Toyota, Nissan and Honda to recall 3.4 million vehicles over airbag

TOKYO: Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co are recalling a total of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide as a result of an airbag problem, the companies said on Thursday.

Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said the company supplied the airbags related to the recalls.

Toyota is recalling about 1.73 million vehicles globally, including 580,000 vehicles in North America and 490,000 vehicles in Europe because some airbags at the front seat next to the driver may not inflate when necessary, spokesman Ryo Sakai said.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, he said. Toyota will exchange the faulty inflator with new ones, a fix that is expected to take about an hour to two and a half hours for most models, he said. He declined to give the costs related to the recall.

Honda said it is recalling around 1.14 million vehicles worldwide. Nissan said it is recalling about 480,000 vehicles globally, while Mazda Motor Corp said it is recalling about 45,500 vehicles.

Takata has been informed that carmakers will recall about 2 million vehicles globally due to problems with airbags it had supplied, but not 3.4 million, said Hishikawa. Its shares dropped 9 percent to 1,819 yen on Thurday.

Fall in consumer demand forces retailers to shutdown shops in Bangalore's high streets

BANGALORE: The old high streets of Bangalore, a favourite of international and domestic brands, are losing their charisma. Declining sales have meant that businesses-from luxury beauty chains to electronics goods stores-are shutting down shops to consolidate operations.

Brands, such as Pavers England, Reliance Trends, Poe, Levis, KFC, Ezone and Cafe Pascuci, among others, have closed stores across Brigade Road, MG Road, Lavelle Road, Richmond Road and Indiranagar in Bangalore-the streets where citizens of the garden city traditionally shop.

"Brands need to do balance between malls and high streets," said Ram T Chandnanim, deputy managing director (South India) of CBRE South Asia, a real estate consultancy firm. "All major brands prefer to open stores in malls due to better infrastructure and assured footfalls. However, malls take a lot of time to develop."

The Indian retail sector has seen a single-digit increase in like-to-like store sales-an indicator of customer demand- in 2012, compared with 15 per cent even two years ago.

Retailers do not expect things to improve considerably this fiscal as demand continues to be depressed. "The retail industry will settle down by mid of next year as we get used to moderate growth," said Ashish Dikshit, chief executive officer of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle. The company has shutdown its multi-brand outlet Planet Fashion on Richmond Road.

Slower growth has also pulled down rentals in Brigade Road and MG Road as brands move to newer locations. "Average annual growth rate of high-street rentals since 2009 has been in the range of 6-9 per cent. Rental values across high-street locations are likely to witness nominal growth in short term," said a Vestian Global report.

Retailers are now looking to step up presence in malls or move to cheaper locations due to lower rentals and better infrastructure in terms of air-conditioning and parking facilities. "Retailers are cautious as growth numbers are not good. Mall stores are showing better growth in sales as compared to high street, which is more of branding presence," said Amit Bagaria, chairman of retail planning consultancy Asipac Projects.

"There is an increasing challenge in terms of parking on high streets," said Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive (lifestyle) at Reliance Retail. The company has closed all four pilot retail stores of American office supply chain Office Depot in Bangalore as they failed to meet targets. UK-based Pavers England, which closed its outlet in Indiranagar, is looking to enhance the number of shop-in shops in outlets of multi-brand retailers as compared to standalone stores.

Others like French beauty chain Jean Claude Biguine are opting for smaller outlets. It had reduced store size to 1,100-1,500 square feet from 2,000, and is also negotiating the rent.

"Real estate is a key component of business and if not handled properly can sabotage brand. It is challenging to build business in India as the available space is very expensive and can make business unviable," said Dharmendra Manwani, founder and chief executive officer of Jean Claude Biguine India.

"Some brands are also surrendering tenancy in parts and relocating to nearest catchment area or evolving shopping locations in suburban residential catchments to drive footfall as sales continues to be slow," said Prashanth Sambargi, partner at Mars Realty, which deals in retail space. A detailed email sent to Future Group, Aditya Birla Retail, Levis and Pavers England remained unanswered.

Bandla Ganesh Flying High

 

There is nothing more a producer can ask for except that his films become a hit at the box office and his bank balance is filling. In a way, it is important too that a producer keeps getting back his investments because the entire film industry and their livelihood depends on a strong set of producers.

Currently, one man seems to be jumping in joy. He is none other than Bandla Ganesh and the reason for that is the success of his recent venture ‘Baadshah’. It is heard that Ganesh is very happy he got lot of money from the film. Incidentally, he was so confident that prior to its release he declared it as a bumper hit.

On the other hand, how much ever press notes and statements are being given some media houses are saying collections are less. Already, anti-NTR media houses have launched a campaign on that point. Also, other Big Star fans have been doing some negative publicity that there is not much real collection. It is heard that all this is making Ganesh happy because that’s what he also wants so that he can save himself from IT raids.

US employers looking for foreign workers for 'dirty' jobs

WASHINGTON: As desperate as unemployed Americans are to find work, there are still some jobs that many would never consider applying for because they are seen as too dirty, too demanding or just plain unappealing.

But employers that struggle to fill those jobs — washing dishes, cleaning hotels, caring for the elderly — could soon get help now that business groups and labor unions have agreed on a plan to allow thousands of new low-skilled foreign workers into the workforce.

The deal, which still needs final agreement from lawmakers, is one of the last major hurdles to completing immigration overhaul legislation this year, one of President Barack Obama's highest priorities. It is expected to be part of a broader measure that would address the status of the 11 million immigrants who either arrived in the US illegally or overstayed their visas.

India Inc to hire aggressively,

Indian businesses are among the most optimistic about their country's economic growth and are likely to hire more new workers than any other nation in the world, says a report.

According to the Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), a quarterly survey of more than 3,000 businesses in 44 countries, India is one of the top 10 countries that plan to increase hirings. About 73 per cent of Indian businesses plan to increase staff numbers, which is more than double the global average of 36 per cent.

As many as 83 per cent of Indian businesses are optimistic about their local economy (up from 78 per cent three months earlier), and much higher than the global average of 50 per cent. Overall, Peru topped the list with 98 per cent businesses optimistic about the economy, followed by Philippines (92 per cent), the United Arab Emirates (92 per cent), Mexico (84 per cent) and India (83 per cent). Besides, about 88 per cent of Indian businesses plan to increase employee wages at or above inflation level.

Chinese inflation slows sharply in March

Chinese inflation slowed sharply in March as food prices fell in the wake of the country’s New Year holiday and the central bank drained cash from the economy.

Consumer prices rose 2.1 per cent in March from a year earlier, below expectations and down from a ten-month high of 3.2 per cent in February when China celebrated its Lunar New Year. Food price inflation, which had surged to 6 per cent year on year in February, fell back to a pace of 2.7 per cent.


Looking past the seasonal rise and fall in prices caused by the holiday, Chinese inflation has remained mild this year. The average increase in consumer prices in the first quarter was 2.4 per cent, up only a little from the final quarter of 2012. Analysts said the subdued inflation was a reflection of how the Chinese economic recovery has been steady but unspectacular.

As consumer demand increases and excess capacity in industry is whittled away prices are likely to rise in China, but these trends have been progressing more gradually than many economists had predicted at the start of the year.

“Overall, the recovery has been moderate which helps to rein in the inflation pressure from the demand side,” said Jian Chang, an economist with Barclays. “Recovery means a continued rise, so we have been saying it looks more like a growth stabilisation, a gradual and moderate improvement.”

After bottoming out at 7.4 per cent annual growth in the third quarter of 2012, China rebounded to 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter and is expected to have narrowly topped that pace in the first quarter. Beijing will report its first-quarter gross domestic product next week.

The Chinese central bank has drained cash from the economy for seven straight weeks since the Lunar New Year holiday ended in mid-February, helping to counter inflationary pressure and keep growth from overheating.

While the withdrawals – via open market operations – have been moderate, they have made clear that the central bank has shifted to a slight tightening bias after injecting cash in the financial system in the second half of last year to support the economic recovery.

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, said last month he was “on high alert” against prices increases and added that experience had taught him not to delay the fight against inflation.

Chinese officials have warned that monetary easing by developed countries from the US to Japan could send waves of hot money into emerging markets, fuelling inflationary pressure.

There is evidence that China has already been on the receiving end of major capital inflows since late last year. A record amount of foreign currency entered the country’s financial system in January and analysts say the central bank has had to step up its interventions in the foreign exchange market to keep the renminbi from appreciating

Former British PM Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

Margaret Thatcher, the "Iron Lady" who transformed Britain and inspired conservatives around the world by radically rolling back the state during her 11 years in power, died on Monday following a stroke. She was 87.

Britain's only woman prime minister, the unyielding, outspoken Thatcher led the Conservatives to three election victories, governing from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous period in office by a British premier since the early 19th century.

A grocer's daughter with a steely resolve, she was loved and loathed in equal measure as she crushed the unions, privatised vast swathes of British industry, clashed with the European Union and fought a war to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine invaders.

She struck up a close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan in the Cold War, backed the first President George Bush during the 1991 Gulf War, and declared that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was a man she could do business with.

"We've lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton," Prime Minister David Cameron said.

"Her legacy will be the fact that she served her country so well, and she saved our country and she showed immense courage in doing so, and people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades, probably centuries to come."

Cameron cut short a visit to Europe to return to Britain after the death was announced and British flags at Cameron's official residence, 10 Downing Street, were lowered to half mast.

Mourners began to lay flowers outside her house in Belgravia, one of London's most exclusive areas. One note said: "The greatest British leader."

Thatcher died peacefully on Monday morning, said Lord Bell, a spokesman for the family. She had been in poor health for months and had declined into dementia in her final years.

"I think she will be remembered as one of the greatest prime ministers this country has ever had," Bell said.

"I'm sure she will be remembered in the context of other great men like Winston Churchill. She made a real difference to the way we live our lives," Bell said.

The British government said Thatcher would have a ceremonial funeral with military honours at London's St Paul's Cathedral, which falls short of a full state funeral, in accordance with the wishes of her family.

The lady's not for turning

The abiding images of her premiership will remain those of conflict: huge police confrontations with the miners' union, her riding a tank in a white headscarf, and flames rising above Trafalgar Square in the riots over an unpopular local tax which ultimately led to her downfall.

"It's very sad to hear of her death but her legacy and death are two different things. Politically, she did not leave a good legacy for the working class," Kevin Robertson, a 39-year-old garage manager, told Reuters in Edinburgh.

To those who opposed her she was blunt to a degree. "The lady's not for turning", she once famously informed members of her own Conservative Party who were urging her to moderate her policies.

Others who crossed her path, particularly in Europe, were subjected to withering diatribes often referred to as "handbaggings", named after the black leather bag she invariably carried.

Queen Elizabeth said she was sad to hear the news of Thatcher's death and sent a message of sympathy to her family.

"Her memory will live long after the world has forgotten the grey suits of today's politics," said London Mayor Boris Johnson.