6 ISSUES AND INSIGHTS MUMBAI | THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2019 > LVMH wants it as part of its 75- plus > brands including Dior, Vuitton, Fendi, CHINESE WHISPERS Startling parallels between Tiffany, Flipkart Celine, Dom Pérignon, Tag Heuer, Sephora, Moët & Chandon, spanning cat- egories such as fashion, watches, jew- Onion protests The two got new owners at an identical deal size. But the similarity ends there... ellery, wine, spirits, retail, beauty and As onion prices touched ~100 a kg in some hospitality. In fact, in 2017, the French parts of the country, an MLA of the the identical size of the two deals — major LVMH or Louis Vuitton. operations. “We’re excited about what’s fashion house had acquired Dior in a deal Opposition RJD in Bihar turned up in the $16 billion. Beyond that, Flipkart and Tiffany happening at Flipkart and PhonePe,” said worth $13.1 billion. In that sense, Tiffany, Assembly wearing a garland of onion bulbs Made famous by Audrey Hepburn- hardly converge. Tiffany, with more than Doug McMillon, president and CEO of not really in high spirits due to falling on Wednesday. Raja Pakar (Vaishali) MLA starrer Breakfast at Tiffany’s, perhaps 300 stores across the world and $4.2 bil- Walmart. tourist demand in the current economic Shiv Chandra Ram raised slogans and more than by the diamond it sells to the lion in annual revenue, is treated as a her- Walmart, having failed to start its mul- slowdown, may not immediately add to attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his rich and the famous, the chain with its itage brand in America, looked up to by ti-brand business in the country because LVMH’s bottom line. In fact, the effort “empty promises” of setting up stalls where flagship store in Fifth Avenue has a sim- stars and politicians alike. Its iconic of regulatory issues after waiting for long, will be to revive and re-invent the Tiffany onions were supposed to be sold at ~35 per ilarity with Flipkart’s origin too. The des- engagement rings and the blue boxes are possibly saw Flipkart as a gateway to the brand, which is not as popular with the kg. He said his protest was aimed to tination store for top-end jewellery had a reference point in the deal documents increasing buying power of the Indian millennials looking for deals and may be "compel the CM to take started out as a stationery outlet almost with LVMH. Flipkart, though a poster- middle class. With that, the Bentonville less expensive engagement rings. Reports some serious action". two centuries ago. Needless to say that boy of Indian e-commerce, is just an (Arkansas)-headquartered retailer also show that lab-grown diamond, believed Earlier this month, NOT FOR PROFIT Flipkart had begun its start-up journey online marketplace hosting thousands opened a front to compete with its to be cheaper, is gaining in popularity some of his Congress from a two-bedroom Koramangala flat of vendors who in turn sell products — American rival Amazon in a new battle- with the younger lot. Tiffany hasn’t counterparts in Delhi NIVEDITA MOOKERJI in Bengaluru as an online book store. electronic goods to furniture, grocery to ground — India. offered that option yet. had worn onion If Tiffany & Co was founded by two apparel — to pin codes spread across the In that context, $16 billion was a price Bernard Arnault, founder, chairman garlands as a mark hat’s common between the 20-something entrepreneurs, Charles country. Why then are Tiffany and Walmart was ready to pay for the oppor- and the largest shareholder of LVMH of protest against 182-year-old New York jew- Lewis Tiffany and John B Young, it was Flipkart being acquired at the same price, tunity it was getting. With e-commerce and one of the richest in the world, may the state W ellery major Tiffany and a little the same at Flipkart — co-founded by barely one year apart from each other? still having a single-digit market share attempt to change that to attract high- government over the over-a-decade-old Bengaluru-headquar- Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. In both When Walmart bought a 77 per cent in the overall retail universe of the coun- earning-but-not-rich-yet millennials to issue of increasing onion tered Flipkart? Nothing at all, you would the cases the founders became friends as stake at $16 billion last year, valuing try, $16 billion was perhaps the world’s Tiffany. Depending on whether or not prices. They were say, but think again. If Tiffany was students. And if Flipkart entered into a Flipkart at around $20 billion, its share- largest retailer’s bet on the future he’s able to revive the fortunes of a protesting in front of the acquired in the largest luxury deal of the trans-national deal with American retail holders had reacted with anger. But one of shopping. brand made memorable through state secretariat. world earlier this week, Flipkart got a new giant Walmart, so did Tiffany to strike a year later, in the recent earnings call, In the case of Tiffany, which caught Hollywood, the $16-billion deal may owner last year. And, what’s striking is cross-border transaction with French Walmart sounded pleased with Flipkart the imagination of many generations, find a new meaning. Turmoil continues The turmoil in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Getting station redevelopment on track Congress party refuses to die down. Now Raebareli MLA Aditi Singh (pictured) is in the line of fire. The party moved a petition in the After 15 years of unsuccessfully trying to attract the private sector, the public sector seems Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly seeking her disqualification. She had been served a to have taken the lead in developing the mega-programme show-cause notice after she defied the party whip and attended the special session SHINE JACOB Sivadasan, former finance commis- CEO, Railway Board chairman, of the Vidhan Sabha on October 2. But she sioner with the Railways. Secretaries of Department of failed to offer a response, said Congress t was way back in 2004-05 that the These uncertainties remained Economic Affairs and Urban and Legislature Party leader Indian Railways first thought when the Railways launched the first Housing Affairs. Aradhana Misra. Earlier I about the redevelopment of a rail- phase of station redevelopment pro- “What lies deep among all these on Sunday, the party way station. Old timers in the Railway gramme covering the commercial issues is slow pace of real estate growth expelled 10 senior Board still believe the masterplan for development of 23 stations for ~9,000 in the country for the past few years. leaders for opposing the New Delhi station submitted in crore in February 2017. This plan to The government can compensate with the state unit 2006 by Terry Farrell and Partners, a revamp the appearance of stations by more attractive proposals for land leadership at a Hong Kong-based architectural firm, providing digital signage, escalators, usage, as it did by allotting 30 per cent public forum and including a project of 16 commercial self-ticketing counters, executive for housing,” said Prateek Kumar, an “tarnishing the towers extending up to Connaught lounges, restaurants, malls and movie analyst with Antique Stock Broking. party’s Place from the Paharganj side of the halls attracted scant industry interest. As things stand, the state will now image”. station, would have transformed No matter, the project was later bear the burden of modernising Lutyens’ Delhi. extended to a ~1 trillion project cover- India’s stations. Some experts indi- On February 8, 2008, at least 35 ing 400 stations. But the interest cate that the government may have to companies — including Reliance remained tepid. “Following demands consider charging the passengers for Energy, GMR, DLF and Videocon from real estate players, the govern- a dedicated station redevelopment Philippines can wait Industries — had expressed interest in ment extended the lease period from fund, so that the Railways can take up modernising the station too. The pro- 45 years to 99 years but the risks of the project on its own. Indian Railway ject, which was seen as a showpiece investing in a new venture and doubts Stations Development Corporation ahead of the Commonwealth Games in over rates of return persisted,” said Jaipur. So the government will have track by February 2019. Close to 80 per (IRSDC), the nodal agency for station 2010, was dropped after objections Vijay Dutt, former additional member to ensure there are access roads or ele- cent civil work is completed so far. On redevelopment, is in talks with Indian from the Delhi Development of the Railways. vated roads to approach these selected the other hand, the Rs 4,000 crore Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) Authority (DDA) over the Many point to the case station,” Sivadasan pointed out. Gandhinagar hub project, taken up by and the World Bank for funding of sta- proximity of the project to of the commercial com- In October 2019, the slow pace of Kunal Structure in January 2017, is to tion projects. These includes Anand Connaught Place. plex at the state transport station redevelopment again be commissioned by Vihar, Bijwasan and Chandigarh. The government is now bus station in came to limelight when it invit- On February 8, 2008, March. Kant asked the Apart from that, private equity play- planning to commission Thiruvananth ed criticism from NITI Aayog at least 35 Railways to take up at ers and pension funds have also been upgraded versions of the apuram to highlight the Chief Executive Officer companies had least 50 stations on a invited for partnerships to fund rede- Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Habibganj and lack of potential in Indian Amitabh Kant.