Between Sinthee More on BT Road and Sodepur further north, large format malls are coming up soon. BT Road sees good amount of traffic all day long, much of which are heavy trucks that cross Vivekananda Bridge to enter the city, and/or passing through connecting roads to fall on Jessore Road, before taking NH-34 to […]
The India story
Finance Minister Chidambaram’s job is full of thorns. He is credited with once presenting a ‘dream budget’. Accolades there have been, but now one sees creases increasing on his forehead. The main reason: inflation is inching up. First the Congress President, now even the country’s President has expressed dismay at rising prices of essentials. [Image […]
FDI versus FII
India is gradually entering that stage from where it’ll be able to grow by leaps and bounds. All figures point in that direction – the GDP growth, the inching high of inflation, and now the FDI amount. FDI, or Foreign Direct Investment, has seen doubling from $3.23 billion in 2004-05 to $7.23 billion in 2006-07 […]
Splendor of splurging
No longer is country’s consuming populace held back by lack of choice. A far cry from days when ‘phoren’ goods used to define how ‘well’ one is, today’s consumers have learnt to live life ‘kingsize’, which is by way of splurging over consumer items. Let us look at some figures that stare at me in […]
After Apollo, it’s Fortis
Are we to see this sign soon at many city places? Indeed so, going by today’s TT report. If you’ve no clue what Fortis is, well it’s the healthcare arm of Delhi-based drug makers, Ranbaxy Laboratories. With quite a few hospitals to its credit mainly in Delhi, Fortis now plans to launch retail health stores, […]
Wal-Mart and the rest
Even a couple of years back, terms like SKU (aka Stock Keeping Unit) and hypermart were largely unknown to common people. Today – if not SKU as yet – hypermart and supermarket are no longer some Latin or Greek lexicon to us. They are flowering here, there, everywhere. Admittedly, the concept of supermarket is not […]
Reliance’s retail push
When giants move nimbly, you may miss even their shadows. Of course, such is the hotting up of the scenario that it’ll be foolish to announce plans from rooftops. Experts say there is enough space for every big player. If however you look at how biggies like Reliance are moving in retail sector, it would […]
Calcutta International School and Forum
What’s common to Forum, that famed Elgin Road shopping plaza, and Calcutta International School (CIS)? The answer is The Courtyard. The what, you may ask. Well, The Courtyard is in fact the name of what Forum plans to build in the school’s erstwhile 20 Lee Road campus. It is that patch of land, which is […]
Onrush of retailing
Close to where I stay, on the eastern side of EM Bypass near Mukundapur, a big construction is going on occupying several acres. The signpost – or signboard if you prefer – at the site declares that it is for the German retail giant, Metro Cash & Carry. The frenetic activity matches with almost ceaseless […]
Kolkata’s bad roads
About 2 months back, when the ever-smiling CEO of GE came calling to India, Jeffrey Immelt gave an interview on NDTV. He heads one of the largest US multinationals, which has its fingers in almost every business pie one can conceive of, and so justifiably his account on doing business in India was worth listening […]