There is so much talk of the death of brick-and-mortar retail as a consequence of the aggressive advent of e-commerce into the country, when the fact is that shopping malls have just got started in India - and they are definitely here to stay. As developers learn through trial and error and come up with more winning formulas for their malls, and as a retailers get more into omnichannel selling, we will see the Great Indian Mall revolution spin into its next cycle of evolution.
Why the Indian Mall Story Rocks
Unlike 'couch potato' e-commerce shopping, malls offer an experience... a touch-and-feel benefit which online shopping cannot. Also, going to a mall becomes an outing for the family and friends, often coupled with a meal at the food court and a movie at the cineplex. All this in air-conditioned comfort, escalators and lifts connecting everything to the parking below, and scrupulously cleaned sanitary facilities at all levels. The massive Indian middle class loves this experience and online retail is unlikely to put malls in the shade in India anytime soon.
The Impact of E-commerce
This is not to say that e-commerce has not had an impact. Definitely, Indians who know how to navigate the online world (and they are quite a lot - about 300 million Indians use the Internet today) may not go to a mall if they need just a few things and for which they can wait a few days. The commute to and from a mall is an important factor considering that going to the car park and waiting for your turn to take the elevator is a daunting task, and it is definitely not worth it just for picking up a handful of non-critical items. However, Indians are also quite open to deferring smaller purchases for the weekends, when they can couple the shopping with other activities which a mall can offer.
No doubt, online shopping portals offer more variety and deeper discounts. However, it is generally known that the deep discount ethos will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. These portals have been investing heavily into garnering a loyal customer base, and margins have been thin at best.
In the end, it is evident that both online shopping and physical retail will continue to coexist in India, without impacting each other too much. In the West, online retail has proved to be a major disruptor for physical retail - especially given the fact that there is no dearth of things for families to do on weekends.
As a result, visiting a mall ranks much lower on the general population's priority list. In India, our cities have developed haphazardly, open spaces are vanishing and public transport is often shaky and unreliable. In such a scenario, a visit to a clean, visually vibrant and centrally air-conditioned mall is a major attraction.
A Growing Spread
Cities that have seen maximum malls include Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi in NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune. Over the next 5 years, nearly 85 malls are expected to come up in India, and more than 30 new malls accounting for nearly 14 million sq. ft. area are expected to open just in the top eight cities by 2020.
Low vacancy levels and high rentals in Tier I cities are now also paving the way for retail expansion in tier II cities like Lucknow, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Mangalore and Ahmedabad, to name a few. In fact, sensing immense opportunities and easy penetration into the Indian retail diaspora, overseas retailers are now expanding not just in metros but even tier 2 cities namely Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Jaipur. This has led to mushrooming of malls all across the country.
We are definitely NOT looking at a deathbed scenario here - as a matter of fact, just the opposite. However, like every other real estate vertical in India, retail has also had to evolve with the times in order to retain its allure.
Diversification - the Mixed-use Mantra
It has become increasingly evident that no mall in India today can depend solely on shopping as its prime source of revenue-generation and footfalls. Developers have understood that they need to transform their malls into community spaces to stay relevant to today's far more discerning customers. Besides seeking a holistic shopping experience, consumers want to be comfortable and have something that inspires them to stay longer and, more essentially, persuades them to return.
This has led to a constant effort by Indian mall operators to provide the required specialized experience. Thus, most malls are striving to become prominent ‘shoppertainment’ locations. Today’s top-performing shopping malls are mixed-use businesses that incorporate social entertainment options, provide unique appeal along with certain depth in the shopping experience, and are in prime locations that are easily accessible by both public and private transport.
Size DOES Matter
Since large malls are better able to incorporate all the features required for successful operations, they tend to do better than the smaller ones. For instance, the footfalls in Total Mall at Sarjapur Road in Bangalore are far less than Phoenix Market City in Whitefield area. The latter is much larger and provides a complete ‘experience’ including shopping, entertainment, restaurants, movies etc. In contrast, the former is a smaller mall with just a few retail outlets and minimum entertainment facilities.
Reinvented Malls - What Lies Beneath?
Despite the incessant consumer appetite for malls in India, many malls did not work out. This can happen for a variety of reasons – the wrong location lacking public transport access, insufficient or unscientific parking arrangements, lack of research for what kind of retailers will work in a given micro-market (leading to an unsuitable tenant mix), lack of a food court, etc.
Strata-ownership of shops was also a major issue in many of the failed malls, as this invariably meant that the mall did not have the benefit of centrally paid-for professional mall management services. This results in the poor upkeep of facilities, no promotional activities to drive footfalls, and no professional advisory services on how the mall should be tenanted - or, if necessary, reinvented.
In fact, many malls that have failed to perform as per expectations over the years have either been converted into commercial office spaces or even been developed into residential buildings. Some classic examples include Ansal Plaza in Delhi which has been converted into more of a commercial complex, while Jewel Square, Kakade Centre Port and East Court in Pune have also been converted into office spaces. Malls such as Nirmal Lifestyles, Mumbai are being 'reborn' as residential buildings.
Endless Evolution
It is more than evident that the Indian retail industry has been on a steep unlearning/learning curve. This process is by no means complete, and in fact will never be complete. The retail scene in India, as well as the rest of the world, is changing far too rapidly for players to become complacent. What works today may not work five years from now.
In other words, the process of evolution for the retail industry is a constant work-in-progress - and yes, there will always be winners and losers. However, given the rapid pace of adaptation we are seeing today, it is more than likely that ten years from now, there will be far more winners than losers. Shopping malls are simply to cost-intensive to warrant adventurous experimentation and risk-taking. At any given time, only the tried-and-tested models will actually work.
The 5th India International MSME Start Up Expo witnessed encouraging sessions for the young innovators by experts focusing on innovation, reformation and transformation at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
The key speakers at the event included Minister of State, Department of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution CR Chaudhary, Chairman ITDC, UAE SK Aggarwal, Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Chairman Stic Travels Subhash Goyal and many others.
The three-day event starting June 22-24, 2018 was spearhead by the MSME Development Forum, a not for profit organisation, which has been at the forefront of growth and promotion of small businesses with a thrust on start-ups towards building entrepreneurs in India. The Forum works as a catalyst for interface between government and entrepreneurial activities and has been relentlessly working towards developing an entrepreneurial culture in the country.
Addressing the event, Minister of State, Department of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution CR Chaudhary, emphasised on encouraging young entrepreneurs. He states, “There is a need of more employment and export in the country. Employment is generated by new setups. Young people have new innovative ideas. In fact, more than 60% of stalls have been taken by young innovators country need. Even as per our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, youth should be encouraged to an entrepreneur. One must become service provider not service seeker. Thus, SMEs should be given more assistance and support. Only then the moto – ‘Perform, Reform and Transform’ will happen. People of Delhi and nearby areas should come and take advantage of the expo and should encourage new innovators.”
Discussing about agriculture sector, Ministry of Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat says, “The two major problems of our agriculture sector are fragmentation of land and high pressure on resources. There is no capacity building in agriculture sector. MSME is the only way to revive the sector in India. The holistic solutions provided by the government have helped in improving the sector but to sustain it we need MSME involvement to take it further and this will help in doubling the income of the farmer”
Rajnish Goenka, Chairman, MSME – DF says, “We are aiming to make India as World's manufacturer and sourcing hub alternative to China. Importantly, we have also tried to create a political will among political parties to acknowledge this movement.”
There were various topics covered in the on-going expo in different sessions that is Innovative Financing & Founding Opportunities for MSMEs & Startups, MSME in Tourism, Logistics & Service sector, Vendor Development in Railways, Defence & Govt/PSUs and Agri Business: Doubling Farmer’s income.
The agenda of the exposition is to promote entrepreneurship & self-employment to generate maximum job opportunities. The event will also provide one stop global platform to connect, network, partner and share information with Domestic & International SMEs to find new business opportunities in either country. The expo also aims to spread awareness about Government’s promotional schemes to make new Entrepreneur and transform job seekers to job creators. It accelerates growth of MSMES , Startups and Budding entrepreneur .In addition, it focuses to bring Small Entrepreneurs on a single platform and address their persistent issue and concerns. The agenda will also target to be the leading MSME Startup Advocacy Forum.
The event witnesses more than 20,000 visitors, 250 exhibitors, 100 B2G/B2B Meetings, 50 Embassies & Global Participants, 30 banks and investors, 15 PSUs-Government Departments and 10 concurrent summits.
Self-driving car rental company Zoomcar has launched 25 electric vehicles at Miyapur metro station here for daily metro commuters.
The company introduced 25 Mahindra e2oPlus cars.
"This will help facilitate the travel of metro commuters looking to complete their last mile journey affordably with the convenience of self-drive", Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) Managing Director N V S Reddy said.
The EV rental charges currently start at Rs 8.50 per km and it is a cost-effective and eco-friendly option for commuters.
In the near future, Zoomcar plans to expand the service to enable one-way movement to Madhapur and Gachibowli for IT employees, who can use these services to commute between their office and metro stations.
Along with this, Zoomcar's cycle sharing service PEDL, has deployed around 500 cycles across Hyderabad (in Gachibowli, Madhapur, Ameerpet, Begumpet etc) for people to cover last mile connectivity.
The present charges are Rs 3 for 30 minutes.
"Hyderabad has shown a good response in terms of demand for both cycles and EVs and has also helped commuters save money and help the environment by adopting these eco-friendly and cost-effective modes of transport," Reddy added.
By Manu Sharma
India's leading venture capital firm - YourNest - announced that it will raise funds amounting to Rs 300 crore as its second round of funding. As India has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem and deep technology startups is superseding all other's expectation, YourNest will focus mainly on 3-4 deep technology startups and create unicorns over the next few years.
As per reports, deep technology offers an opportunities to reach 20 percent from current 7 percent of exports. Just as IT as a service outgrew expectations, YourNest portfolios of Fund 1 & Fund 2 are aligned with the trend and intend to enable disruptor's.
"Deep tech companies represent the next growth wave in India and are poised to grow exponentially, enabling Indian startups to become unicorns i.e. a start-up company valued at more than a billion dollars and also build global businesses," said Sunil K Goyal, Founder & CEO, YourNest Capital Advisors P Ltd.
He adds that YourNest wants to focus on advanced robotics and invest in firms that will automate manufacturing, improve healthcare for the elderly and make lives safer for those working in hazardous conditions. We are looking at startups in electronic system design, enterprise, SaaS, software delivery, automation, deep learning and artificial intelligence.
Some of the deep tech startups, YourNest has invested includes: emotix, arya.ai, pCoudy, Cove, Golflan, CRON Systems, Uniphore Software, mycity4kids, Rubique among others. Here are some of the startups, YourNest hopes to see emerging as 'Unicorns' over the next few years.
Future Unicorns
Miko: Miko is India's first children companion robot from Emotix. The firm is a new age Indian robotics and consumer electronics company founded on the pillars of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things has secured a $2M investment through funds advised by IDG Ventures India and YourNest. Founders Sneh Vaswani, Prashant Iyengar and Chintan Raikar have been building robots from their student days, but seeing an un-addressed market need with room for impact, the trio co-founded Emotix in 2014.
Emotix, is positioning its first product—Miko—as an emotionally intelligent companion robot capable of engaging, educating, and entertaining a child. The Emotix team spent almost two years perfecting the product and aims to launch more products in this space. Currently retailing for Rs 19,000 and sold in retail outlets and also on Flipkart and Amazon, Miko needs to be paired with a smartphone via Bluetooth and can provide three hours’ worth of conversations on one charge and about 1.2 hours of movements and conversation. Parents can also have access to a dashboard via a mobile app and can tweak Miko’s interactions with their children as they see fit.
pCloudy: pCloudy is owned by Smart Software Testing Solutions Inc. and was founded by former software testing experts at Oracle, Adobe, HCL Technologies, and Wipro. Collectively, they have over 50 years of experience and a strong understanding of the business challenges that enterprises encounter.
Their expertise has allowed them to design and integrate two signature cloud-based technology products, OpKey and pCloudy. Both tools focus on streamlining and improving the software development lifecycle by employing manual and automated testing. OpKey focuses on more traditional PC-based software while pCloudy targets the accelerated mobile application software space. These testing tools ensure that SSTS Inc. as a global industry provider of a complete software testing solution.
COVE & COVENET: Singapore-based IoT solutions company KaHa founded in 2015, the company, which also has offices in Switzerland, India and China, develops customisable IoT wearable platforms for companies under its brands COVE and COVENET. These white label solutions include electronics design, printed circuit board assembly, application framework for IoS and Android, cloud services, data analytics and smart after-sales service tool.
The firm primarily target consumer verticals such as health, wellness, sports and fitness, safety, smart payment, sensor-based gaming, smart fashion, home automation to smart automobile. Some examples of the products it has developed include smart bracelets, smart bands, full touch smart watches, smart T-shirts. According to a Analyst Gartner report, the global wearables market expected to grow 17 per cent this year with US$30.6 billion in revenues. Pawan Gandhi, Founder and CEO feels his company is primed and ready to meet the growing needs of this market segment.
VEGA: An end-to-end platform from Arya.ai, VEGA simplifies complex AI processes enabling developers and enterprises to focus on core product features. The startup was funded by Vinay Kumar Sankarapu and Deekshith Maria.
VEGA solves end-to-end deep learning product journey from building a neural network to production system design. Arya.ai is working in the banking and insurance and manufacturing sectors by deploying a man+machine ecosystem around VEGA to increase the efficiency of the performance, reduce the errors and track frauds. VEGA with features like agility,control, reliability, collaborate modelling and multi-functionally can jump start an enterprise, build the architecture and also the applications. Arya.in empowers its customers with a quintessential work bench, which enables companies to optimise deep learning from running their businesses successfully. The firm has banks and insurance customers in UK and are now targeting Indian customers.
Organise a special meet and greet activity with Godrej Expert’s Brand Ambassador and Actor R.Madhavan in Bangalore
Godrej Expert, India’s foremost and largest selling hair colour trusted by over 4.5 crore households, conducted a meet and greet event in Bangalore. This event was held to engage consumers and reiterate the importance of Karnataka and overall South India as a key market for the brand. The meet and greet was chaired by Ashwin Uppal, Category Head - Hair Color, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) along with Godrej Expert’s brand ambassador and renowned film actor, R.Madhavan.
The meet and greet activity was to celebrate Godrej Expert and the success it has received in Karnataka and rest of South market. This activity also gave chance to select users of Godrej Expert to meet and interact with actor R.Madhavan.
South India’s hair colour market is estimated to be worth Rs.730 crore, of which, Godrej Expert commands the highest market share. The region is a strong hair colour market for Godrej. The company’s own research shows that maximum number of hair colour entrants will be coming from the South region in near future.
Speaking on this occasion, Ashwin Uppal, Category Head - Hair Color, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) said, “South India is a very important market for Godrej Expert, and we hold a dominant position in the region. We are thankful to receive the support and immense trust from stakeholders. We are committed to further strengthen our presence across South India. Our endeavor will be to offer the most unique hair colour solutions at the best affordable price. We are confident of achieving greater penetration and growth in the region.”
In India, Godrej Expert have made hair colour accessible and aspirational for people across the country. The overall hair colour market in India is estimated at Rs.4040 Crore, with Godrej Expert, commanding a significant market share. It is the largest hair colour brand in India with a retail presence of 40 lac outlets, the highest in the category.
Godrej Expert offer a variety of products including Godrej Expert Rich Crème Hair Colour, a rich crème hair colour, Godrej Expert Original, a unique powder hair colour and Godrej Expert Advanced a gel that is extremely convenient to use.
Amid enthusiastic young entrepreneurs and global participants, the 5th India International MSME Start Up Expo was jointly inaugurated by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu, Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahan and Minister of State (IC) PMO Dr Jitendra Singh at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
The occasion was also graced by Secretary General Uttar Pradesh MP Aggarwal, Additional Chief Executive Noida AK Srivastava, Ambassador of Thailand - Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Ambassador of Azerbiajan Dr. Ashraf Shilhalvyev Ambassador of Uzbekistan Farhood Arziev and Minister Counsellor Embassy of Japan Kenko SONE.
The three-day event starting June 22-24, 2018 was spearhead by the MSME Development Forum, a not for profit organisation, which has been at the forefront of growth and promotion of small businesses with a thrust on start-ups towards building entrepreneurs in India. The Forum works as a catalyst for interface between government and entrepreneurial activities and has been relentlessly working towards developing an entrepreneurial culture in the country.
Inaugurating the event, Shri Suresh Prabhu said, “Prime Minister made a profound statement that without participation, development and regeneration of small and medium startups, we cannot succeed ignition of new India. One of the fundamental and cardinal principles of SMEs is that they take wealth to different corners of the country. SMEs earn money and in process help wealth distribution of that unlike large industries.”
Addressing the event Minister of Industrial Development in the Uttar Pradesh Government Satish Mahana says, “Uttar Pradesh is now ready to welcome all as a new industrial hub. We are ready to address all sorts of issues and also ready to provide assistance. And we wish success of the investors.”
On the occasion, Minister of State (IC) PMO, DONER Dr. Jitendra Singh says, “The States which have not participated are not aware about the centre like MSME- DF. New media will be based on strong economy and livelihood. Promotion of MSMEs ventures is important for youth. Path breaking initiative have been taken by the government for MSME in development of economy.
When an event like this happens again we(Uttar Pradesh ) will put all our sources together.”
Rajnish Goenka, Chairman, MSME – DF says, “We are aiming to make India as World's manufacturer and sourcing hub alternative to China. Importantly, we have also tried to create a political will among political parties to acknowledge this movement. There are 12 crores MSMES and 6 crores MSME units that need administrative support to create better values in society. It directly and indirectly involves more than 60 crores people of the country. In fact, MSME start-up & youth could become the game changers.”
The agenda of the exposition is to promote entrepreneurship & self-employment to generate maximum job opportunities. The event will also provide one stop global platform to connect, network, partner and share information with Domestic & International SMEs to find new business opportunities in either country. The expo also aims to spread awareness about Government’s promotional schemes to make new Entrepreneur and transform job seekers to job creators. It accelerates growth of MSMES , Statups and Budding entrepreneur .In addition, it focuses to bring Small Entrepreneurs on a single platform and address their persistent issue and concerns. The agenda will also target to be the leading MSME Startup Advocacy Forum.
The event witnesses more than 20,000 visitors, 250 exhibitors, 100 B2G/B2B Meetings, 50 Embassies & Global Participants, 30 banks and investors, 15 PSUs-Government Departments and 10 concurrent summits.
These mega events will rediscover the Ease of doing business and Opportunities in different states of India. This triangular network will expand the spectrum of this Expo. Apart from this, Startup fest, Small industries trade fair, Funding & Finance fair, vendor development Fest and ease of doing business summit are also the main attractions of the event. Several Government department, boards and PSU are putting up there to booths educate and vendor development programmes and opportunities.
Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces that its new Earth Observation (EO) Platform, officially named Mundi Web Services, is now live and being used by several clients. This platform is supported by a newly-created consortium, composed of DLR, e-Geos, EOX, GAF, Sinergise, Spacemetric, Thales Alenia Space and T-Systems, which is led by Atos, on behalf of the European Commission and ESA (European Space Agency).
Mundi gives users and companies unlimited, free and complete access to real-time geo Copernicus satellite data and enables them to combine it with their own data and tools, to build new innovative products and services that integrate accurate and real-time information from satellites. It can be used across a broad range of sectors and markets such as manufacturing, insurance, utilities, agriculture, forestry, urbanism and emergency services. The platform additionally provides access to sophisticated processing tools, resources and infrastructure, thus offering companies a single Cloud-based one-stop shop to bring added-value services to market quicker.
“The launch of the Mundi Web Services platform marks a significant milestone in Atos’ investment in Big Data, analytics and AI platforms for Space applications, through our Atos Codex offerings” says Stéphane Janichewski, Head of Defence & Aerospace Market at Atos. “These platforms will enable companies to deliver new services for the digital economy, which will provide value for society in order to address some of the greatest challenges we face today such as climate change and resource scarcity.”
Mundi is one of the five DIAS (Copernicus Data and Information Access Services) cloud-based platforms, which are officially launched today by the European Commission to EU institutions, ESA and representatives from the industry at the ‘Baveno+20 – From GMES to Copernicus and Beyond’ in Baveno, Italy today, on the 20th anniversary of the Copernicus Programme, the world’s largest single Earth Observation program.
Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 ended May 31, 2018.
“The move to hybrid cloud architecture continues to be a strategic priority for our customers. We again delivered strong revenue growth in Q1 as customers continued to adopt our cloud enabling technologies for their applications,” stated Jim Whitehurst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat. “For instance, we are driving strong growth in both subscription and services revenues for our OpenShift technologies as more customers modernize their applications in Linux containers for their hybrid cloud and digital transformation in transition, which requires that the standard be applied to all periods presented. The adoption of ASC 606 did not materially impact our total revenues as previously reported for fiscal years 2018 and 2017 and it had no impact on net cash provided by or used in operating, investing or financing activities. The primary impact of adopting ASC 606 relates to the deferral of incremental commission and other costs of obtaining contracts with customers. Previously, we deferred only direct and incremental commission costs to obtain a contract and amortized those costs over the contract term as the revenue was recognized and, under the new standard, we now also defer related fringe benefit costs. The results in this Press Release apply these changes to the current period and adjust prior periods, which are detailed in the Supplemental Information section of the Press Release.
Revenue: Total revenue for the quarter was $814 million, up 20% in USD year-over-year, or 17% measured in constant currency. Constant currency references in this release are detailed in the tables below. Subscription revenue for the quarter was $712 million, up 19% in USD year-over-year, or 16% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue in the quarter was 87% of total revenue.
Subscription Revenue Breakout: Subscription revenue from Infrastructure-related offerings for the quarter was $522 million, an increase of 14% in USD year-over-year, or 11% measured in constant currency. Subscription revenue from Application Development-related and other emerging technology offerings for the quarter was $189 million, an increase of 37% in USD year-over-year, or 32% measured in constant currency.
Operating Income: GAAP operating income for the quarter was $112 million, up 25% year-over-year. After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, and transaction costs related to business combinations, non-GAAP operating income for the first quarter was $168 million, up 19% year-over-year. For the first quarter, GAAP operating margin was 13.8% and non GAAP operating margin was 20.7%. Non-GAAP references in this release are detailed in the tables below.
Net Income: GAAP net income for the quarter was $113 million, or $0.59 diluted earnings per share (“EPS”), compared with GAAP net income of $75 million, or $0.41 diluted EPS, in the year-ago quarter.
After adjusting for non-cash share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets, transaction costs related to business combinations and non-cash interest expense related to the debt discount, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $133 million, or $0.72 diluted EPS, as compared to $104 million, or $0.58 diluted EPS, in the year-ago quarter. Non-GAAP diluted weighted average shares outstanding excludes dilution that is expected to be offset by our convertible note hedge transactions.
Cash: Operating cash flow was $346 million for the first quarter, an increase of 34% on a year-over-year basis. Total cash, cash equivalents and investments as of May 31, 2018 was $2.5 billion after repurchasing approximately $150 million, or 949,000 shares, of common stock in the first quarter. The remaining balance in the current repurchase authorization as of May 31, 2018 was approximately $249 million.
Deferred revenue: At the end of the first quarter, the company’s total deferred revenue balance was $2.4 billion, an increase of 19% year-over-year. The positive impact to total deferred revenue from changes in foreign exchange rates was $16 million year-over-year. On a constant currency basis, total deferred revenue would have been up 18% year-over-year.
Outlook: Red Hat’s outlook assumes current business conditions and current foreign currency exchange rates.
For the full year:
• Revenue is expected to be approximately $3.375 billion to $3.410 billion in USD.
• GAAP operating margin is expected to be approximately 16.4% and non-GAAP operating margin
is expected to be approximately 23.9%.
• Diluted GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $2.36 to $2.40, assuming 191 million diluted
shares outstanding. Diluted non-GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $3.44 to $3.48,
assuming 185 million diluted shares outstanding. Both GAAP and non-GAAP EPS assume a $4
million per quarter forecast for other income and an estimated annual effective tax rate of
approximately 22.5% before discrete tax items.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.035 billion to $1.045 billion.
For the second quarter:
• Revenue is expected to be approximately $822 to $830 million in USD.
• GAAP operating margin is expected to be approximately 15.1% and non-GAAP operating margin
is expected to be approximately 23.0%.
• Diluted GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $0.50, assuming 191 million diluted shares
outstanding. Diluted non-GAAP EPS is expected to be approximately $0.81, assuming 185 million
diluted shares outstanding. Both GAAP and non-GAAP EPS assume a $4 million forecast for other
income and an estimated annual effective tax rate of 22.5% before discrete tax items.
GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation:
Full year non-GAAP operating margin guidance is derived by subtracting the estimated full year impact of non-cash share-based compensation expense of approximately $215 million and amortization of intangible assets of approximately $39 million. Full year diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance is derived by subtracting the expenses listed in the previous sentence and the full year impact of non-cash interest expense related to the debt discount of approximately $20 million and an estimated annual effective tax rate of approximately 22.5% before discrete tax items. Additionally, full year diluted non-GAAP EPS excludes approximately $46 million of discrete tax benefits related to share-based compensation that are included in full year diluted GAAP EPS. Full year diluted non-GAAP EPS excludes approximately 6 million diluted shares related to the convertible notes, which are expected to be offset by our convertible note hedge transactions.
Second quarter non-GAAP operating margin guidance is derived by subtracting the estimated impact of non-cash share-based compensation expense of approximately $55 million and amortization of intangible assets of approximately $10 million. Second quarter diluted non-GAAP EPS guidance is derived by subtracting the expenses listed in the previous sentence and non-cash interest expense related to the debt discount of approximately $5 million and an estimated annual effective tax rate of 22.5% before discrete tax items.
Additionally, second quarter diluted non-GAAP EPS excludes approximately $7 million of
discrete tax benefits related to share-based compensation that are included in second quarter diluted GAAP EPS. Second quarter diluted non-GAAP EPS excludes approximately 6 million diluted shares related to the convertible notes, which are expected to be offset by our convertible note hedge transactions.
Webcast and Website Information
A live webcast of Red Hat's results will begin at 5:00 pm ET today. The webcast, in addition to a copy of our prepared remarks and slides containing financial highlights and supplemental metrics, can be accessed by the general public at Red Hat's investor relations website at htt p:/ /i nvestors.redhat.com . A replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the live event has ended. Additional information on Red Hat's reported results, including a reconciliation of the non-GAAP adjusted results, are included in the financial tables below.
Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, recently held two of nine Going Digital events planned for 2018 in Mumbai & New Delhi. More than 700 infrastructure professionals attended to hear Kaushik Chakraborty, Vice President & Regional Executive SE Asia and India & Santanu Das, Senior Vice President, Design Engineering deliver the executive keynote in respective cities, focusing on how Bentley’s products and services help engineers, design institutes, contractors, and owner-operators advance their going digital strategies.
Phil Christensen, SVP, Reality Modeling and Cloud Services presented the technology keynote, which included updates on Bentley’s iModel platform, a new paradigm for managing change that Bentley announced at the Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference in Singapore. iModelHub is a cloud service that provides project changes on a timeline and notifies project participants, based on their ProjectWise workflow configuration, about the availability of relevant changes. Participants can choose to synchronize to and from specific timeline milestones, and can visualize, summarize, analyze, and interpret the impact of ongoing changes. Without requiring changes to existing BIM applications of processes, the iModelHub cloud service:
• synchronizes and distributes changes made through discipline-specific BIM applications;
• aligns semantically and physically their consistent digital components; and
• maintains immersive visibility for comprehensive and continuous design reviews across all project disciplines and participants.
As the industry moves to deploying reality modeling on many of its projects, Rekha A., Sr. Application Engineer, Reality Modeling updated attendees on how ContextCapture accelerates the decision-making process by improving collaboration with outside agencies and services during the design, construction, operation, and inspection phases.
Alan Lamont, VP, Advancement Academies, stressed on how Bentley Institute partners with industry organizations, project delivery firms, and owner-operators to advance project delivery and asset performance best practices through the Bentley’s knowledge-sharing initiative Digital Advancement Academies. He, also explained how Digital Advancement Academies ensure that BIM knowledge is shared and exchanged with industry, creating a lasting legacy that benefits professionals.
The Going Digital event included informative industry tracks tailored to help users understand the opportunities for industry-focused infrastructure investment and learn how globally recognized professionals use Bentley software to meet the lifecycle demands of today’s infrastructure projects. Tracks included:
o Oil and Gas
o Road and Rail Transportation
o Water and Wastewater
The organizers of both the Going Digital events also invited users from the respective regions to recognize them for their outstanding projects nominated for last year’s Year in Infrastructure Awards program. More than 25 user organizations were felicitated at this ceremony.
By the end of this information-rich, one-day event, attendees could to return to their respective organizations with an in-depth understanding of how to apply going digital strategies in their day-to-day work and improve the performance of infrastructure projects and assets from design through construction and operations.
QuEST Global, the pioneering engineering services provider, will be demonstrating their futuristic aerospace solutions at the biennial Farnborough International Airshow (FIA), one of the largest industry events, scheduled to be held in the UK from July 16 – 22 this year. Aligned with the industry’s focus on digital engineering solutions and Aerospace 4.0, QuEST will showcase their expertise across the product life cycle, focusing on digital manufacturing, augmented reality, IoT based asset tracking and a complete embedded system solution at the event.
QuEST has meticulously added digital capabilities to their strong technical services portfolio through a series of acquisitions over the past years. While their engineering services have already been enabling OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to accelerate product development and reduce cost throughout the product lifecycle, the added benefits from digital capabilities such as the AR360 (augmented reality) platform and IoT based solutions will accelerate enterprise workforce productivity and facilitate improved asset monitoring in the supply chain.
FIA is at the forefront of emerging technologies and supporting change to evolve the future of the aerospace industry. With 1500 exhibiting companies and 73,000 trade visitors, the show facilitates interactions and opportunities for participants around the world. An associate sponsor for the global event, QuEST will be highlighting its expertise across various aero industry products (engines, structures, and systems), demonstrating how QuEST solutions contain the digital thread that can stitch together all the elements of the full product development lifecycle, at Hall 1, Booth #1570.
Steve Gerber, SVP & Global Industry Head – Aerospace and Defense, QuEST Global said, “Our presence in the Aerospace industry has been strong, as we have been providing engineering services to the top OEMs and Tier 1 companies for the last 20 years. As Aero OEMs are constantly scouting for end-to-end engineering services players like QuEST, it is important for us to continue to engineer solutions that leverage the latest digital technologies for bringing next level of quality and performance to our new and existing customers. With key organizations and global influencers all under one roof, FIA will be the perfect platform for us to showcase our continuously improving services portfolio that will equip global industry leaders to take up the challenges and opportunities in Aerospace 4.0.”
OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers are currently facing an impressive ramp up in production, supply chain and aftermarket services, while they are gearing up to embrace Aerospace 4.0. By developing solutions that have an immediate, positive impact to their customer’s operational business metrics, QuEST partners with aerospace and defense companies to address any challenges they face. The company has developed in-house transformational solutions in areas like design / analysis, quality non-conformance analysis and disposition, manufacturing engineering, aftermarket engineering, supply chain and operations support that help customers achieve reduced cycle times and cost while improving overall quality. In addition to their expertise across various aerospace products, including aero engines, aero structures, and various types of aero systems components, QuEST is leveraging its digital capability across its services value chain to bring all new levels of performance and productivity.
The demand for co-working space in the first quarter of this calendar year stood at 2 million sq feet, higher than 1.8 million sq feet for the entire 2017, as shared office concept gains momentum, a latest Knight Frank report said.
“India is at the cusp of a co-working revolution with several large players spread across the country. There are close to 200 co-working players running an estimated 400 shared workspaces across the country today, compared to just Regus and few localised players in 2010 running less than 30 such centres,” the consultant said in a statement.
While co-working companies took up a modest 1.8 million sq feet in 2017, the first quarter of 2018 itself has exceeded the annual tally of 2017 at 2 million sq feet, it added.
Despite sharp rise in demand, the co-working operators accounted for only 1.8 million sq feet leased, out of total 41 million sq feet of annual commercial office space transactions volume, the consultant said.
However, it said that the annual transaction number is expected to triple from current levels over the next 3 years, driven by the expansion plans of major players and the increasing appetite for this format from occupiers, property owners and co-working operators.
Regus is the most established and largest shared workspace operator in the country today with about 2 million sq feet and 20,000 seats under operation, while WeWork and CoWrks are among the newest and most aggressive players in the co-working space, the report said.
Currently, NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru house most of the co-working stock in India, followed by Pune and Kolkata.
Private equity players have also been looking to invest in co-working startups. One prominent example is that of Sequoia Capital that invested $20 million in mid-2017 in co-working space start-up Awfis. Knight Frank also listed out challenges for this segment such as changing the conventional mindset of a client who would want to book a meeting room based on the touch and feel factor rather than an app.
Data security and privacy are also impediments in the way of a corporate taking up co-working space.
IndiaSkills Regional Competitions 2018 commenced today at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bangalore. The three-day competition witnesses 300+ candidates from 14 states - Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, competing in 36 skills namely Aircraft Maintenance, Floristry, Confectionary & Patisserie, Mechatronics, Mobile Robotics, Fashion Technology, Welding, Graphic Design, Web Designing, Cooking, Jewelry, Beauty Therapy among others.
The event was inaugurated by Mohit Dudeja, WorldSkills Silver Medalist in Abu Dhabi in 2017, along with Bhaskar Rao, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka. The event was also graced by senior officials from central and state government including Jayant Krishna, ED & COO, NSDC, Ranjan Choudhury, Head WorldSkills India among others.
Aimed at promoting world-class standards in vocational education and training, IndiaSkills Competitions are organized by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). For the first time 22 States & Union Territories partnered with NSDC to organize 500+ districts and states competitions, which mobilized 50,000+ competitors across 45 skills. The winners from these competitions are competing at four regional competitions including the one at Bangalore currently. The winners from the regionals will compete at the National Competition in Delhi, where the winners across 45 skills will get an opportunity to undergo world class skill training and represent India at WorldSkills International Competitions 2019 in Kazan, Russia.
Speaking on the initiative, Bhaskar Rao, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka said, “IndiaSkills Competition is a key step which recognizes the talent of our youth and drives them towards skills excellence. Today’s event marks the beginning of first IndiaSkills Regional Competition in Bangalore. I hope, through this initiative we will be able to positively contribute towards the growth of our country. It is heartening to see the enthusiasm and hard work of all the participants who are competing at this event. I believe the confidence that each participant will gain through this competition will help them improve their skills for a better future.”
Speaking at the event, Jayant Krishna, ED & COO, NSDC said, “It is a proud moment for us to host the first ever Regional Competition in South India. Bangalore has been at the forefront of skill development in our country and hence it becomes an obvious choice for our IndiaSkills Regional Competition. Through these competitions we have been able to provide youth a platform to overcome stereotypes and showcase their skills at the global platform. We hope, the participants competing here, not only perform their best but also use this as a stepping stone towards a more successful career.”
The opening ceremony began with a short film focusing on the journey of all the contestants from different backgrounds and geographies towards IndiaSkills Regional Competitions. Followed by an oath ceremony led by Kiran Kiran (from Bangalore), who won a Bronze Medal in Prototype Modelling at WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi.
For the spectators, it will be a revealing experience to see highly trained youth competing across different skills. The arena at BIEC will also see various activations and engagement activities for the visitors such as Try a Skill where youth could practice and explore a skill of their interest; Career Guidance Assessment by Mettl (an NSDC partner) which would help youth pursue a career in alignment with their skill set; an Innovation Gallery where start-ups will showcase their technology and products. IndiaSkills is also promoting exchange of ideas and experience in vocational training through seminars and panel discussions.
The Southern edition of IndiaSkills Regional Competition will conclude on 23rd June 2018, where the winners will be felicitated by Anantkumar Hegde, Minister of State, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of India, along with other dignitaries.
With an aim to help farmers create more value for their crops and foster their socio-economic development, a project has been initiated by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Karnataka, in partnership with Bengaluru based Agtech start up, CropIn Technology Solutions.
The project will directly benefit 20 districts of Karnataka.
It will facilitate FPOs and farm managers to advise farmers in following the right package of practices across crops such as paddy, millets, gram and groundnut.
This joint initiative will soon be scaled up to assist 4.15 lakh farmers and cover over 3.4 lakh acres of land.
Even though Karnataka is home to the highest number of Agtechstart ups in India, the agriculture sector’s contribution to the state’s GDP has been declining with each passing year. This can be attributed to harsh weather conditions and seasons of drought witnessed in parts of Karnataka over the past five years.
As part of the mutual initiative, government will leverage CropIn’s farm management technology solutions to help farmers grow the right crops and adopt smart-farming techniques and practices, during the crop cycle.
Instead of just focusing on increasing per acre yield quantity, the government hopes to help farmers get optimal value for their yield – a measure to ensure the economic wellbeing of farmers.
“As an Indian Agtech startup, we feel a deep responsibility towards the wellbeing of the farmer community. This collaboration with Karnataka government gives us an opportunity to educate, enable and empower farmers. They are often at the losing end due to lack of transparency and information in the agricultural market. We hope to change this and bring about change at the grassroots level by working with the Department of Agriculture,” said, Krishna Kumar, CEO, CropIn.
In a similar outreach, CropIn had previously collaborated with the Department of Horticulture (DOH), Andhra Pradesh, in 2017 to digitise farms under two Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) in the districts of Chittoor and Krishna.
Through this partnership, the DOH set out to build a platform for collaboration, increase the productivity of farmers and facilitate right market access for the farm produce. The underlying mission is to work towards doubling farming income by 2022, in line with the Government of India’s vision for the agri-sector.
In its first stage, the project covers over 210 acres of land, assisting 520+ farmers. After a successful run with two FPOs during the first year, the collaboration is now being scaled up to cover 50 FPOs.
In a world where most start-ups vanish without the funds, holding the grounds strong and growing at a phenomenal pace without investment funding is no less than a wonder. Morph.ai did the magic and what began with a demo product in March’16 has taken the shape of an exceptionally successful tech start-up with industry giants as their clients.
Top enterprises viz. Manchester City Football Club, Yes Bank, Yamaha, Motilal Oswal are clients of Morph.ai availing their state-of-the-art marketing tool that uses conversation and chat marketing for business growth and client servicing. The company opted for bootstrapping in lieu of Venture Capital funding to challenge itself for creating a successful product with limited resources. The core strength of the team was creating a strategy, planning, and execution of product development, an innovative approach for client traction and excellent customer services. The company in its initial phase focused on understanding the market and creating the best-in-class chat marketing system adapt to engage the customers and increase the business.
Impressed by the success of PokemonGo Chabot of Morph.ai, Manchester City Football Club was their first customer joining hands with the company utilizing the unique customer service and marketing technology. This was when the rocket launched into space and just within a year, Morph.ai had 12 industry giants and big enterprises onboard. The real magic was achieving this level of growth and success without an investment or funding.
The company has understood the need for personalized marketing and sales and is profiting the clients’ businesses with conversation and chat marketing on their landing pages and apps. After 1.5 years of successful growth of Morph.ai, the company finally took an expansion leap and had their angel-backed seed round in October’17 of $60,000 from Sumit Jain (Ex-CTO, HT Media and Jabong) and Sumit Chhabra (Ex-Senior from Sprinklr). The company has grown big and expanded the team for greater outreach in the market since then. In statistical terms, Morph.ai bagged $50,000 in revenues in just 5 months post the investment and earned yearly revenue of $100,000.
News reports from around the world including India are an evidence to the fact that child abuse is a global problem. Every School, Apartment, Home & community centres like malls need to feel responsible for Child Safety. HowToTellYourChild (HTTYC), founded in Bangalore in 2014 has developed a compelling program to build increased awareness among parents, communities. HTTYC content has both few and paid models that address topics as child sexual abuse prevention and also has a puberty model for girls and boys which helps them look at themselves positively.
Today HTTYC has visitors coming from 40 countries. HTTYC has worked for schools and communities from Vietnam and China by translating its content in Vietnamese and Mandarin and are currently working on translating the Child Safety Module content in Hindi & Kannada. HTTYC also has partnerships in Nigeria and Hong Kong.
Besides the above UNFPA in Vietnam used HTTYC videos for their social media outreach to which have received an overwhelming response. HTTYC gave its content to UNESCO & Women’s & Child Museum in Hanoi. HTTYC is also working with UNESCO in trying to bring its child sexual abuse prevention education module to schools in Vietnam.
Said Deepa Kumar, Founder, HowToTellYourChild, “ it is overwhelming to see the response we have received for our content from all over the world. From a Montessori teacher in Mexico using it in her school to Vietnamese National TV broadcasting our content every day. It makes me proud to see the difference we are making, we have over 150 schools around the world that use HTTYC content.” She further added, “it would be a dream come true if education system make our content mandatory for teachers training as well as make it a part of the school syllabus to educate and make the children aware about their safety.”
“Establishment and growth of a bootstrapped start-up is no less than a herculean task. It takes a lot of everyday grind, hustles, and work-pressure, but the success achieved by the hard-work is the most rewarding one, especially impacting people and businesses positively with your work. Achieving your targets while working out of your comfort zone gives a great opportunity to learn, create, grow and expand a business successfully“, said Pratik Jain, Co-Founder of Morph.ai.
Jain further added, “When Morph.ai was kickstarted in 2016, the main hurdle was to find customers without investing in marketing. During the initial phase working with minimum salaries and fewer resources, forced the team to look for better marketing ideas. The search led to the conclusion that conversations work. Sharing ideas, talking to people and networking led to the exposure of the company and the quality product with best services helped Morph.ai to attain success.”
The angel investor Sumit Jain was greatly influenced by the customer-centric approach of Morph.ai and the growth aspects with future potential galvanized him to invest in the expansion of the company. Jain said, “Morph.ai is truly the start-up of the new generation. Of all the investments I have done, this is a unique and talented team. These young fellows are simple, creative and really smart. I love the tech they are creating.”
Furthermore, the investor and mentor, Sumit Chabbra praised the start-up business model of Morph.ai and said, “The kind of traction this small team had generated without any investment was amazing. They continue to keep their clients happy and there's nothing better than that. The dedication at work and their belief in the product is phenomenal.”
An idea that can revolutionize the business world and make an impact is worth trying with a start-up. Investment and VC funding should be used as expansion tools only because bootstrapping in initial phase gives a deep understanding of the work field, target clientele, product/service design and business strategy.
Capital Float, the largest digital lender in India, unveiled its app-based Consumer Finance solution. By using this paperless product, partners can offer Capital Float’s instant, no-cost EMI option to consumers at the point of sale. The company’s tech-driven algorithms underwrite the consumer in real-time, ensuring instant approvals.
“We have carefully built this product over the last year and are fully operational across 75 cities in India. We are witnessing exponential growth in terms of disbursals and on an average, are adding 15,000 new consumers every month, aiming to cross a customer base of 200,000 by the end of this year through this financing solution. We have already partnered with over 250 companies across verticals such as education, vocational training, wellness, elective healthcare, home furnishings, electrical equipment, lifestyle, travel, fitness and consumer durables. We’re witnessing tremendous growth by adding 25-30 new partners every month,” said Sashank Rishyasringa, co-founder, Capital Float. “Our partners too, have experienced a substantial increase in sales, up to 40% in certain cases, along with a substantial increase in average ticket size of sale since the introduction of our products,” he added.
The Consumer Finance solution operates on a digital model, wherein the application process is completed in under three minutes. Consumers needn’t swipe their credit cards or pay upfront. Instead, they can opt for the convenience of paying via EMI by applying for the loan during purchase.
Gaurav Hinduja, co-founder, Capital Float said, “The new-age Indian consumer is curious, informed and accepting of new financial products and services, which in turn is boosting the consumer lending sector, the potential of which is estimated to be between $10 Bn-$12 Bn. The app-based, paperless process is designed to provide the highest degree of convenience to the partner and consumer while transacting at the point of sale. Furthermore, the uniqueness of our products extends to verticals wherein consumers are typically under-served. For instance, by using our product, a customer can avail of elective healthcare facilities like weight loss, hair transplant or IVF which are normally not covered under regular insurance products. We’re currently disbursing a loan every five minutes with offerings across 1300 outlets. Given the potential of the market and our offering, we are confident of doubling our growth this year in terms of customer acquisition and point of sales.”
Through its Consumer Finance solution, Capital Float offers small ticket size loans to consumers aged between 23 – 60, with an average loan value of Rs 50,000 and tenure of 6-12 months for repayment. The loans can be availed for a variety of uses including paying tuition fees, financing travel packages, dental treatment, fitness packages, buying electronic appliances and computers, etc.
