Revolutionary wheels

• In 2019, the visionary team of JK Tyre and Industries had launched smart tyre, slightly costlier than regular tyre.
• The company had acquired Treel Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd and introduced a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System.
• Come FY2025, JK Tyre and Industries is all set to bring advanced smart tyres into being for passenger cars and commercial vehicles.
• Upgraded with cutting edge technology, these tyres will come with embedded sensors determining the health of the tyre simply through a mobile application. These sensors will provide the passengers with real-time alerts of the tyre temperature, pressure and overall condition.
• The data collected is sent to the owner’s mobile phone with the help of Bluetooth and can be accessed through an app. This will help in the early detection of any issues which can be rectified immediately before they lead to a mishap on the road.
• Further, JK Tyres announced an investment of Rs.1400 crore in a phased manner over the next two years which will be used for capacity expansion for passenger car radial tyres.

Cars turn safer in future

• With Bluetooth, smart tyres can be used to track cars for fleet owners with GPS. All the sensors can be connected to a pod, and that pod is connected to the cloud. So, one can track the vehicle, performance of tyres, pressure, the position of the tyre remotely.
• Increasing need for improving fuel efficiency of vehicles using smart tyres is among the major factors to drive the global market for smart tyres to reach USD 126.91 billion in 2028 from USD 76.78 billion in 2020.
• However, the predictable growth can meet roadblocks like lower adoption rate of smart tyres due to high cost, product availability for the premium vehicle segment technology errors or malfunctioning, which can occur due to incorrect data or information and low-quality tyres.

Editor’s Note

• BYD has already invested more than USD200 million in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally scrutinizes all investment proposals from companies that are either based in countries that share a land border with India or have an investor from one of these nations. It is now considering exempting proposals where the so-called beneficial ownership is less than 10%, which means the investor may be from a neighbouring country but holds only a small stake in the firm proposing the investment. Though that does not apply to all. The blue-eyed boys of the Prime Minister like PayTM are an exception.

KEYWORDS

• #byd #chineseauto #indiantax

Rocket rise

• Leaving behind leading eyewear brands like Titan and Lawrence and mayo, 15-year-old Lenskart is now Asia’s largest eyewear retailer with global investors like Temasek and Fidelity Management putting in big bucks behind the founder, Peyush Bansal. With this funding the company valuation stands at USD 5 million.
• The investment marks Temasek doubling down on its existing investment in Lenskart, while FMR joins the cap table.
• The company has also been making a few acquisitions to scale up its operations and get access to new technologies.
• Last year, it announced its acquisition of Tango Eye, an artificial intelligence-based computer vision startup, for an undisclosed sum. With this acquisition, Lenskart aims to utilise visual AI technology to enhance both the store and product experiences.
• After this transaction, Peyush Bansal-led Lenskart has attracted close to $1 billion in capital over the last 18 months, making it one of the largest growth-stage financings globally, the startup’s financial advisor, Avendus Capital, said in a statement.

Lenskart goes global and how

• Lenskart continues to deepen its penetration in India while rapidly scaling its international presence in Asia including in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
• The Delhi-NCR based startup reported impressive sales of INR 3,788 crore for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), marking a 152% increase from INR 1,502.7 crore in the previous fiscal year.
• The company primarily generated 95% of its revenue from eyewear product sales. Additionally, Lenskart successfully reduced its net loss by 38%, down to INR 63.7 crore from INR 102.3 crore in the previous fiscal year.
• This fundraising comes at a challenging time for late-stage funding, as startups in this segment managed to raise only $314 million across 13 deals in April, reflecting a 50% decline.

The man who made Lenskart ‘Maruti’ of India Lenskart goes global and how

• Peeyush Bansal, Co-founder and chief people’s officer of Lenskart came to India literally with no business plan but kept exploring opportunities that would make significant impact and started working on student housing as a problem.
• He did it for a few years but it wasn’t big enough. Then he read articles about how India is the blind capital of the world and 75% of people who need glasses don’t wear them while 50-60% of India today needs glasses.
• Peeyush applied his expertise acquired in Microsoft and it has been a decade of never-look-back journey for Lenskart.
• The humble founder feels it will take another couple of decades to complete the transition.
• But, it definitely is one of those spaces where he can say he has found his own calling in terms of the impact he wanted to create on the lives of ordinary people.

Editor’s Note

• Singapore state investment firm Temasek and US-based Fidelity have jointly infused $200 million into Lenskart, an omnichannel eyewear unicorn. The investment underscores Temasek’s increased commitment to Lenskart, while Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMR) makes its debut on the company’s cap table.

KEYWORDS

• #lenskart #startup #peeyushbansal #asia #makeinindia

Who is Murli Dhar Gyanchandani?

• Murli Dhar Gyanchandani belongs to Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and the Chairman of RSPL Group is the 149th richest person in the world.
• He is instrumental in building one of the most monumental brands in the country, Ghadi detergent gifting a huge population with an affordable household choice.
• It is the second-largest detergent brand of India after Surf Excel.
• Not only Ghadi, the Gyanchandani family also owns the popular shoe brand Red Chief.

Success and Setbacks

• Indian detergent market is intensely competitive with both local and global brands vying for market share.
• It can be divided into 3 segments: premium, mid-range and mass. In the present times, Ariel and Surf dominate the premium market. Tide, Rin and Henko rule the mid-range.
• And finally, Ghari, Nirma and Wheel compete for the mass segment. In terms of revenue split, mass segment is the largest accounting for 45% of total detergent revenue.
• Mid-Range & Premium segments account for 40% and 15% respectively.

Namaste India Namaste Bharat

• Namaste India is one of the brands run by the Gyanchandani family. Important part of the 7000 crore RSPL Group, NIF Pvt Ltd (NIFPL) is fast growing leading Dairy Company in India.
• Currently NIFPL is dealing in Milk and Value-Added Dairy Products like Ghee, Butter, Flavoured milk and Lassi under brand name Namaste India. Today Namaste India is delighting millions with its healthy, tasty and quality dairy products.

Editor’s Note

• Not only the fast-moving consumer goods market of India is thankful to Mr. Gyanchandani for keeping vigorous but India is proud of this baron. UP’s richest is a firm believer of modest living and his owes his success to his humble beginning. He remained true to his own brand tagline ‘Pehle istemaal karein phir vishwas karein!!’

Keywords

• #gyanchandani#uttarpradesh#ghadidetergent#namasteindia

BYD in India sees tax mess

• Though BYD has paid a tax amounting to USD 9 million, this seems to be too less and could lead to additional tax charges and penalties. India taxes imports of fully built electric cars at 70% or 100% based on the value of the vehicle, but levies 15% or 35% on imports of car parts that are then assembled locally into an EV. Those lower rates, however, are only applicable when parts such as a battery pack or motor are imported, without being mounted on a vehicle chassis. One of the sources said BYD had not met these conditions, making it liable to pay either 70% or 100% depending on the value of the car.
• Officials at BYD have been facing difficulties in obtaining Indian visas for over a year. Their plans to meet chosen designates in India met with Visa constraints.
• Megha Engineering is negotiating with BYD to assemble the Atto 3 and E6 electric cars in India. However, their proposal for a USD1 billion equal joint venture is still pending approval from India's Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

HINDI-CHINI BHAI BHAI? Not anymore?

• Companies from China have come under the spotlight in India since 2020 when border clashes broke out between the neighbours.
• Smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp has been accused of illegal remittances to foreign entities in the name of royalties, allegations it has denied and challenged in court.
  • # Smartphone brands Vivo and Oppo are appointing Indian distributors in each state as the primary source of product supply to the trade to help resolve a long-standing point of conflict with the Centre. The aim is to localise the distribution structure in India, two industry executives said. Vivo and Oppo are the largest brands of China's biggest smartphone manufacturer BBK Group.
  • # Newer apps like Beijing-headquartered Asia Innovations Group’s UpLive are also coming up in India. The app, which allows users to broadcast and view live videos, has over 50 million download
  • # Fear gripped investors after reports said China's second largest realtor Evergrande is likely to default on a USD 83.5 million interest due on its loans to banks.
  • # Chinese Home Appliances Major, Hair invested INR 3500 crore in Indian market generating 3500 jobs despite diverse constraints.

Editor’s Note

• BYD has already invested more than USD200 million in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally scrutinizes all investment proposals from companies that are either based in countries that share a land border with India or have an investor from one of these nations. It is now considering exempting proposals where the so-called beneficial ownership is less than 10%, which means the investor may be from a neighbouring country but holds only a small stake in the firm proposing the investment. Though that does not apply to all. The blue-eyed boys of the Prime Minister like PayTM are an exception.

KEYWORDS

• #byd #chineseauto #indiantax

How is ONDC helping?

• It stands for Open Network Digital Commerce which is currently in Beta Testing mode in 180 cities of India. The main aim of this website is creating a web e-commerce experience. It works on the motive of creating a dual experience for both buyer and seller.
• This new technique of delivering items will totally disrupt the market from its core. This is really cost effective and the customers can save up to 20% on the food item’s cost.
•  It is backed by the Central Government which help in gaining the trust of the customers in order to complete the direct transactions without any mediator.

What lead BBHA to adapt ONDC?

• Bruhath Bangalore Hotels Association (BBHA) has joined hands with GrowthFalcons which is a registers on ONDC. The association has more than 2000 hotels and restaurants in the region.
• Even the commission rate of ONDC is 8%, which is way higher than other platforms. Even for small owners who are completing relying on these platforms will be get benefit from ONDC. The main reason behind this step is to provide the maximum visibility to hotels and restaurants in the city.
• In order to meet the expectations of the association, ONDC has to focus on providing quick deliveries without hampering the taste and hygiene of the products.

Editor’s Note

• This step by the Bengaluru’s hotels association is going to create a huge buzz in the city for a while. This modern evolution in the food and beverage industry will give a new direction to the delivery eco-system.

KEYWORDS

• #bengaluru#ondc#zomato#swiggy#e-commerce