame-work-for-digital-india-padmasree-warrior-cisco/49237/
ck by the intensity of disillusionment of a key ally Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu over the raw deal to his State in the 2015... ...http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/post-budget-rumblings-in-andhra-over-denial-of-spl-status.html
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The event features more than just comics, too. It's also a chance for the artists and writers who pen the tales of superheroes, zombies, rodent warriors and more to meet their readers and fans.
Joe Hill, the creator of IDW's "Locke & Key" graphic novels likened the event to a "Geek Christmas" celebration.
"Comic book stores are cathedrals built to pop culture, and Free Comic Book Day is a chance to convert as many folks to the faith as possible," he said. "Stepping in to a great comic book store is like stepping into the shared imagination of America itself, in all its giddy, bubblegum-colored glory. It's a trip even non-comic book fans often find rewarding and Free Comic Book Day is the perfect excuse to make the pilgrimage."
Hill is taking part in the event for the first time and will be signing copies of his book at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, N.H.
"It's also a chance to spend an afternoon in a place that closely mirrors the inside of my own head. My brain is a lunch box packed with old comics, decoder rings and Bettie Page playing cards," the writer said. "Comic stores aren't too terribly different."
Dan Parent, who writes and draws Archie comics, said the event's pull on new readers is palpable.
"And even though all of them may not become avid comic readers, a portion of them will continue to read comics even on a casual basis," he said. "And for some kids who aren't crazy about reading at a young age, this is a great way to get them started. I was one of those kids many years ago!"
Associated Press writers David Fischer in Miami, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Jenny Stoffel in Berlin contributed to this report.
Matt Moore can be followed on Twitter by searching (at)MattMooreAP.
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More cars should have life-saving technology
RoadSafe supported the annual eSafety Challenge, which called for more cars to have life-saving crash avoidance technologies installed.
New research presented at the Challenge, held in Milbrook, UK, on 13 July 2010 shows that despite rising awareness of life-saving crash avoidance technologies, too few cars have crucial eSafety systems fitted. Thousands of lives could be saved if these systems were more widely used.
Across the five biggest European markets, installation rates for eSafety systems such as the anti-skid device Electronic Stability Control (ESC) are still too low. In particular very few small cars have ESC installed as standard. In the mini class, the majority (83%) are sold without ESC, new figures show.
New cars today are much safer than they were 10-15 years ago thanks to improved crash test standards, crumple zones, seatbelts, and air bags which help protect occupants in a crash. Under the latest technological developments, so-called active safety systems can help prevent accidents from happening in the first place.
Devices such as ESC have the potential to save 4,000 lives and 100,000 injuries annually in Europe alone. In Germany, research shows that as much as €330 (£275) million could be saved by preventing small rear impact accidents and that almost three out of four rear impact accidents with injuries and fatalities could be avoided with the 100% introduction of Advanced Emergency Braking Systems.
Despite these findings, many businesses are allowing employees to drive company cars without eSafety systems. The result is that thousands of lives which could be saved, will be lost in preventable crashes, warns eSafetyAware. The problem is compounded by the fact that with company cars, duty of care features on only 28% of purchase policies, bellow other factors such as comfort, cost, and fuel economy.


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The company now has data centres at 44 locations globally. In India, Tata Communications has data centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune.
Smart cities is part of our internet of everything initiative. This initiative was incubated in the globalization centre in India and is largely driven out of here.
Neogy occupies what Yahoo calls 'war room' - a room full of screens to monitor Yahoo's football WC sites across 24 countries around the world that have biggest viewership.
With the addition of the five centres, Amazon's total storage capacity will almost double to over half a million sq feet.
ET-Travel suggests you enjoy an extended weekend in August. Here’s where you can head to...
Vaiko cited Modi's preference of the social media platform and said that the Centre's advisory on Hindi was a "matter of concern."
The first public hotspot will start at Khan Market by the month-end. The survey is been done and the spots where server boxes are to be installed, identified.
As the Internet penetration gains more strength, India is headed to be a huge force in shaping the digital future of the world, a top Mozilla official said.


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By Louise Oakley
Luxury chain unveiled Venu brand in 2010, but shelved it a year later
Dubai-based luxury hotelier Jumeirah Group is “seriously considering” launching a second hotel brand in the lifestyle segment, president and group CEO Gerald Lawless told HotelierMiddleEast.com on Sunday at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) in Dubai.
One option would be to bring back Venu Hotels, a contemporary lifestyle brand Jumeirah Group first unveiled at AHIC 2010, but abandoned a year later.
“We’re looking at that again with a view to having maybe a contemporary lifestyle [brand], we haven’t come to a conclusion but we’re seriously considering it,” said Lawless.
“We’re looking at the possibility [of bringing back Venu], we would not exclude any possibility, it might be different, it might be the same,” he said.
With regard to what star rating a new brand might be, Lawless added: "I'm very reluctant these days to talk about two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight stars, I think nowadays it's very much about the brand. The brand defines the level of the hotel. If for example we said it would be a contemporary lifestyle hotel, how would that be graded star wise, I don’t know.
"It would be at the same level as Jumeirah, it would be at a lower investment cost than Jumeirah per room, for example we said before when we were launching Venu the last time, we said we would agree a room size around 35 square metres but I think it's so much more about establishing what the brand stands for, publicising that, launching that, than what star level it is".
Back in June 2010, the first Venu Hotel was signed with Shanghai Zendai Himalayas Real Estate Co. Ltd to manage Venu Himalayas Hotel Shanghai.
Less than a year later, Lawless revealed at AHIC 2011 that the company had decided not to develop any Venu Hotels, in light of the global economic crisis.
He said at the time: “We’ve decided to park the Venu brand for the time being.
“We came to the conclusion, with the overall world recession of 09/10 and what’s going on generally, that in this stage of our development we decided that we would ask the management to concentrate and focus on the evolution and development of the Jumeirah “stay different” luxury brand, so from the hotels perspective at the moment we’re a single brand proposition.
“We are Jumeirah and we will be Jumeirah for the future. We might look at it [Venu] again in a year or two to see whether or not there is a possibility to do something with the Venu brand, but right now for the immediate future we would not,” said Lawless in 2011.
A member of Dubai Holding, Jumeirah Group announced on Thursday results for 2013, including an increase in consolidated room revenues of 8 percent and an increase in total revenues under management of 11%.
Jumeirah Group operates 22 hotels in 11 countries, including seven properties in Dubai.For all the latest travel news from the UAE and Gulf countries, follow us on Twitter and Linkedin, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.


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With the COVID-19 outbreak across China, major manufacturers are closing factories, ports are clogging, and workers are scarce as authorities impose city closures and mass testing on a scale unprecedented in nearly two years.
The prospect of continued disruptions in the world’s second-largest economy, which has a zero-tolerance strategy to tackle the pandemic, heightens fears that the disruptions will spill over into the global economy. Already, companies such as memory chip maker Samsung Electronics Co., German automaker Volkswagen AG, and a textile company that supplies Nike Inc. and Adidas AG are suffering from production problems.
Since the end of December, the authorities have taken measures to counter the Covid-19 epidemics in several Chinese cities, including the eastern port of Tianjin, Xi’an in central China and the southern technology hub of Shenzhen. The world’s third-busiest container port, Ningbo-Zhoushan, near Shanghai, risks further delays due to restrictions on trucks and warehouse operations after more than two dozen cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the vicinity.
CHINA CALLS FOR A FINE ON JAPANESE 7-ELEVEN FOR CALLING TAIWAN FROM COUNTRY
Chinese authorities are adhering to the same game plan that succeeded in curbing the initial outbreaks of the pandemic and caused intermittent disruptions in production and supply chains.
The potential consequences are more serious this time around, economists warn, due to the highly contagious nature of Omicron, which has been detected in parts of China. The variant is hitting the country as Beijing seeks to contain outbreaks ahead of the Winter Olympics, which are expected to begin on February 4.
“The risk posed by the Omicron variant is that we could take a huge step back in terms of supply chain bottlenecks,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC. “This time around, the situation could be even more difficult than last year given China’s increasingly important role in global supply.”
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Several economists have said China may step up its containment policy and some have touted the possibility of a nationwide lockdown, unheard of since April 2020. Goldman Sachs on Tuesday cut China’s growth forecast for 2022 at 4.3% against 4.8% in light of the latest developments in Covid-19.
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TEMPE, AZ — Police have caught a man they say is responsible for 16 thefts in 17 months from a Tempe Home Depot.
On September 17 police captured Jose Pedro Uriarte, 41, on 16 counts of retail theft that Uriarte allegedly committed over the past 17 months at the Home Depot near Priest Drive and Baseline Road.
Police say Uriarte would steal "high dollar power tools and yard equipment." In total, he took over $8,500 worth of equipment from Home Depot.
On one occasion Uriarte reportedly threatened a worker with a machete that he had just stolen from the store.
Upon his arrest, he allegedly told police that he steals to support his daily heroin habit.
Court records show that Uriarte, who is in the U.S. illegally, has 13 prior arrests on similar charges and has failed to attend court appearances 21 times.
He now faces 16 counts of retail theft, and his next scheduled court appearance is September 25.


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Before the first week of January had passed, before CES was over and two whole weeks before the new Administration is sworn in, the advertising industry has gone straight for the FCC’s jugular. It demanded the repeal of the rulings around broadband consumer privacy.
In full anticipation of the imminent ideological and operational overhaul of the FCC — some would say course-correction, others evisceration — just about every major industry body representing the interests of advertisers, agencies, digital publishers and direct marketers banded together to petition for the reconsideration of the “unnecessary restrictions on the digital economy.”
Bearing in mind who President-Elect Trump has chosen to lead the FCC and the overall tone of the Republican majority now calling the shots, it is an all-but-sure-fire certainty the industry will have its wishes granted and the ruling will be reversed.
The timing could even provide the new leadership with an easy and quick win to demonstrate that the FCC really is under new management.
After all, Net Neutrality – another major target of the incoming leadership – will likely take a little longer to unravel.
There is little doubt that lifting the recently imposed restrictions on what can be done with consumer data gathered online will benefit the companies that have based their growth and very existence on capturing and utilizing online behavioral data, matching it with third party data sets, selling it on, targeting advertising and so on.
For the time being, the ability to continue with business as usual will benefit the digital economy in all the conventional ways we have come to understand and appreciate.
However, issues around privacy, data security and data ownership are complex, ever-changing and shaped by intangibles as much as by nice linear factors, like technology and regulation.
While it undoubtedly benefits companies to be able to have a free – or at least mostly free – hand in how they collect, access and leverage consumer data, consumers themselves have a much more ambivalent and sometimes contradictory position on the matter.
The vast majority of consumers have little to no idea just what data is captured or how it is captured as they make use of the Web. They don’t have a clear grasp of how that data is used or who by and to what end - beyond the more obvious applications.
They do know that its somehow all part of how they gain access to the services and sites they enjoy. They understand this is somehow part of the quid pro quo that makes it possible to avoid paying for things. But beyond that, things are vague at best and resented at worst.
In research I’ve conducted on this issue in the past, consumers consistently expressed the view they feel coerced into accepting the terms and conditions of access if they want to participate in the 21st century. They see no choice and little attempt to explain anything beyond the impenetrable legal language they have to say they’ve read — which of course they haven’t.
As consumers continue to become increasingly data savvy and more aware of the value of “my data” within the burgeoning data-sphere, the importance of trust and demonstrable transparency on the part of brands, publishers and service providers will become increasingly paramount.
At the same time, cases of perceived abuses of trust or data breaches while not the norm, will become increasingly resented by an online population that can only continue to be more aware of its personal value as it becomes better informed.
This not only suggests the need for ever-greater security and enhanced customer relations online, it also means that the segment of the population not wholly comfortable with the kind of data use the industry requires will represent an opportunity for a different kind of business.
In the same way that consumer dislike of advertising online has given rise to once-unthinkable ad blockers, the prospect of “data-blockers” – while currently inconceivable – could ultimately become available to those who want at least some degree of simple control over the extent to which their data is accessed and leveraged in the marketplace.
The promise of the inclusion of consumers themselves as active participants in the data economy is already something that companies are addressing. While it seems largely contrary to how things are currently done, it wouldn’t be the most disruptive thing that digital technology and the internet has brought us.
Besides, the law of unintended consequences is always there waiting to surprise us. In this case, rolling back those nasty privacy regulations could unleash a different and unanticipated set of challenges farther down the line even harder to get to grips with than any road blocks the FCC could devise.


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In recent weeks, the test driveway has hosted a couple of models that we have already reviewed in the past year. Much of what we have found in the Jeep Cherokee and Volkswagen Atlas is pretty much a repeat of our favorable impressions we reported. So let’s talk about accessorized versions of these two, right from the factory.
Volkswagen is one of the leading automakers in the world, and right now is a great time for product here in the U.S. We have seen a great new 3-row SUV (Atlas) and a total makeover of the Tiguan crossover. Now we see the next-generation Jetta compact sedan, and what a winner this is.
It felt like an old friend had come by to visit last week. I was fortunate to receive the 2018 Volkswagen Golf GTI five-door hatchback in the test driveway, and this model arrived with a manual transmission. It just felt like old times behind the wheel of this hot little hatch, and I enjoyed every minute.
(Sigh) They grow up so fast. I am talking about the 2018 Tiguan crossover from Volkswagen and the release of the all-new second-generation model. It has grown more than 10 inches for North America and now boasts a third-row seat and includes all of the latest technology.
Three-row crossover utility vehicles are popular and they are putting a real pinch on minivan and sedan sales across the showrooms. And while they have been around for some time now there apparently is still room for competition as Volkswagen has just rolled out its entry into the segment, dubbed Atlas.
Last year we brought you our review of the refreshed 2016 Passat from Volkswagen. For 2017, the German-American midsize sedan sees the addition of the R-Line trim level that adds some sportier touches some safety technology coming standard to this and other models.
It’s been barely 18 months since we last drove a Golf Sportwagen from Volkswagen and recently they sent us the 2017 model. VW moved Sportwagen from the Jetta line to the Golf family for MY2015 and since then they have given the model a few tech upgrades.
Volkswagen says its GTI defined the term hot hatch – a fun-to-drive hatchback offering power, playful performance, refinement, and style. The latest iteration was North American Car of the Year for 2015 and recently we spent time behind the wheel of the 2016 Golf GTI. If ever there was truth in advertising it is the embodiment of the Golf GTI. Volkswagen got things right with this one despite its struggles with TDI models. The Golf GTI is offered (for now) in two- and four-door models with our tester arriving as the latter. At the heart of the fun is a…
Several months ago I reviewed the 2016 Volkswagen Jetta sedan. I liked the car but it was a sedate, average daily driver. Recently I received the Jetta GLI, and I gotta tell ya, where the Jetta 1.8T left off the GLI begins, and for 2016 the GLI gets some nice upgrades.
Volkswagen has had some rough times lately but during its troubles with diesel fuel economy, the automaker still manages to build some good vehicles. The midsize 2016 Passat sedan, for example, is on par with its segment competitors and it offers a fun, powerful driving experience while offering very good value.
Despite the drama surrounding the diesel fuel economy cheating scandal, Volkswagen is still one of the leading producers of automobiles globally. And no matter what unfolds in the wake of its recent problems, the automaker still offers some good vehicles and that includes the 2016 Jetta 1.8T compact sedan with turbocharged gasoline engine.
Just when you thought station wagons had gone the way of the Dodo bird, Volkswagen releases a new model – dubbed SportWagen – and releases it on the family of vehicle that brought home the 2015 North American Car of the Year crown, the VW Golf. The V-dub Golf S-dub arrived earlier this year and it replaces the Jetta SportWagen.
If I had to choose just one word to describe the all-new 2015 Volkswagen Golf R – the fastest and most powerful Golf from VW yet – I’d use stunning. This new hot hatch, based on the new seventh-generation Golf, is stunning to look at, stunning to drive (especially in “race” mode) and stunning to learn the window sticker price.
Volkswagen’s best-selling car in North America just got better. The Jetta, which received a major redux in 2011, has been updated for MY2015, and the car receives some styling updates along with new technologies, making it both smarter and safer. And when mated with the new clean diesel TDI powertrain the new Jetta is a vehicle shoppers need not overlook.
The Volkswagen Beetle has seen great success and is one of the true automotive icons around the globe. Now in only its third generation since debuting in 1938, Beetle has seen the engine move from the rear to the front, but aside from that – and a few modern technologies – the model is as easily recognizable today as when first introduced.
The compact crossover utility segment is crowded, almost to the point where so many competitors get overlooked due to shopper fatigue. When Volkswagen of America launched its entry into the cute ute segment a few years ago they sought to bring a little fun – some of that Fahrvergnügen if you will – in the form of the Tiguan.
It was only a few months ago when I reviewed the 2014 Volkswagen Passat midsize sedan. This past week, I’ve found another VW Passat in the test driveway; this review model outfitted with the TDI diesel engine backed by manual gearbox, so this review is pretty much just going to be an update for the powertrain variation.
Most of us know that GM and Toyota battle it out each year for global auto sales leadership, but how many of you know who is the No. 3 automaker in the world? If you said (guessed) Volkswagen, you are correct, and thanks to ‘people’s cars’ such as the 2014 Passat, VW will not be relinquishing that position anytime soon.
As media days for the 2014 North American International Auto Show come to a close, Detroit prepares for the onslaught of visitors to the show that is boasting some 50 concept and new model debuts from automakers. Before the doors open to the public in Motor City Jan. 18-26 we bring you a photographic look at the rest of what was debuted this year.
Continuing in the “then and now” theme begun last week in the Grinding Gears Garage Volkswagen sent us a 2014 Beetle Convertible, along with a week’s worth of sunny weather. Our last look at the Vee Dub droptop saw seven days of stormy weather so we did not get the total experience of just how enjoyable this car is.
Let’s face it – going green will cost you, at least when it comes to your automobile. Nearly every automaker charges a premium for their most environmentally sensitive models when compared to comparable gas-only alternatives. At Volkswagen things are no different. The last new Jetta we tested was the TDI turbo-diesel model that arrived at the high end of the pricing spectrum for the model line. Now the German automaker offers a gasoline/electric hybrid version its popular compact sedan and it tops the Jetta pricing scale. Part of the reason is research and development costs need to be recuperated while…


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Paytm’s stocks on Thursday saw a sharp downside movement after a block deal that took place where 259,930 shares were sold.
The shares were sold at Rs 535.90 worth Rs 13.93 crore. Sources have confirmed that Chinese group Alibaba is behind the block deal, thereby selling about 3.1 per cent of its total equity of about 6 per cent. With this block deal, Alibaba, the sources said, seems to be making an exit from India as it had sold shares in other investments such as BigBasket and Zomato.
This is expected to bring cheers among investors. With Chinese shareholding reducing their stake, it will benefit the company in their Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) aspect.
Paytm shares’ intraday low was Rs 528.10. In fact, immediately after the block deal it soon recovered some part of the losses.
Paytm’s shares had been steadily rising for the past few days after there were several good news floating about the company. Its associate Paytm Payments Bank has received RBI approval to appoint Surinder Chawla as its Managing Director and CEO.
The company had posted a strong operating performance update for the October-December quarter.
The Paytm Super App continued to see growing consumer engagement with the average Monthly Transacting User for the quarter that ended December 2022 at 85 million, registering a growth of 32 per cent on a yearly basis.
The total merchant Gross Merchandise Value processed through the platform for the quarter ended December 2022 aggregated to Rs 3.46 lakh crore (USD 42 billion), marking a year-on-year growth of 38 per cent.
The number of loans grew 117 per cent yearly to 3.7 million for the month of December, and 137 per cent to 10.5 million cumulative loans for the three months ended December 2022.
As a result, total disbursements for the three months ended December 2022 was Rs 9,958 cr, a growth of 357 per cent on year.
Paytm believes it continues to be on track for its profitability plans, with robust revenue growth driven by its strong business model.
Meanwhile, brokerage and global investment firm Morgan Stanley, in a report, pegged Paytm’s shares target price to be at Rs 695 going ahead as against Rs 579 at Wednesday’s close. It essentially means there is an upside potential of about 20 per cent returns on investment for investors.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)


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Cap-and-trade scheme to "fill the vacuum created by the failure of Congress to pass any kind of climate or energy legislation"
The launch of a new regional emissions cap-and-trade scheme centred on California moved a major step towards reality yesterday when regulators approved the rules governing the proposed carbon market. ...
Thriving agricultural communities are critical for the long-term for these companies. Plus, three tips for managing programs that combine the 'head' with the 'heart'
Many consumer-facing companies with recognizable brands are taking action, but companies lower down in the supply chain are not, a new study finds
Environment Secretary Michael Gove says government is exploring possibility of a full ban, just weeks after similar noises from Scottish government
Green Party's Molly Scott Cato is concerned about climate and air quality impacts from wood and waste combustion


text: Taiwanese solar stocks led by Motech Industries fell after the US proposed expanded penalties on solar energy imports in a victory for the US unit of SolarWorld, which accused mainland China of shifting production to Taiwan after it lost an earlier case. Motech, Taiwan's biggest solar-cell producer, slumped 6.9 per cent to NT$44.40 (HK$11.47), the biggest one-day drop since May 21 last year. Gintech Energy, E-Ton Solar Tech and Neo Solar Power also tumbled. The US Department of Commerce issued a preliminary finding last Friday that said overseas producers, including mainland China's Trina Solar and Taiwan's Gintech, sold goods in the US at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping. It called for duties ranging as high as 165 per cent for some mainland Chinese manufacturers and 44 per cent for those in Taiwan. China hopes the US can handle anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes on mainland Chinese solar products "cautiously," its Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The ministry, which called for a quick end to the probes, said an escalation will hurt industries in both countries. Jennifer Liang, a Taipei-based analyst at KGI Securities, said the duties were higher than the market expected. "The US accounted for about 30 per cent of Taiwanese solar-cell shipments in the past year and a half," she said. The duties will prompt Taiwanese producers to rely on Japanese and European markets more, she added. "We should not have to compete with dumped imports or the Chinese government," said Mukesh Dulani, the president of SolarWorld Industries America. The SolarWorld case has split the US solar-energy industry, with manufacturers seeking protections against being undercut by cheap imports, and installers pressing for low-cost equipment, regardless of origin. "We strongly urge the US and Chinese governments to 'freeze the playing field' and focus all efforts on finding a negotiated solution," said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. A final decision by the commerce department will be made in mid-December. The independent US International Trade Commission will determine by the end of January whether US makers of the solar power goods were harmed by the imports. If so, the duties will be permanent. US imports from mainland China and Taiwan of the crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, panels and modules used to make electricity from sunlight were valued at US$2.2 billion last year, according to the commerce department.