WE LIKE PROJECT

BY: GUNVANT ANAND DESAI

I further declare that project work has been prepared personally by me after viewing the content
under ‘We Tube, We Lounge and Newswire’ and it is not sourced from any outside agency or any
other student.

I understand that, any such malpractice will result into I being debarred for the subject viva and
will be considered fail for that subject. I also understand that I will have to face very serious
consequences and my admission to the program will be cancelled without any refund of fees. I am
also aware that, I may face legal action, if I follow such malpractice.

I hereby abide to take the viva faculty’s decision as final for evaluation of Project We Like.
We TUBE
 1) GOAL SETTING
 Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person
or a group towards a goal.
 Goal Setting:
Motivation Effort
1) Counteracts boredom and apathy
2) Creates interest
3) Provides challenges Goal Setting
4) Provides purpose
5) Serve as the basis of motivation
6) Attention allocation
Behavior
7) Amount of energy and work
Strategies
8) Persistence at a task
 Why is Goal Setting Important?
 Important aspect of self-management
 Sets positive expectations
 Puts meaning into lives
 Helps people achieve their dreams and ambitions.
 To make sure your goals are clear and
reachable, they should be S.M.A.R.T.
 SMART is an effective tool that provides
the clarity, focus and motivation you need
to achieve your goals.
 It can also improve your ability to reach
them by encouraging you to define your
objectives and set a completion date.
SMART goals are also easy to use by
anyone, anywhere, without the need for
specialist tools or training.
 Framing, or how goals
are viewed, influences
performance.
 When one feels
threatened and or
intimidated by a high
goal they perform
poorer than those who
view the goal as a
challenge.
 The framing of a goal
as a gain or a loss
influences one's
eventual performance.
 Framing improves our
signal-to-noise ratio
through the removal
of unnecessary
context
2) TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING
According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Yet there are few skills
that have a greater impact on your success in landing a job, gaining a promotion, or winning against
the competition. Great public speaking is really the sum of its parts.
The given below tips will help you leverage your strengths and start to make improvements:
i. Prepare to succeed: That means make time for some serious practice. Experts suggest you
spend 60% of your time to prepare your content and slides and 40% of your time to practice.
ii. Say it correctly: Part of good preparation is double-checking the pronunciation of any tricky
words—especially jargon. Your correct pronunciation and knowledge of industry terms lends
credibility to your presentation.
iii. Overcome your anxiety: Almost every single presenter experiences some anxiety before
speaking. Use breathing and relaxation techniques before you present to calm your nerves.
Instead of focusing on yourself, focus on your audience.
iv. Make first impressions count: Before you even begin to present, your audience will base their first
impressions on your appearance. Make it count. Dress appropriate to the event. Be neat, clean,
professional, and comfortable enough to act naturally.
v. Make eye contact: A great way to help calm your nerves is to make eye contact with one person in
the audience. Speak only to them. When you’ve looked at them long enough to feel you’ve made a
connection, move on to another person, and then another.
vi. Act naturally: Gestures add interest and emphasis to your presentation. If you’re nervous, feel
awkward or stilted; start slowly and add movements or gestures as you begin to relax. Practice
gestures as part of your presentation preparation and they’ll come easier when you present.
vii. Stand for attention: Stand up straight, with your legs shoulder width apart and your weight evenly
distributed. Good posture reflects confidence and engagement with your presentation and your
audience.
viii. Make yourself heard: Make sure you speak loudly enough so that everyone can hear you. If you’re
not sure, ask. Also, consider your rate of delivery. Try to speak slowly and clearly, so your audience
can understand every word. Finally, consider the pitch of your voice. Too much variation is
distracting. Aim for consistency with some variation when it’s appropriate to the content.
 The best way to deal
with the (sometimes
unfortunate) need to
speak publicly is to
embrace it, realize how
it will help you and
your audience, and
enjoy the conversation
that it sparks.
 3) STRESS MANAGEMENT
 Stress can be defined as our mental, physical, emotional, and behavioral reactions to any perceived
demands or threats.
 Distress (Negative Stress) is a continuous experience of feeling overwhelmed, oppressed, and
behind in our responsibilities. It is the all encompassing sense of being imposed upon by
difficulties with no light at the end of the tunnel.
 Examples of distress include financial difficulties, conflicts in relationships, excessive
obligations, managing a chronic illness, or experiencing a trauma.

 Eustress (Positive Stress) is the other form of stress that is positive and beneficial. We may feel
challenged, but the sources of the stress are opportunities that are meaningful to us. Eustress helps
provide us with energy and motivation to meet our responsibilities and achieve our goals.
 Examples of eustress include graduating from college, getting married, receiving a promotion,
or changing jobs.
 Methods to Reduce Stress:
1) Change your attitude: Find other ways to think about stressful situations. "Life is 10% what
happens to us, and 90% how we react to it.”
2) Be realistic: Set practical goals for dealing with situations and solving problems. Develop realistic
expectations of yourself and others.
3) Get organized and take charge: Being unorganized or engaging in poor planning often leads to
frustration or crisis situations, which most always leads to feeling stressed. Plan your time, make a
schedule, establish your priorities.
4) Take breaks, give yourself "me time’’: Learn that taking time to yourself for rejuvenation and
relaxation is just as important as giving time to other activities. At minimum, take short breaks
during your busy day.
5) Get regular exercise: Exercising regularly can help relieve some symptoms of depression and
stress, and help us to maintain our health.
6) Learn to say NO: Learn to pick and choose which things you will say "yes" to and which things
you will not. Protect yourself by not allowing yourself to take on every request or opportunity that
comes your way.
 Stress Management: Next Steps
 Think about a situation (or situations) that is particularly stressful to you.
 Come up with a plan for handling this situation.
 Try to change the way you appraise a situation to make it less stressful.
 Remember stress is normal but watch out for symptoms of stress.
 Use coping skills/ways to reduce stress.
 Practice relaxation techniques.
 Nourish Your Body
 4 Step process to mange stress:
i. Make a list of everything stressing you out
ii. Organize the list
iii. Assign Action Items
iv. Repeat Weekly
 4) CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
 A conflict is a situation when the
interests, needs, goals or values of
involved parties interfere with one
another.
 Conflict management is the practice
of being able to identify and handle
conflicts sensibly, fairly, and
efficiently. Since conflicts in a business
are a natural part of the workplace, it is
important that there are people who
understand conflicts and know how to
resolve them. This is important in
today's market more than ever.
 5 Conflict Management Techniques
1) Avoiding: An avoiding style completely evades the conflict. You would neither pursue your beliefs
nor those of the others involved. Simply, you would continuously postpone or completely dodge
the conflict whenever it comes up. This style could be appropriate to use when the conflict seems
trivial, you don't have the time or need more time to think, you feel as though you have no chance
of winning, or you're afraid of being met with resentment.
2) Competing: A competing style takes a firm stance and refuses to see the perspectives of the other
parties. You would keep pushing your viewpoint at others or keep rejecting their ideas until you get
your way. This style could be appropriate when you have to stand up for your rights or morals,
need to make a quick decision and force others to get on board, need to end a long-term conflict, or
have to prevent a terrible, opposing decision from being made.
3) Compromising: A compromising style attempts to find a solution that will at least partially please
all parties. You would work to find a middle ground between all the needs, which would typically
leave people unsatisfied or satisfied to a certain extent. This style could be appropriate to use when
it's more important to reach a solution than for the solution to be great, a deadline is rapidly
approaching, you're at an impasse, or you need a temporary solution for the moment.
4) Accommodating: An accommodating style forsakes
your own needs or desires in exchange for those of
others. You would be putting the concerns of others
before your own. This style could be appropriate to
use when you care less about the issue than the
others, want to keep the peace, feel as though you are
in the wrong, or feel like you have no choice but to
agree to the other point-of-view.
5) Collaborating: A collaborating style attempts to find
a solution that will meet the needs of all parties.
Rather than trying to find a middle ground solution,
you would aim for a solution that actually satisfies
everyone and ends up being a win-win situation. This
style could be appropriate when multiple
perspectives need to be addressed, there is an
important relationship present between the parties,
the final solution is too important for anyone to be 12 Skills in Conflict Management
displeased, or the beliefs of multiple stakeholders
must be represented.
 5) TIME MANAGEMENT
 Benefits of time management:
1) Efficient: You will be more efficient in serving your objective and will be able to
achieve your goals better.
2) Successful: You will achieve greater success in your very important, and highly
visible, role as a Lions Leader.
3) Healthy : On a personal level, you will certainly feel healthier, more energetic,
and in a generally better mood.
 Obstacles to effective time management:
1) Unclear objectives – It’s hard to hit a target with your eyes closed, and it’s just as
hard to accomplish something when you aren’t exactly clear about what you want
to achieve.
2) Disorganization – It’s easy to see when your desk is too messy, but sometimes
you have to step back and ask yourself if you are taking an organized approach in
completing all of your tasks.
3) Inability to say “no” – We all want to be as helpful as we can when others need us, but
this can mean taking time away from other priorities to do something we may not have
planned.
4) Interruptions – Many times we are in the middle of accomplishing something really
important and the telephone rings. These calls can not only take you away from your
task, but sometimes they interrupt your train of thought and you can’t return to where
you were without retracing your steps.
5) Periods of inactivity – As much as we think we are busy, there are times in our day
when we are not really doing anything. Recognizing and making use of these times can
have a positive effect on our efforts.
6) Too many things at once – Many of our tasks are not routines. They require
concentration to detail. When we are attempting to do too many different things at one
time, each individual task suffers as a result.
7) All work and no play – Most successful people know how to balance work and play.
When work takes over your life, you not only give your body little time to re-energize,
but you may end up sacrificing the really important things in life like family and
friends.
 What can we do?
 Recognize that obstacles exist: The obstacles that we face are not insurmountable. Sometimes,
the hardest thing to do is to identify that these obstacles exist and are affecting your ability to
manage your time.
 Identify them: When you have identified your obstacles you can begin to overcome them.
 Employ strategies to overcome: Here are some strategies you can use to overcome the obstacles
we just examined:
i. Set goals
ii. Prioritize
iii. Organize
iv. Learn when to say “NO” i ii iii iv
v. Use your waiting time
vi. Concentrate on the task at hand
vii. Consider your personal prime time
viii. Celebrate success
v vi vii viii
We LOUNGE
 1) Mr. Gautam Borah - Vice President - Customer
Service Operation At Vodafone India
 Mr. Gautam Borah has an experience of over 20 years in service assurance, business transformation and
customer service operations and has a master’s degree from University of Oxford.

 He is an author of the book ‘Monetising Innovation’. When asked about the book and writing he answered that
he had a passion and desire to write a book since he was a child and he has an interest in the innovative
progression in the organisational world and the need of innovation for survival in the market.

 He is currently heading customer service operations for Vodafone India and is responsible for setting up
customer operations and experience strategy for regional operations.

 He has also written many articles one of them was published in the journal of the Indian Management
Association which was ‘ Innovation has many perspective’. It was a crux of his book.
 He gives an example of the invincible army of Genghis Khan and says that the reason behind the invincible
army was that it was systematic and innovative, there is a need for any organisation to be systematic,
disciplined and innovative to grow well and be successful .

 When asked about customer satisfaction in India, he mentioned a saying in India “Atithi devo bhava” which
says guests are god, and the feature of helping is in Indian blood comparing it to the organisational world
we could say that satisfaction of customers in Indian market has high standards.

 Moving on to the point of having a happy customer Mr. Borah says that if the organisation focuses on the
customer satisfaction and making them happy they transfer their heart to the organisation and also helps in
increasing the market.

 While asked about being the national head of service assurance for Vodafone from the year 2005 to 2010 he
said that he came with two parts which came out while business transformation The hard part and The soft
part.
 Hard part refers to Detailed planning, seamless execution, and always keep reviewing the activities which are
going. Where as the soft part was more difficult in country like India where you need to identify what people
want to achieve and aligning them to a bigger cause.

 The challenges while setting and deploying business transformation in India were: Stakeholder management
which are the people who can influence the result . The Sustainability as it is important that transformation
should be remained sustainable in the market.

 When talking about Indian market and customer operating he says that it is a pre sales procedure where we can
gain the customer by giving him the right information. And when it comes to the workers, they must always be
motivated and this can happen by giving them a cause which they will believe.

 Conclusion: Mr. Gautam Borah is a person who is passionate and likes discipline and innovation. He guides
us by telling how we can manage time with having a disciplined schedule and that we should keep on
dreaming and working for it without thinking about the results or returns.
2) Ms. Kainaz Turel - Manager : Promotion Planning
& Execution Excellence, Big Bazaar
 Completed her PGDM in 2003 in marketing & Retail from We school.

 Started of as an Asst. Manager in Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., Sales.

 Today she is manager Promotion ,Planning & Execution Excellence as Big Bazaar.

 A well rounded consumer retail professional with 11 years of progressive track record in bringing
in consumer thinking in Retail Operation Product buying and merchandising management as well
as promotion planning.

 Currently in-charge of the Promotion Planning Process at Big Bazaar encompassing the entire
spectrum from Consumer Understanding, Insight Assessment, Concept Development, Promotions
Calendar Development, Product Offer Briefs, Developing & tracking of BTL efforts and best-
practices sharing across 200+ Big Bazaar & Food Bazaar Stores PAN India.
 Professional Journey in Retail Industry
 Her journey has started by lot of learning, hardwork, excitement of doing something new.

 Dr. Pragya Ram was her mentor she started working in pantaloons.

 The culture and tradition of Pantaloon India made her work in that company.

 After two month in marketing she was shifted in big bazaar in kids section and was told her to
prove herself.

 She worked for 2 years in store operation.

 Partnered the CMO in masterminding the Roll-out of Big Bazaar’s Consumer Loyalty
Programme. Led the Social Media Initiative for the format leading to a significant presence
 Promotion Planning And Their Executions.
 Promotion is nothing but simply trying to offer something to the consumer that he or she is
willing to pay for the new experience.

 Pros and Cons in working in Retail

 Pros is close to the consumer

 Cons is there is mental tremendous hard work.

 Things that this story has thought me is that you should always have learning quality in you.
Never try to say that I know everything. You should learn from your senior and your juniors as
well.
 3) Rajeev Singh
President – RAK Ceramics India Pvt. Limited
 Heading Indian operations of world no 1 Tile company, based at Mumbai. Heading all verticals of
RAK India and responsible for Indian operations of RAK Ceramics for all line and support
functions and the P&L of the Indian operations.

 Company product range includes complete range of vitrified ,Ceramic and Porcelain tiles,
Sanitary ware and Bathroom solutions.

 Responsible for all line functions which includes Production Planning, Sourcing, Sales,
Marketing and people development.

 An astute and result oriented business leader with extensive experience in building material and
retail domain.
 His cold focus on diversity, understanding on business context, people agenda made him
competent.

 He believes in fact that people’s are assets. Always continuous improvement in knowledge &
working style.

 He is more concerned about self introspection to ensure we are on right track.

 He is strongly Indian by heart, while working always have preference to give back to country.
Want to bring back knowledge and competence and impart them into Indian context.

 Putting efforts and right steps forward to ensure vision which is set becomes reality.

 In Taj, his contribution was remarkable. He works to develop best HR organization to place
hospitality sector.
 He also believe and focus on people capability.

 Then he moved to escape bearing. Escape bearing have made their mark in ball bearing
manufacturing sector not only for two wheelers but also for aeronautical application also.

 Escape bearing is one of the largest ball bearing manufacturing company in India.

 His drive to do something remarkable for India, company pulled him towards Tata motors Nano
project, where he was head recruitment for Nano.

 Experience in multi companies & diverse location makes his journey excited. Which also given
very different exposure as well.
NEWSWIRE
 “In the near future, we believe we will invest even more in bringing design to India and R&D
to India. We are evaluating all those options,” Nipun Marya, director- brand strategy at Vivo,
told ET.
 Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has said that it will invest more in India to bring its design,
research and development (R&D) centers to support its ‘Make in India’ strategy, having already
announced a Rs.4,000-crore investment in setting up a new manufacturing plant in Uttar
Pradesh that will generate 5,000 jobs in its first phase.
 Vivo, citing the GfK data, said that it grew 63.2% in terms of value and 60.9% in terms of
volume in January 2019, even as the industry grew at a mere 16.8% and 14.2% by value and
volume respectively.
 The handset maker had 9% market share by volume in October-December 2018, making it the
third largest player after Xiaomi and Samsung, against 6% a year ago, as per Counterpoint
Research.
 Oppo, ranked fourth, and the premium segment leader One-Plus, which is also owned by Vivo’s
parent organization, BBK Electronics Corporation, have already set up their respective R&D
centres in Hyderabad.
 Analysts said that setting up R&D centers is a natural extension of the smartphone makers’ India
strategy, which will help the brands predict and be on top of the trends faster than the competitors.
They said that over the next few years these research and development centers will catalyze the
Indian mobile handset ecosystem and contribute to the generation of new intellectual property as
well as new made-for-India smartphone innovations.
 “As a result, the India mobile handset market will become the hub for new smartphone
innovations, not just for India but the world,” said Prabhu Ram, head of the industry
intelligence group at Cyber Media Research.
 Currently Vivo has more than 70,000 retailers in India.
 Volkswagen is pushing its joint venture partners including SK Innovation (SKI) to build electric
car battery plants which have at least one Gigawatt manufacturing capacity, Chief Executive
Herbert Diess told Reuters.
 "Anything below that amount would make little sense," Diess said on the sidelines of the
Shanghai Auto Show on Sunday.
 Volkswagen will buy 50 billion euros ($56.57 billion) worth of battery cells for electric cars and
has identified South Korea's SKI, LG Chem and Samsung SDI as strategic battery cell suppliers
as well as China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL).
 The German automaker is retooling 16 factories to build electric vehicles and plans to start
producing 33 different electric cars under the Skoda, Audi, VW and Seat brands by mid 2023.
 "We are considering an investment in a battery manufacturer in order to reinforce our
electrification offensive and build up the necessary know-how," Volkswagen said.
 SKI is building a battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States to supply
Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
 SKI will supply lithium-ion battery cells for an electric car that Volkswagen plans to start
making in Chattanooga in 2022.
 LG Chem, Samsung and SKI on will also supply battery cells for Volkswagen in Europe.
CATL is the automaker's strategic partner for China, and will supply batteries for its electric
fleet from 2019.
 Volkswagen also plans to build a fully electric SUV for China from 2021, taking on the
Chinese market leader Tesla’s Model X.
 3) Ford Expected To End Independent India
Operations with New Mahindra Deal
 Fresh media reports reveal that Ford Motor Company is working on a joint-venture plan
with Mahindra in India. The move will likely see the U.S. automaker cease independent
operations in India.
 Ford has become the latest automobile manufacturer to decrease its operations in India
following General Motors decision to stop selling its cars locally at the end of 2017.
 Over the past 20 years, Ford has invested more than $2bn in India, however, has just 3% of the
market share in India.
 The US-based automotive giant, Ford, is close to a deal with Mahindra & Mahindra in order to
establish a new joint-venture firm in India that is expected to see the automaker stop
independent operations in the country, according to Reuters.
 Following the terms of the new deal being discussed, Ford is expected to establish a new unit
in India to hold a 49% stake. According to a Reuters’ source, “It’s like a partial exit (for Ford
from India).”
 After concluding the deal, the source added that Ford’s Indian unit will transfer the majority
of its current automotive business to a new entity, which will include employees and assets.
 It is anticipated that the deal will close within the next 90 days, with the value of the
transaction not disclosed yet.
 It is worth noting that back in 2017, Ford and Mahindra had formed a strategic alliance to
build a new entity together, which includes sports utility vehicles and electric variants.
However, going by the reports, Ford is globally restructuring its businesses with an aim to
save $11 billion over a period of next few years.
4) Xiaomi Set To Unveil 7th Manufacturing Facility
In India
 The new manufacturing plant has over 1 million square ft. footprint and thus adds to Xiaomi’s
seven smartphone manufacturing plants which are located across four campuses in partnership
with FOXCONN, Flex and Hipad in India.
 Manu Jain, India Head, Xiaomi said at the event, ‘‘With the Opening of our new factory now we
can manufacture up to 3 smartphones per second during operating hours’’.
 In a bid to accelerate its manufacturing operations in India, Xiaomi has confirmed the unveiling of
a new unit which takes its total number of facilities to seven in the country, according to Business
Today.
 With its plan to increase manufacturing in India made public in correlation with the launch of
Redmi Go smartphone and Mi-Pay service in the nation, Xiaomi now has approximately 20,000
employees in India with 95% being women.
 With almost 95% of Xiaomi’s phones made in India, Xiaomi is working towards making up the
5% gap in local production and expects to manufacture approximately 99% of the total number
of phones sold in India within the country.
 Speaking about their latest development, Xiaomi India COO, Muralikrishnan B said “We are
delighted to announce our new smartphone manufacturing partnership with Flex Ltd. In line
with our sincere commitment to Make in India, this new association will further drive our
localization efforts; ensuring that we locally design and offer our innovative products with the
best specs of the highest quality to our Mi Fans in India”.
 It’s reported that the newest investment comes as Xiaomi China’s move to boost Xiaomi India’s
catalogue with other products as the latter looks to announce refrigerators, water purifier,
laptops and washing machines. Some of the investment would also be likely to be put into
establishing a better offline presence through its Mi Stores as Xiaomi looks to rival Samsung
for offline retail of smartphones as well.
 5) Riding High: Luxury Bikes Find a Booming
Market in India
 The demand for high-end bikes with engine capacity of 500cc-800cc is increasing in the country
on the back of higher purchasing power, aspiration for luxury brands and evolving lifestyles.
Besides, biking is also emerging as a hobby among millennials, which was not so prominent 10
years ago mainly due to lesser brands available.
 Observing the demand scenario, companies like Benelli, MV Augusta, Indian Motorcycle, Triumph
Motorcycles and UM Motorcycles, have entered India in the last five years with a range of
products in the segment.
 As per Society of Indian Automobile Association (SIAM) data, volumes of motorcycles with
engine capacity of 500cc-800cc grew 130% to 8,264 units in FY19 against 3,585 units sold in the
previous fiscal.
 Royal Enfield, which launched two 650cc bikes last year, saw maximum traction with sales at over
5,000 units in FY19. The bikes are priced in the range of Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh.
 Pankaj Dubey, MD at Polaris India, which owns the American Cruiser brand Indian Motorcycle,
said with the new entrants in the domestic market in the past four-five years, customers are spoilt
for choice.
 “The aspiration level of high bikes is growing and people, especially youngsters, want to have a
product like that. Further, with so many riding events happening in the country, the trend of
motorcycling is emerging,” Dubey told FE.
 Although bikes over 250cc engine were earlier considered as premium, the motorcycles over
350cc are now considered luxury or premium. Prices of bikes in the 350cc-800cc segment start at
around Rs. 2 lakh and go up to around Rs. 10 lakh, depending upon the engine capacity. While
the overall two-wheeler industry has seen its slowest growth in three years at 4.86% in FY19 due
to factors such as hike in insurance premium and liquidity crunch, the luxury bike segment grew
at a brisk pace.
 The main reason could be that customers buying these products remain unaffected with the
macro-economic conditions. “Someone willing to pay Rs 20 lakh for a premium bike would not
care much about price rise of a few thousands due to factors such as insurance premium,” an
analyst at a foreign brokerage firm said.
 “Low penetration levels for premium motorcycles and network expansion across tier-I and II
cities are likely to sustain the volume momentum,” they noted. Even as volumes have been
growing consistently, the penetration of premium bikes is way too less, just four in 1,000 persons.
Analysts said even if the penetration increases to 10 out of 1,000 persons, that is good enough,
given that India is at a nascent stage in the premium biking space and car penetration is also only
about 25 out of 1,000 persons.
 6) Going Global! Royal Enfield To Set Up First
Overseas Plant In Thailand
 Global leader in mid-sized motorcycles Royal Enfield on Friday announced the setting up of its
first wholly-owned subsidiary for the Asia Pacific region in Thailand to bolster its overseas
presence.
 A good demand for its evocative motorcycles prompted the company to set up its Thailand unit,
which will also host Royal Enfield’s first assembly plant outside India. It is likely to commence
operations by June 2019.
 Announcing the company’s plans for Thailand, Siddhartha Lal, CEO, Royal Enfield, said, “Ever
since we commenced sales in Thailand three years ago, we have been absolutely delighted by the
love we’ve received from riders here. Our customers in Thailand have discovered that our modern
classics are brilliant for long rides on the highway while also being perfect to commute on in heavy
traffic in the city.”
 “We are committed to focusing our energies on becoming part of the fabric of this country’s rich
motorcycling culture, and our decision to start assembling our motorcycles in Thailand is a sign of
Royal Enfield’s long-term commitment and growing confidence in the market,” he said.
 Thailand was one of the first markets in Southeast Asia for Royal Enfield’s new Interceptor 650
and Continental GT 650 Twins, based on an all-new parallel twin engine platform. Since their
unveiling in December 2018, the 650 Twins have already received over 700 bookings in
Thailand, with over 100 motorcycles delivered to date. The twins are inspired by the brand’s
rich heritage, while being a modern bike. They complement a rich model line up already on sale
in the country and were developed by teams at Royal Enfield’s technical centers in Chennai,
India and Bruntingthorpe in the UK.

 Thailand has become Royal Enfield’s third home after its origins in the UK and success in India.
The initial success of the 650 Twins in Thailand has proven that Royal Enfield is well poised to
fill the gap in the mid-sized segment,” Siddhartha Lal said.

 On Royal Enfield Thailand’s business plans, Vimal Sumbly, business head, Royal Enfield APAC
region, said: “Royal Enfield started with one store in Bangkok, which has been instrumental in
helping us understand this market. We have an aggressive plan to expand our reach to about 15
standalone dealers and 25 authorized service centers by March 2020. The expanded reach will
offer customers better accessibility and convenience in Bangkok and in the Greater Bangkok
area, Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang Mai.”
 7) In A First, Apple Starts Iphone 7 Production In
India
 Giving an impetus to its India manufacturing plans, Apple has started the assembling of iPhone 7
at its supplier Wistron’s facility in Bengaluru.
 Taiwanese industrial major Wistron already assembles iPhone 6S in the country.
 “We are proud to be producing iPhone 7 in Bengaluru for our local customers furthering our long-
term commitment in India,” an Apple spokesperson told IANS on Tuesday.
 The assembling of iPhone 7 began last month.
 Wistron, which announced last-year plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore in the Narasupra industrial
sector in Karnataka’s Kolar district, started Apple operations with assembling low-end iPhone SE
and later iPhone 6S.
 According to Wistron India head Gururaj A, the company would set up an iPhone making unit in
the 43 acres of land allotted to it, with employment potential of over 10,000 people.
 The new Wistron facility is also set to manufacture a wider range of Apple’s devices.
 Apple is slowly but steadily strategizing its plans to make deeper inroads in a country where
over 450 million people use smartphones, and assembling iPhone 7 is another step towards
gaining more ground.
 According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research,
the Indian electronics market is growing fast and has gained a significant advantage on some of
the competing countries.
 “I think to start with, it makes sense for Apple to localize assembling of models that have the
potential to scale up and then slowly expands it to entire portfolio,” Pathak told IANS.
 iPhone 7 runs iOS 12, is water-resistant and houses a 12MP camera, retina HD display, great
battery life and stereo speakers.
 In India, price is a key factor when it comes to buying a smartphone.
 Apple has already begun reducing the price of iPhone in China and may follow the same in
India where iPhone is considered expensive.
 According to a report in Caixin on Monday, Apple has cut prices for several of its products
including iPhones.
8) VW to Merge All 3 Passenger Car Arms in India,
Skoda to Lead New Entity
 The Volkswagen Group (VW) in India plans to merge its three Indian subsidiaries--- Volkswagen
India Private Ltd (VWIPL), Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Ltd (NSC) and SKODA
AUTO India Private Ltd (SAIPL) -- to create a single entity, the automobile giant said on
Wednesday.
 The move is an “important milestone in the SKODA-led ‘INDIA 2.0’ project of the Volkswagen
Group,” a Volkswagen spokesperson said.
 The VW Group brands--- Volkswagen, SKODA, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini, will maintain
their individual identities, dealer network and customer experience initiatives. However, the
brands will work under the leadership of Gurpratap Boparai, managing director, Volkswagen India
and SKODA AUTO India with a common strategy for the Indian market.
 The merger has been approved by the Boards of the three companies in India and is now subject
to the regulatory and statutory approvals.
 “India is an important and an attractive growth market for the Volkswagen Group. With the
proposed merger, we intend to combine the technical and managerial expertise of the three
companies to unlock the Volkswagen Group’s true potential in India’s competitive automotive
market.
 The integration will lead to coordinated and faster decision making and increased efficiency
using existing synergies, ” said Boparai.
 In July 2018, the German automaker confirmed investments of Rs. 8,000 crore (EUR 1
billion) in the ‘INDIA 2.0’ project.
 It was followed by the opening of a technology center in January 2019 in Pune and laying the
foundation for the development of products based on the localized sub-compact MQB-A0-IN
platform, which is tailored to the needs of customers in the Indian subcontinent.
 In the second phase of the project, Volkswagen Group will be examining the possibility of
exporting vehicles built in India.
 9) Siemens Gamesa’s Indian Manufacturing Units
Begin Exports Of Wind Energy Equipment
 The ongoing trade tariff negotiations between China and the US can be an opportunity for Siemens
Gamesa’s India manufacturing units to step in and meet the rising demand for wind energy
equipment.
 “Looking at the export capabilities, we need to take in respect the current negotiations between
China and US and, looking at it in a calm way, there might be opportunities around that (for
manufacturing more wind energy equipment in India),” Markus Tacke, Chief Executive Officer,
Siemens Gamesa, told Business Line.
 Tacke was responding to a query on the scope for Siemens Gamesa to increase its wind energy
equipment manufacturing facilities in India. The company currently has two blade factories in
Nellore (Andhra Pradesh), and Halol (Gujarat), a nacelle factory at Mamandur (Tamil Nadu) and
an operations and maintenance centre in Red Hills (Tamil Nadu).
 Tacke said the company recently started using the India manufacturing facilities to export wind
energy generation equipment, in addition to meeting the domestic demand. “We have had a very
good and successful practise in the past that products made in India are used in India. We actually
use our Indian facilities to export, we have the example of blades recently.”
 In 2017, the going had got difficult for wind energy equipment manufacturers after the Centre
struck down feed-in-tariffs and introduced reverse bids for awarding wind energy generation
tenders. A sudden drop in margins, coupled with the drying up of orders, had put the domestic
wind industry in a stiff. To keep the ship sailing, Siemens Gamesa found overseas markets for its
India products.
 Commenting on the quantum of exports, Ramesh Kymal, the India head of Siemens Gamesa, said,
“The export numbers are not that significant right now. We have been sending blades to different
places such as the Americas. Now the larger 145 motor (the 145 motor produces 4.5 MW of
power from a wind turbine with a 145 meter rotor diameter) are also being exported.”
 According to the Global Wind Report 2018, the global wind energy market is expected to grow at
an average of 2.7 per cent each year from 2019 to 2023. Total wind energy installations are
expected to reach 58.7 GW in 2023, from 51.3 GW in 2018.
 “In terms of turnover it (export) is not that large now because we have to cater to the local market
also from that same facility. But we find that wherever there is large manual content, for example
in blades, we are able to ramp up faster and bring down the costs to make it cost competitive. So
exports of these items has a great future in my view,” Kymal said.
 10) Looking for Work From Home Jobs? Google
has the Solution
 As one sits home in pyjamas in the comfort of home sipping coffee, it is only natural to crave that
casual environment at work when you slog come Monday. But with the advent of the digital age,
more and more jobs are popping up that don’t require a proper office set up. The option of ‘Work
from home’ has become fairly attractive.
 For some, it is not the comfort but the extra income that comes with ‘work from home’ and for
some, being their own boss is the best ever thing. To some, flexibility of work hours is the top
priority.
 However, searching for work from home is quite tedious and since necessity is the mother of
invention, Google naturally had to find a way to make it a little easier.
 Since 2018, Google is working on expanding job search features to its search engine. The key
expansion in this program is to make it simpler to search for work-from-home jobs.
 Usually, when a user searches for a job, the result that pop up lack credibility but now, when
someone searches for a job in Google Search by typing such as customer support jobs, the latest
features will enable them to lock the location to “work from home” to search remote and
telecommute jobs.
 Google has said that a number of job posting sites, such as Working Nomads, We Work Remotely
and ZipRecruiter are already supporting this feature. In order to filter these jobs, Google is
looking at the standard Schema.org markup which most of the job sites use to boost their listings
to Google Jobs.
 Jennifer Su, Google product manager, wrote in an announcement this week, “Through a number
of user studies, we learned that most remote jobs were not clearly labelled as such.” She added
that according to the feedback they received, it is fairly difficult to detect and show remote job
opportunities when job seekers enter ‘work from home’ or other related queries in the search bar.
 By introducing this capability to the users, Google hopes to make remote work opportunities
more discoverable to job seekers who are in need of them.
 It is to be noted that Google already allows job searchers filter by type of transit and commute
times, therefore, it only makes sense to add work-from-home option as well, particularly when
more and more employees look for this flexibility.
THANK YOU!