Post Reply
181-200 of 440
Spice Group chairman BK Modi back to running business, plans to raise a billion dollars
27 Oct, 2011, 0940 hrs IST, Lison Joseph & Satish John, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Clad in an ash-coloured waist coat, blue
jeans and a straw-coloured hat, Bhupendra Kumar Modi, chairman of the
Rs 9,800-crore Spice group could easily be mistaken for a Bollywood
producer. For sure, he has interests in the entertainment industry
but it is the mobile handset industry that is giving him the rush of
adrenalin, these days.
Not since 1982,
when he famously rode the Modi Xerox joint venture into India, has he
been so excited as he is now. In the early eighties, Modi was the
single-point gateway for many foreign multinational corporations keen
on entering India. Then, about 25 MNCs tapped Modi to facilitate
their India foray.
Straight out of the
strategy session with senior executives - at his new headquarters in
a modern, glass and steel building mysteriously named 'Boomerang' in
Mumbai's Saki Naka - Modi shares with ET his ambitious plans for the
future.
At about the same time, his
daughter Divya Modi was in Stockholm selling probably a very similar
story to European investors at a road show to raise funds for his
mobility business.
" We are looking
to raise about $100 million this year, and perhaps another billion
dollars next year," Modi says casually. At the pace at which he
has been acquiring companies across Southeast Asia, and his still
insatiate appetite for more, Modi would certainly need the money. He
is currently negotiating with three companies - Techno in South
Africa, QMobile in Vietnam and Cherry Mobile in Philippines.
His
biggest purchase so far has been an Indonesian handset manufacturer
Nexian, which he bought in May for around $175 million according to
business magazine Forbes. In 2009, flush with cash - about Rs 2,700
crore - from the sale of his Indian telecom operations under the
banner Spice Communication to Idea Cellular, Modi was looking for
suitable assets in Southeast Asian economies.
However,
he soon realised that the firms he wanted to buy preferred to work
with an Asian company and not necessarily an Indian company. So in
2009, Modi bought the Singapore-listed firm Mediaring for S$60
million. He renamed it Si2i, where i2i stands for Indonesia to Ivory
Coast, making it his umbrella firm for Asian operations. Mediaring
gave Modi access to subsidiaries in Tokyo, Kuala Lampur, Shanghai and
Beijing. Armed with Mediaring, Modi went shopping for handset makers
across neighbouring countries.
First to
be folded into Modi's i2i was Malaysia's CL group, in which he picked
up 65% for $25 million. He followed up with NewTel of Thailand with a
popular local brand called Blueberry. For the $22 million that Modi
paid for NewTel he also got operational bases in Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar. The acquisitions are aimed at helping Modi increase handsets
sales from the current 1.5 million pieces to 10 million a month over
the next three years. " Don't judge us by what we sell now,"
says Modi.
" Judge us by what we are
going to sell." " Emerging markets are high growth markets.
Sales are higher than matured markets. This is an ideal strategy for
mobile phone handset makers who are looking for high growth,"
says Anshul Gupta of Gartner's principal research analyst. " We
are in talks with leading handset makers in the Philippines and
Vietnam," Modi said. That is besides his planned big buy in
South Africa, where Modi is close to buying a local brand that claims
sales of about 1.3 million handsets a month across the African
continent.
Even as he is stitching
together a pan-Asian story, investors are yet to give him the thumbs
up. To be fair, Modi has no qualms in admitting that his listed firm
in Singapore is not doing well, at least when looked at from the
share price perspective. Integration of all the companies he has been
picking up in the Asian markets may also be one reason why investors
are wary, at least for now. " They are looking to see our story,"
Modi said speculating on possible investor rationale for not rushing
to his company's shares.
On His Indian
Competitors
With Modi talking mobile
handsets and talking of millions of unit sales a month, it is only
fair to compare what he wants to do with famous Indian handset
stories such as Micromax. Although Micromax popularised it, Spice was
the first to introduce dual-SIM mobile phones in India. However,
Spice is generally perceived to have failed to capitalise on that
first-mover advantage. " They (Micromax) are very good at
mobiles." But that's where the comparison ends according to
Modi. " I don't know whether they will be able to make the
transition to mobile internet. They do not have the value added
services. We have." Modi goes on to point out that Micromax does
not own a handset retail chain, which he does - about 800 stores.
The Story So Far
To
back up a little and trace his footsteps, in 1982, Modi believed he
had created its own identity for his fledgling group. He started with
two copy shops, one in Delhi and one in Mumbai with four demo
machines he got from Xerox free of cost. The demo machines were to be
sent back to the firm in six months, but Modi managed to get
extensions without having to return it. Although he was a joint
venture partner, he wanted to run it his way but with the branding of
the MNC and laws around foreign ownership helped Modi. " I was
working with Xerox and not under them. That was the best decision I
took in my life, when we created the company keeping in mind the
culture of India, the customer requirements," he remembers with
nostalgia. There were huge learnings from that venture. Eventually in
early 90s, when Indian government opened up the gates and relaxed
rules around foreign ownership, Modi sold his share to Xerox for a
handsome profit.
The Come Back
This
is probably his third attempt to make it big in business. After the
Modi Xerox exit and several other joint ventures, he had dived into
the then-nascent mobile telephony market in India, with operations in
Punjab and Karnataka which he later sold for a neat profit to Idea
Cellular. Modi had raised quite a few eyebrows in 2003 when he took
an early sabbatical at the age of 50. He renounced his business
interests in favour of his wife and son to practice vipaasana and
became a Buddhist, only to soon return to the rough and tumble of
running a business house. It all started when Modi once called his
son Dilip from London. Dilip was visiting his grandfather's - Modi's
father's - memorial for inspiration. Modi's immediate reaction was,
" Aren't you missing the link in between - me, your father?"
Slowly came the realisation that he is not anywhere close to what his
father was in stature and accomplishment.
Of
Hat And Casual Attire
Modi may be a
rarity, in that, he is one of the very few Indian business
personalities to be seen perpetually wearing a hat. When Modi decided
to come out of the ashram, he sported an hirsute look. Obviously, it
did not go well with his taking over the reins of the company. For a
company that caters to the youth, the chairman should have a style
that he could call his own. " When I went to America and
Facebook's office, I saw that everybody was wearing jeans," Modi
said. " Look at the attire of Steve Jobs, he had to relate to his
customers, he has to connect with them." That's when he decided
on his trade mark attire of blue jeans, waist coat and hat, Modi
says.
Father, Son And Daughter Team
With the riches from the Spice stake
sale, Modi was grappling on how to deploy the money. " I was
discussing with my son and daughter. We can either create a
diversified group or we can create one company," he reasons. So
McKinsey, the management consulting firm asked the Modis, what do you
want? His ambition was to become a " top group" . " If
you want to make 10 billion into 20 billion and you can make
$20billion in one industry, the way forward is not to set up five
industries, the consultants reasoned " That's how it started," he
explains of his move to set up a beachhead in Singapore.
The
Other Modi
His nephew, Lalit of IPL
is the other Modi in the news. Quiz him about his nephew, with whom
he enjoys good rapport, Modi is philosophical. " You can't run a
public company like it is a private company. Somehow, he lost that.
He tried to run BCCL as a private company. He was very successful at
that. I follow the law of the land. It is foolish not to follow it,"
he says.
CMR’s India Mobile Handsets Usage and Satisfaction Study 2011 Reveals 64% users happy with mobile handset brand performance - Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, Micromax achieve higher overall satisfaction - Customers expect aspirational features -- MP3 players, Digital Cameras -- in entry level phones March 23, 2011 |
 |
New Delhi / Gurgaon, March 23, 2011: In the mobile handsets market dominated by a near 100 per cent 'Total Awareness' of multinational brands Nokia and Samsung, Indian consumers lapped up mobile phones with advanced features at affordable prices from new and emerging brands, reveals a Mobile Handsets Usage And Satisfaction Study 2011 of over 4,425 respondents conducted by CyberMedia Research (CMR).
Easy availability and a promise of efficient after-sales support became the other key motivators for end users to show increasing preference for new and emerging brands. The India mobile handsets market has witnessed a huge influx of mobile handset brands during 2009 and 2010 which saw launches by a number of emerging mobile handset players for the mass market as well as niche segments in both urban and rural areas.
At last count, well over 200 mobile handset brands were available at retail outlets across the country, according to CyberMedia Research (CMR). New and emerging brands provide attractive features like QWERTY keypads, MP3 players, long battery back up, dual or triple SIM card slots, add-on memory card slots, elegant looks, style and finish at competitive prices, thus giving established brands a run for their money.
There has been a paradigm shift in the mobile handsets market with a strong uptake in shipments of 'value for money', competitively priced models by a large proportion of Indian consumers. Traditionally, India has been a price sensitive market, and CMR's research has reinforced this trend for mobile handsets.
Brand Recall and Purchase Decision Criteria
Nokia captures the lion's share of Indian consumers’ mindspace with a 56% top-of-mind recall (TOM), followed by Samsung and LG. However, in terms of 'total awareness' emerging handset brands are close on the heels of global brands.
| Table 1: Brand-wise Scores on 'Total Awareness': India Mobile Handset Users | ||||||||||||
|
While Nokia remained as the most well recognized brand in terms of 'total awareness', emerging Indian brands like Micromax and Spice have managed to attract a large following. The bouquet of feature phones and smartphones at affordable prices launched by these emerging vendors led to customer satisfaction and delight for the Indian consumers while giving their more established global counterparts a run for their money.
According to Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice President, Research and Consulting, CMR India, " Emerging mobile handset players with their highly innovative features have been able to influence the buying decision for first time buyers, especially the youth and blue collar executives. This translates to a higher conversion of 'perceptual loyalty' into 'eventual loyalty' for new and emerging players vis-à-vis the established global vendors.
“Indian handset buyers are increasingly more feature conscious, applications aware and value conscious, rather than being plain 'brand loyal' in the traditional sense of the term,” added Anirban.
| Table 2: Brand-wise Scores, 'Perceptual Loyalty' and 'Eventual Loyalty': India Mobile Handset Users | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Source: CMR March, 2011 |
Among the established, global brands, LG and Samsung users, showed comparatively higher consistency in terms of perceptual loyalty translating into eventual loyalty. Users of new, emerging brands like Karbonn, G’Five and Maxx showed equivalent levels of commitment.
Consumers rated durability (35%) as the most important factor while buying a mobile handset, followed by brand preference (29%) and service & support quality (20%).
Post Purchase Experiential Touchpoints
A majority of Blackberry users (66%) felt their handsets provided 'excellent' or 'very good' value for money, followed by Nokia users (58%) and Samsung users (57%). Amongst new, emerging brands G’five users (56%) showed the maximum score on the same attributes. Other new, emerging brands like Micromax (54%) and Spice (54%) closely follow this trend. 'Satisfaction with overall performance' followed a similar pattern.
| Figure 1: Brand-wise Scores on 'Satisfaction with Overall Performance': India Mobile Handset Users | |
|
In areas like Customer Care and After Sales Support, niche brands like Blackberry (86%) were able to delight their customers. Emerging brands like Micromax (74%) and Spice (66%) also showed promise on this parameter, at par with the established brands like Nokia (78%), LG (74%) and Samsung (71%).
Most Used and Desired Features
According to Suman Dutta, Lead Analyst, Consumer Research, CMR India, " Launch of mobile handset models with innovative features by new and emerging vendors has changed the mindset of the Indian consumer. The two most used features on a daily basis were MP3 Player (60%) and FM Radio (48%). Experience with QWERTY Keypad or Touchscreen is no longer on top of a buyer's wishlist, as these are now available in basic featurephones."
" Going forward, users would like to see MP3 Player and Integrated Digital Camera included as part of the package in an entry level handset. Users are increasingly inclined towards storage of pictures and songs on their handsets this explains the increasing awareness of and desire for External Memory Card Slot (61%) in their next handset" , Suman further added.
Belteshazzar ( Date: 12-Oct-2011 09:15) Posted:
|
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Nexian to Go Global, Teaming up with S i2i
Following the previous success of penetrating into local market share and obtaining 10 million users, Nexian is going global by teaming up with Singapore-based provider, S i2i Limited.
Si2i Limited has established global networks, connecting the dots in Malaysia, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa and the United States. Services offered by the company range to voice feature, mobile broadband and mobile voice over internet protocol (VoIP).
" We're ready to be one-on-one with Nokia, Samsung and other manufacturers by applying our unique approaches," said BK Modi, Head of S i2i Limited Board of Directors in Jakarta, today. " Our market shares are valued at around US$3 billion," he said.
The product, S Nexian, will combine Nexian and S i2i, applying user-friendly connection-based apps like S Cloud and S Mobile, among any others.
" We offer the device to facilitate people to connect to the Internet easily," said Martono Jaya Kusuma, CEO of Selular Group. " Even an 8-year-old boy will be able to gain easy access to the Internet."
The device will feature child lock facility which helps children use their mobile phones safely.(VIVAnews)
http://www.cslcare.com/index.php/newsaevents/164-dr-bk-modi-group-chairman-of-spice
| Dr. B.K. Modi, Group Chairman of Spice |
| September 2011 |
 | |||||
IPhone 4S Sales May Reach 4 Million on Debut
IPhone 4S Sales May Reach 4 Million This Weekend
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
The device, available today in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and U.K., is projected to outperform last year’s introduction of the iPhone 4, which topped 1.7 million units in its introductory weekend.
The device, available today in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and U.K., is projected to outperform last year’s introduction of the iPhone 4, which topped 1.7 million units in its introductory weekend. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is poised to sell as many as 4 million units of its new iPhone 4S this weekend as customers around the world clamor for one of the last products developed under Steve Jobs.
The device, available today in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and U.K., is projected to outperform last year’s introduction of the iPhone 4, which topped 1.7 million units in its introductory weekend. For the iPhone 4S, most estimates range from 2 million to 3 million, with Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe predicting sales of as much as 4 million.
The release represents the end of Apple’s era under Jobs, who died this month after an eight-year battle with cancer. The iPhone 4S has received mostly positive reviews for its voice- recognition software, speedier processor and improved camera. The device also provides Apple with fresh ammunition in its fight against Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software, which will appear on a host of new smartphones in the year-end holiday season.
“It’s going to easily outpace any previous launch,” said Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Co. in New York. It helps that the iPhone is available on the three largest U.S. carriers for the first time, which will bring in new buyers, he said.
Apple also has released an update to its iOS mobile operating system, which customers can download to their existing devices. The software comes with 200 new features and a Web storage service for synchronizing photos, documents, music and other files across different Apple gadgets.
Google Competition
While the iPhone is the best-selling single smartphone, all of the devices running Google’s Android operating system account for more of the industry’s sales. HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and other manufacturers have adopted the software. Google offers Android for free and then makes money on mobile advertising and services. That revenue now accounts for $2.5 billion a year, the company said yesterday when it released quarterly results.
Apple’s shares have jumped more than 10 percent this week, boosted by speculation that the iPhone 4S will be a hit. The stock closed at $408.43 yesterday, making Apple the world’s most valuable business. Its market capitalization now stands at $378.7 billion, compared with $371.3 billion for the second- ranking company, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)
About 25 customers were lined up outside Apple’s Midtown Manhattan store at lunch yesterday. In Tokyo, about 80 people were lined up a day before the debut. Jobs’s admirers have turned storefronts into makeshift memorials, adding a solemn tone to the frenzy that accompanies the company’s product releases. Jobs co-founded Apple and returned to the company after a 12-year absence, rescuing it from near-bankruptcy.
Sell Out
“They are going to sell out,” said Yankee Group’s Howe, who is based in Boston.
High demand for the new iOS 5 software contributed to glitches at Apple even before the iPhone 4S went on sale. Customers downloading it to their older phones overwhelmed the company’s servers, making it harder to upgrade.
Apple hasn’t said how many people were affected. The wait time to get a call back from an Apple support representative via the company’s Express Lane service is much longer than usual. Typically, an Apple rep will call back within a few hours. Now, the earliest appointments aren’t for days.
Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to comment.
The iPhone 4S will go on sale later this month in 22 additional countries, including Ireland, Italy, Mexico and Spain. Apple didn’t say when it will be available in China, a country Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has said will be critical for the company’s future growth.
Rush of Preorders
Apple said earlier this week that it had received more than 1 million preorders for the iPhone 4S. The three U.S. carriers selling the device -- AT& T Inc. (T), Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) -- sold out as well. The demand puts Apple on pace to sell a record number of iPhones in the quarter ending in December, according to the analysts’ reports. Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray Cos., estimates that Apple could sell more than 25 million iPhones this quarter.
The iPhone, first introduced in 2007, has become Apple’s top moneymaker, accounting for almost half its total revenue. Sales from the new model won’t be part of the fourth-quarter financial results Apple is due to release on Oct. 18. Even so, profit rose about 60 percent in the period to $6.9 billion on sales of $29.5 billion, according to the average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The release of the iPhone 4S, along with new Android models, should mean that smartphone users account for the majority of U.S. mobile-phone customers for the first time, said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics LLC in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Apple controlled 19.1 percent of the smartphone market in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC, ahead of Samsung, Nokia Oyj and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM)
Few companies can build excitement around a new product the way Apple can, Yankee Group’s Howe said.
“This is what they are good at,” he said. “They know how to make a big launch weekend.”