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Tag: Kozhikode

  • Brewing Kerala’s pride, one sip at a time

    Brewing Kerala’s pride, one sip at a time

    MUMBAI: This Kerala Piravi, Tata Tea Kanan Devan poured out a cinematic tribute to its home state, blending culture, nature and nostalgia into one flavourful celebration.

    The new brand film opens with a single dewy tea leaf, shimmering in the morning light, a quiet nod to the Kanan Devan hills where the brand was born. In a heartbeat, the leaf unfurls into sweeping drone shots of emerald plantations, gliding boats on tranquil backwaters, and the rhythmic grace of Kathakali, Kalari, and classical dance. It’s a montage that captures Kerala’s rhythm, strength and serenity, brewed with a filmmaker’s finesse.

    But Tata Tea Kanan Devan isn’t stopping at the screen. The brand has extended its celebration into the real world with a 3D anamorphic installation at Lulu Mall, Trivandrum (October 30–November 2), where visitors can walk into Kerala’s symbols brought vividly to life. Across Trivandrum, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode, bold outdoor displays add another layer of pride and colour to the campaign.

    “Tata Tea Kanan Devan has always been more than just a brand, it’s part of Kerala’s story,” said Tata consumer products president – packaged beverages, India & South Asia Puneet Das. “This Kerala Piravi, we wanted to celebrate the state’s essence in a way that feels cinematic yet deeply personal.”

    Echoing the sentiment, Monks India head, business & integration Sonali Khanna added, “Our film brings Kerala’s iconic motifs to life, giving viewers a dazzling glimpse of God’s Own Country.”

    With each frame, sip and swirl, Tata Tea Kanan Devan proves that homegrown pride, much like good tea, tastes best when brewed from the heart.

     

  • Covid takes its toll on 65-year-old iconic luggage brand

    Mumbai: The pandemic has taken its deathly hold not just on people’s lives but also their livelihoods. Business organisations across different sectors are struggling to wade through the detrimental impact of Covid-19, and many others are facing closure. One such casualty has been the Chennai-based luggage retailer, Witco.

    After running for nearly 65 years, the iconic luggage retail chain has announced its decision to shut shop after it could not recover from the severe downturn caused by the ongoing pandemic. “We regret to inform you that we have closed down our business. The decision to close down this business was not an easy one, but unfortunately due to COVID-19 and the restrictions on international travel it was not sustainable for us,” the company wrote on its website.

    The company’s mainstay was international travel which contributed a significant portion to revenue. “While domestic travel resumed to some level towards the end of last year, International travel did not pick up and this impacted our sales,” the company’s MD VP Harris told Moneycontrol.

    The initial three months of the last financial year were a complete washout because of the lockdown, and the company could recover only 25-30 per cent of business after the economy reopened. “Given our rentals, employee salaries, and other expenses, we would have not been able to survive even if we had done 50 percent of our pre-Covid business,” he added.

    According to Harris, Witco’s downward spiral began with demonetisation, announced by the government in November 2016, which worsened further, after GST impacted its sales. The pandemic and lockdown proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the retail chain. The brand also tried to take the e-commerce route to survive and registered on Amazon and Flipkart but that too did not yield returns, shared Harris.

    Travel & tourism has been one of the worst affected sectors due to the pandemic. The market share for travel-related accessories and equipment has also taken a huge hit. While most sectors are still hopeful of recovery by the end of this financial year, the travel sector remains apprehensive and could take a long time to revive, according to industry experts. Consequently, the outlook for related segments such as luggage, too, remains grim.

    The brand with a strong presence in Chennai also had stores in Trichy, Kozhikode, Bengaluru and Kochi. Witco offered not only travel bags, but also laptop bags, backpacks, school bags, as well as handbags, from renowned brands like Samsonite, Delsey, American Tourister, Nike, Puma, VIP, Skybags, Baggit, Hidesign, Wildcraft and more.

    The sudden closure of the brand has left its decades-old customers dismayed. Several of them reminisced on social media, and shared childhood memories of shopping at the stores before starting the academic year of school and college or for their first trip abroad.

    “This is super sad. Witco was that one stop that you always window shopped and ogled in Forum Mall. It was also the place where we bought the first two large samsonite boxes that every graduate student buys before he goes to the US (and that was 18 years ago!),” shared one of the customers.

    Another tweeted, “This is terrible news. the 65-year-old brand shuts down. I fondly remember trips to Anna Nagar Witco ahead of school reopening to purchase school bags. One such backpack bought in 2002 is still in use.”

  • Q2-2016: ENIL reports 11.6% YoY revenue & 15.8% PAT growth

    Q2-2016: ENIL reports 11.6% YoY revenue & 15.8% PAT growth

    BENGALURU: Indian private FM player Entertainment Network (India) Limited (ENIL) reported 11.6 per cent increase in Total Income from Operations (TIO) in the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q2-2016, current quarter) at Rs 116.27 crore as compared to the Rs 104.14 crore in Q2-2015. TIO in the current quarter was 14.5 per cent more than the Rs 101.56 crore in immediate trailing quarter.

     

    The company’s profit after tax (PAT) in Q2-2016 increased 15.8 per cent to Rs 26.97 crore (23.2 per cent margin) as compared to the Rs 23.30 crore (22.4 per cent margin) in the corresponding year ago quarter and was 4.2 per cent more than the Rs 25.88 crore (25.5 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016. The company had entered the Rs 100 crore PAT club in FY-2015 with a PAT of Rs 105.98 crore (24.2 per cent margin) on a TIO of Rs 483.48 crore. 

     

    Notes:  (1) 100,00,000 = 100 Lakhs = 10 million = 1 crore

    (2) The numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.

     

     

    Let us look at some of the other numbers reported by ENIL

     

    The company’s EBIDTA in Q2-2016 at Rs 35.71 crore (30.7 per cent margin) was 13.7 per cent more than the Rs 31.40 crore (30.2 per cent margin) in the corresponding year ago quarter and almost flat (up by 90 basis points) as compared to the Rs 35.38 crore (34.8 per cent margin) in the previous quarter.

     

    ENIL total expense (TE) in Q2-2016 at Rs 90.86 crore (78.1 per cent of TIO) was 12.3 per cent more than the Rs 80.89 crore (77.7 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and was 22.2 per cent more QoQ than the Rs 74.38 crore (73.2 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    ENIL paid 48.8 per cent higher license fee in Q2-2016 at Rs 7.83 crore (6.7 per cent of TIO) as compared to the Rs 5.27 crore (5.1 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015 and 53.3 per cent more than the Rs 5.11 crore (5 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    The company’s marketing expense in Q2-2016 at Rs 15.47 crore was (13.3 per cent of TIO) was seven per cent lower than the Rs 16.63 crore (16 per cent of TIO) in Q2-2015, but 37 per cent more than th Rs 11.29 crore (11.1 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    Employee Benefit Expense (EBE) in Q2-2016 at Rs 21.67 crore (18.6 per cent of TIO) was 7.5 per cent more than the Rs 20.17 crore (19.4 per cent of TIO), but was 1.9 per cent lower than the Rs 22.10 crore (21.8 per cent of TIO) in Q1-2016.

     

    ENIL managing director and CEO Prashant Panday said, “We are extremely happy with our results. Despite a sluggish economy, we have grown our revenues and profits substantially. With Phase-3 auctions over, we are gearing up to launch brand Mirchi into exciting new towns like Kochi and Chandigarh, as well as launch our second brand of radio in most of the major markets of the country. Radio is going to boom in the next five years, and Mirchi will surely be at the forefront.”

     

    ENIL’s participation in the first batch of Phase-3 auctions has resulted in an expansion of its footprint into seven new towns – Chandigarh, Kochi, Kozhikode, Jammu, Srinagar, Guwahati and Shillong.

     

    Further, ENIL recently received the permission from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) to acquire four stations from TV Today Network Limited, viz., Amritsar, Patiala, Shimla and Jodhpur – which the company says will be re-branded and re-launched shortly as Mirchi, adding to its North India network strength. With these 11 stations, the core Mirchi brand will now be available in 43 cities.

  • Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    Vodafone to launch 4G services in Kerala by December 2015

    MUMBAI: The Indian telecom sector is gearing up for the  4G wave. After Reliance Jio and Airtel’s plans to launch the same, now Vodafone India is all set to  launch its 4G services in Kerala by end of December 2015.

     

    Important centres including Kochi, Trivandrum and Kozhikode will be part of the first wave of the 4G roll-out, which will be launched across the circle in a phased manner.

     

    Testing of 4G services has commenced successfully. With some of the latest technological developments on the anvil, Vodafone is building robust and resilient network architecture with a strong backup to support the volumes and need for speed from customers.

     

    In addition, to offer its 3G customers a faster, smarter and better experience, Vodafone has taken several measures over the last few months. This includes making significant investments and upgrading its own network plus modernising the radio network and switching systems to deliver a new enhanced 3G experience.

     

    In addition, charging platforms have also been upgraded to facilitate a wider bouquet of products and services.

     

    Further, Vodafone is investing heavily into high capacity Fibre to significantly increase the internet connectivity to the rest of the world, which will benefit all its data subscribers. Kerala is a significant and key focus market for Vodafone India.

     

    With around 15 per cent of data revenues, it is one of the top data markets for Vodafone in India and is growing at over 80 per cent YoY, exceeding the pace of growth of the previous year. 

     

    Vodafone India business head Kerala Abhijit Kishore said, “This is an important phase for Vodafone in Kerala and our customers have a lot to look forward to. We are excited to launch our new 4G services in the superior 1800 MHz band and also provide a faster and enhanced 3G experience for our customers.”

     

    He added, “Having launched 4G services in several countries, Vodafone has the requisite expertise and experience to ensure that its service in Kerala will be best in class. We will continue to pursue our customer centric strategy of continuing to meet their evolving needs for better and smarter connectivity for both voice and data.”

     

    In the first six months of the current financial year, Vodafone has already invested more than Rs 350 crores in Kerala towards its network upgradation.

  • Emirates Invites Travellers to Explore Dubai

    Emirates Invites Travellers to Explore Dubai

    Emirates, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines is inviting passengers from India to visit its home city by announcing a range of fares. The return economy class fare including taxes from Chennai to Dubai is INR 19,869. The fares are valid for sale and travel until 31st March 2014.

     

    The fares are on offer from all 10 Emirates gateways: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata and have been specially designed to give travellers from India the chance to experience Emirates’ award-winning product and service and the airline’s home city at an even more attractive price.

     

    An added benefit is that until 7th October 2013 Indian nationals can apply for a Dubai “Express Tourist Visa” at the cost of the “Normal Tourist Visa” for only Rs 5150, a saving of 25% from the normal price.

     

    “We are extremely pleased to give our passengers across India the opportunity to experience Emirates’ renowned product and service at even better value for money”, said, Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice President India and Nepal. “As the fares are valid until March it allows people to plan their trip and visit our home city when they wish. With so much to see and do in Dubai there is always a reason to visit and there are plenty of upcoming attractions in the coming months.”

     

    Emirates offers many features on its flight to and from India which have been specially tailored for its passengers from India. The award-winning inflight entertainment system, ice offers up to 1500 channels and includes programming in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil, Telegu, Gujurati, Punjabi and Urdu. Some highlights onboard this month include:

     

    30 Hindi movies including 4 New Movies in Sept- Go Goa Gone, Shootout at Wadala, Race 2, Jolly LLB

     

         *   4 Kannada movies  including Bheema Theeradalli
         *   4 Marathi movies including Premachi Goshta
         *   6 Malayalam movies including Businessman
         *   6 Tamil movies including Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga
         *   4 Telegu movies including Mr. Nookaiah
         *   4 Gujariti movies including Ver Ni Vasulat – Ek aag
      *   A large selection of TV channels including dedicated channels to Bollywood Pop     Videos, Hindi Classic Songs, Comedy and many more.
      *   Hours of dedicated music & audio channels featuring today’s most popular including:
         *   The soundtrack to Chennai Express (movie soundtrack)
         *   Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (movie soundtrack)
    In addition the airline offers three regional menus onboard designed to cater to the Indian palate and a generous baggage allowance of 30 kilogrammes in Economy Class, rising to 40kgs in Business Class and 50kgs in First Class.

     

    Once in Dubai, there are many activities to keep visitors entertained. The Dubai International Film Festival in December features many movies from Bollywood. The ever-popular Dubai Shopping Festival will start in January and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature follows in March.
    Dubai is also home to a number of world-famous sites and attractions for visitors to enjoy. From experiencing skiing indoors on year-round snow, experience the view from the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, a walk around the gold and spice souks or enjoying the world-class shopping and hotels; Dubai has so much to offer.