The new Companies Act, 2013

The new Companies Act, 2013, will come into force from April 1,2014. However, many sections are yet to be notified.
Experts say the new law will bring more transparency in corporate governance, while allowing flexibility to companies in exceptional situations. Initially, the government faced a lot of criticism on the implementation and lack of clarity in the law. The draft rules and, eventually, notification of final rules by ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) in recent months have helped ease the scenario to a large extent, they say.
                                                       Replacing the 58-year-old legislation, the new law would have stricter norms for independent directors, auditors, key appointments and standards of conduct. While there is a mandatory provision on spending for CSR, companies can explain if they want to digress from the norm. From Tuesday, companies with a net worth of more than Rs 500 crore or revenue of more than Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of more than Rs 5 crore will have to mandatorily spend two per cent of their average net profit over the three preceding years on CSR activities.
                                                     Also, companies must file returns on public deposits within three months and reconstitute their boards, with at least one woman and two independent directors (IDs) within a year.

Louis Philippe plans exclusive jeans stores; to open 30 odd units over next 3 years

Louis Phillipe, the country's leading menswear brand with a legacy of 25 years in the country, is planning to launch exclusive jeans stores. The Madura Fashion & Lifestyle (An Aditya Birla Nuvo enterprise) owned Louis Phillipe launched its jeans brand - LP Jeans last year and has seen encouraging response from the consumers.

Speaking at the sidelines of inaugural press conference of the Louis Philippe Cup, here in New Delhi, Jacob John, Brand Director, Louis Philippe, told  "Encouraged by the tremendous response that we have received from our one year old brand LP Jeans, we are increasingly going to focus on this category. We are optimistic that LP Jeans will be a big growth driver for us in coming years."

"We are looking at opening 10 exclusive LP Jeans stores this year and about 30 odd stores over next three years," he further stated.

Apart from this, Louis Philippe will also be focusing on its semi-casual sports brand LP Sports for which it is targeting 20 stores this fiscal and a total of 100 stores over next three years. The brand introduced LP Sports in the year 2008 and saw huge traction as well, according to John.
John maintained that the mother brand Louis Philippe will continue to grow but exponential growth will come from newer categories such as smart-casuals, footwear and accessories. He said that the footwear category, though difficult to operate in, would also be a focus area. The brand has been operating three exclusive footwear stores in the country as on date.

Louis Philippe contributes 30% to the overall turnover of Madura F&L and with a y-o-y growth of 25%, is looking at a turnover of Rs 1,200 cr in FY 2013-14.

John further informed that Louis Philippe will be looking at opening into new cities on the lines of its launches in Bhatinda, Patiala, Varansai, Gorakhpur, Trichur, Kottayam, Baroda and Surat. The brand is currently present in 100 cities and will be opening in 100 more towns - a combined figure for FY 2013-14 and next fiscal.

Godrej to convert 'Ezee' into a premium clothes washing brand

  Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) is aiming to transform its winter wears wash brand 'Ezee' into a premium clothes washing brand.
Ezee, which is a market leader in the liquid wash segment with a 75 per cent market share, is expanding it into a product which can be used round the year.
"We are looking for a category growth. Now we are focusing to convert Ezee from a product used specially for winter wears during a season to a round the year product," said GCPL COO Sunil Kataria to .
According to him, the company would try to expand its footholds in the Western and Southern region, where it has less presence due to lack of winters.
"Now we are projecting it as a liquid wash brand which can be used to wash the premium clothes of silk, chiffons and with delicate fabrics," he added.
GCPL would soon run a campaign highlighting Ezee's benefits over traditional washing powder and detergent bar.
"We would highlight the fact Ezee does not have any soda and it is much safer than the traditional method of washing," said Kataria on the sidelines of a function where Ezee was distributing woolen clothes to the poor children of the city.
Ezee, as part of its corporate social responsibility has collected around 21,000 winter wears from various residential societies, schools and through donation boxes put at Dunkin Donuts and Godrej group's retail venture Godrej Nature's Basket.
The woolen clothes are distributed through an NGO which would distribute it to underprivileged children of the NCR so that they combat the winter and attend their schools.
According to Kataria, by the next year, the company would try to expand it to more cities in the Northern region, which are more cold during the winters.

Bangalore-based Anu Solar to open 2,000 solar product stores in India

 Solar powered electronic products will now be available at retail stores across the country. These stores will sell varied products ranging from solar water heaters to solar powered calculators, caps with fans that run on solar power, solar power storing batteries and inverters.
Bangalore-based Anu Solar pvt ltd, a leading manufacturer and seller of solar products, will open 2,000 stores across India on franchisee basis.

"These will be called 'one-stop experience stores' as the store and all the office equipments will also run on solar power, in order to show the public, the use and benefits of solar power," said T J Joseph, managing director, Anu Solar.
The government wants to encourage the use of solar energy but currently there are no private retailers for solar products.

The ministry of new and renewable energy has been promoting private entrepreneurs to open 'Akshay Urja shops' to sell and promote solar products but since 2002, only 300 shops have been established across the country and a good number of them are not functioning and there is no shop in the capital.
"We want the public to experience the power of solar and also raise awareness for the same," said Joseph. For Delhi, Joseph said there was an expression of interest from a client who plans to open 40 retail stores.

The company plans to make at least 20 stores operational by the end of the year, including one each in Bangalore and Madurai by September. With an investment of around Rs. 25 lakh per store, the turnover expected is Rs. 6 crore per year per store. By the end of the current financial year, the company hopes to open 50 stores.

These stores will sell a variety of products at MNRE subsidised rates. "As we are channel partners with MNRE, we provide government-approved subsidy on all products," said Joseph.

Solar photovoltaic cells, solar power storing batteries, inverters, solar water heaters are some of the products which the company will propagate the most and major sales will depend on them.
But to raise awareness and draw the interest of the consumers, the company has planned to put on display some interesting stuff like caps with fans that will run once you are out in sun, toys and calculators that can be recharged by solar power, bags with solar powered mobile charging points etc.
There is a 5-year unconditional warranty on all the products except solar power storing batteries for which the warranty period is 3 years. Anu solar will train the staff and will provide after-sales service on all the products.