Close at heels of ‘Reliance Fresh,’ Heritage to launch pilot stores

Close at heels of the launch of ‘Reliance Fresh’ in Hyderabad, the Rs. 300 crore Health and Happiness company ‘Heritage Foods will  launch its pilot stores in Hyderabad.

“We are in advanced stage of launching the pilot store in Hyderabad in the second fortnight of November,” Mr V. Nagaraja Naidu, Managing Director of Heritage Foods (India) Ltd , said. “The remaining stores are expected to be opened after that,” he said here in a press release.

Beware; danger is lurking in your shopping cart!

Has it ever occurred to you that the shopping cart in which you carry food, handbag and your toddler may be teeming with bacteria and viruses like E.coli, staphylococcus, salmonella and influenza?

Consider the handle. It’s been touched by untold numbers of hands that have changed diapers, mopped up runny noses, picked up packages of raw chicken and meat, and been coughed on, sneezed in and drooled on.

While, there is no need to get panicky, you can not rule out the possibility of catching something from your cart, if conditions are right, says an interesting report in the Star Tribune. Experts say it’s always good to limit exposure to nasty germs, especially the flu bug in winter. But they caution about over reacting to germs and overdoing the antibiotics.

Some stores in the USA offer sanitising wipes to customers to de-germ their carts. “Although, wipes are great in concept, in essence, you are asking customers to do your work. If you go to a restaurant, you do not ask your customers to clean the table before they eat,” says an industry expert.

Solution: PureCart Systems, a start-up company in the USA, has come up with a drive through washer, which coats the carts with a safe mist of a peroxide-based disinfectant to sanitise them. Dialysis machines and poultry processors are also cleaned similarly.

Aer Rianta to brighten up Duty Free space

Aer Rianta International, a subsidiary of Dublin Airport Authority, acknowledged and respected as one of the world’s leading airport retailing specialists, with modern retail centres at major airports in Europe, Eastern Europe, North America and the Middle East and known for its world class international capability in a tie up with Flamingo India- a major duty free operator in India besides state owned ITDC, according to sources, has bid for duty free shops at Mumbai and Delhi Airports reports the Economic Times.

Israeli firm to build shopping centers; plans USD 200 mn investment

Plaza Centers, a subsidiary of the Israel based Elbit Medical Imaging, which has recently raised 230 million Euros on the London Stock Exchange, now eying the Indian subcontinent as its next region for growth, in the coming years is planning to invest USD 200 million in India to build shopping centers according to  a recent report in Ha’aretz an Israel daily.

Plaza Centers, is active principally in the development, construction, leasing and operation of shopping and entertainment centers in Central and Eastern Europe. The Group has built 16 American-style centers in Hungary, four in Poland in major cities and outlying areas, and has recently completed a new center in Prague. The centers, which range from 10,000 to 50,000 square meters, include a commercial complex (supermarket and anchor stores), a food court and entertainment facilities, such as cinemas, video arcades and bowling alleys.

Moti Zisser, the owner of Elbit- the tech-cum-real estate company, conducted a road show in London with Rami Goren, who is in charge of the group’s activity in India, and Ran Starkman, the chief executive of Plaza Centers.

Right policies, new initiatives, better governance: The growth mantra

India can attain a sustained economic growth of nine to 10 per cent over the next seven to 10 years with right fiscal discipline, said P.C.Chidambaram, Finance Minister, speaking to a select audience of investors and analysts in New York.

The growth rate could even cross 10 per cent with good monsoon coupled with “right policies, new initiatives and better governance,” added Chidambaram.

But that would require a mix of right policies, new initiatives and better governance, Chidambaram told .

Talking about investment opportunities in India, Chidambaram said the country needs 320 billion dollars to upgrade its infrastructure over next five years. The country would be able to find 200 billion dollars from its own resources but a foreign investment of 120 billion dollars would be needed, he said.

Source: PTI