Coke to enhance portfolio

Purplle, the leading Indian online beauty and personal care company, has signed an agreement with television personality & dancepreneur Shakti Mohan to launch an exclusive make-up range. Branded as NY Bae X Shakti, this is a limited edition premium make-up range curated by Shakti Mohan and exclusively marketed & sold on Purplle’s e-commerce platform.

NY Bae X Shakti is also the official beauty partner of 'Break A Leg' Season 2, India’s only dance-meets-comedy-meets-style web series expected to be aired in February 2020. 

Over the last couple of years, Purplle has been focussing on building a strong portfolio of own brands. Currently, the company’s own brand portfolio contributes over 30% of its revenues. Through its partnership with Shakti Mohan, Purplle is strengthening its premium range of personal care products. This is the first celebrity product range being launched by the company. 

Manish Taneja, Co-Founder of Purplle, said, “Our vision is to deliver specialized, high performance, ultra-glam makeup products to millennials through our exclusive brand NY Bae. Admirers of NY Bae look up to the brand as a source of hope, motivation, passion and beauty. The followers of Shakti, too, look up to her and are inspired by the same qualities. The coming together of these two was just meant to happen.”

Shakti Mohan stated, “Makeup is a natural extension of dance for me. I wanted to do a line for years, but it needed to be credible and a game-changer. I wanted my line to be inclusive, accessible, and for it to speak to the millennial generation, that always wants to look on point. All the Mohan sisters are very inclined when it comes to cosmetics, and I’m beyond thrilled to partner with NY Bae for this. NY Bae brand ethos and performance resonates with me, thereby making it just the right fit.”

The contemporary, limited edition make-up range NY Bae X Shakti offers a range of classic lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, eyeliners and nail lacquers.

Adorned with exquisite rose gold packaging, every product is etched with Shakti's autograph signature and targeted for those who push themselves to the extremes, yet manage to keep their glam on.

The collection comprises of 16 versatile shades of Matte Liquid lipsticks, 20 versatile shades of Creamy matte lipsticks, 30 versatile shades of Nail lacquers and 3 versatile shades of Liquid eyeliner.

By PTI

Beijing:  China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has signed a deal with the state-owned China Post, the largest postal service provider here to strengthen its logistics arm in a series of deals before a planned US listing.

Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma and China Post's general manager Li Guohua inked a framework deal yesterday with an ambition of delivering online purchases to any place in the country within 24 hours.

The two companies will share warehouses, processing centres and delivery resources, aiming to build a smart logistics network providing easier and faster delivery services to online sellers, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

In possession of e-commerce big data and Internet technology, Alibaba hopes to extend its reach to third and fourth-tier cities and even the countryside with the help of China Post's offices in rural areas.

The two parties are yet to reveal details of the deal.

As parent company of China's largest consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao.com, Alibaba has great need for delivering online purchases.

Ma founded the Rookie Network Technology Co Ltd last May to start Alibaba's own logistics services.

Rookie has attracted investment from major delivery companies including Shentong Express, ZTO Express and YTO Express.

As Alibaba is set to sell shares in the US equity market, the company is actively expanding its business outside China to boost its international profile.

Last month, Alibaba spent USD 249 million on a 10.35 per cent stake in Singapore Post Ltd, a leading provider of e-commerce logistics services in southeast Asia.

Yesterday's deal also illustrated Ma's global ambition as Alibaba is considering international deliveries through China Post's global logistics network.

For China Post, the deal is expected to revitalise its delivery business.

Although it has more than 100,000 offices across the nation and dominates in deliveries of post like confidential files, the company is challenged by rapidly expanding private express firms with cheaper and faster services.

The much speculated and debated Union Budget 2013 has finally here. Branded apparels will become less expensive as there will be no excise duty them. 10 per cent excise duty was levied on 30 per cent of the maximum retail price last year. Textile ministry has been allocated Rs 50 crore for establishing apparel parks. 

Ashish Dikshit, CEO, Madura Fashion & Lifestyle shares, "The apparel & textile industry has witnessed a significant slowdown in the last 2 years due to combined impact of inflation & excise duty. The new excise regime proposed in this budget would significantly ease the cost pressures in the industry. It should also bring cheer to consumers and encourage greater consumer spending through stabilization of prices in the category.”

Ramesh Poddar, Chairman & Managing Director, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd articulates, "The union budget had addressed several issues in the textiles sector including investment target of Rs 151,000 crore Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme. The zero excise duty for cotton and manmade yarn, fabric is welcome and hope that it will give India textile industry an edge in the global clothing market. Siyaram Silk Mills, which derives 83% of its revenue through fabric is expected to derive benefit from the excise duty sops offered.” 

Harkirat Singh, MD Woodland says, "As a part of the Indian retail sector we feel that the budget 2013 will have a positive impact on the industry, the exemption of excise duty from readymade garments was expected. Additionally, the reduction in customs duty for Plant & Machinery for leather & footwear industry is a pleasant surprise and will lead to the reduction in cost of production and this marginal reduction will give a boost to the industry. It is a good budget that is welcomed by the industry."

Richa Kar, CEO, Zivame.com said, "This is good news for all retailers and manufacturers in the fashion apparel space. Cotton is an essential component in the making of most lingerie due to its breathability, versatility and durability. Customers will definitely be happy as cotton lingerie will be available at lower prices. And businesses can reap the benefits of increased demand and lower cost of production.

With reduction in custom duty on leather, the footwear industry views this as a positive step. 

Sahil Malik,MD, Da Milano shares, "Not pompous and has good impetus drivers for growth. Specific to  leather sector the  reduction in custom  duty  on  specified machinery for leather and leather products including footwear from seven and half to five percent is a step in the right direction. Shall help update technology and bolster quality. Reining in fiscal deficit and controlling inflation will rub out well for the retail sector too. A balanced budget from corporate prospective. Wish list for roll back would be the surcharge at above 1 cr Income Tax bracket."

Jaiprakash Desai, CEO, Metro Shoes for footwear retail says, "The Budget is disappointing for the Footwear Industry. We were expecting parity to the industry at par with comparable industries, at least in the excise duty. The proposal to charge higher surcharge on domestic companies whose taxable income exceeds Rs. 10 crore is like penalizing the efficiency.”

An FRI has been lodged by Reebok India against former managing director Subhinder Singh Prem and COO Vishnu Bhagat. Lodged with the Gurgaon Police, the FIR states that they had stolen company good which they stored in secret warehouses along with fabricated accounts and conjured sales to the tune of Rs 8,700 crore.

The FIR states, “In respect of the account receivable balances, which were at such regional outstanding reports, showed the official balance reported to the group and various adjustments to be made (for) arriving at a ‘net recoverable amount’. In order to hide the fraud, the accused malafidely (sic) passed on extra margin to the customers on the invoice which were treated as credit note reduction as issuing a credit note would have made it obvious that the balance reported in the books (were) not correct.”

 In case of one customer, the company alleged that the amount outstanding as per its records was Rs 34.36 crore, compared to Rs 13.32 crore in the ROR. On December 31, 2011, the official accounts receivable of all customers was estimated at Rs 1,007 crore, compared to around Rs 476 crore in the ROR.