Suresh Sethi, B P SIngh & Brajesh Bajpai launch 'M-Pesa' service in Ahmedabad

From : Getty Images

M-Pesa Vodafone India's Business Head, Suresh Sethi (R), Vodafone India's Operations Director (West) BP Singh (L) and Vodafone India Gujarat's Business Head, Brajesh Bajpai (C) pose during the launch of the 'M-Pesa' service in Ahmedabad on December 23, 2013. Vodafone India in association with ICICI bank launched the money transfer and payment service 'M-Pesa', allowing customers to deposit and withdraw cash from designated outlets, transfer money to any mobile phone in the country, make payment to recharge mobile, clear utility bills and for DTH service subscription and shopping services.

AFP PHOTO / Sam PANTHAKY (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)


From : The Echo of India

Bhuvanesh Pratap Singh Operations Director - West (Centre) Brajesh Bajapai Business Head (L) and Suresh Sethi Business Head - M-Pesa at the launch of Vodaphone M-Pesa in Gujarat in Ahmedabad on Monday.

Vodafone to take m-pesa pan-India next year

From : The Hindu Business Line


Vodafone India, which together with ICICI Bank rolled out its mobile money transfer and payment service m-pesa in Gujarat on Monday, plans to expand it across India in 2014, a senior official said here.

Vodafone , which currently provides m-pesa service in 11 States in the country, is targeting the $60 billion money transfer market in the country, 20% of which is dependent on the traditional channels like post offices, said Suresh Sethi Business Head, m-pesa.

The telecom service provider is also targeting the government benefits transfer market worth $55 billion.

At present, 30 per cent of money is transferred through formal channels and 70 per cent through informal ones, including ‘havala’, he said.

Vodafone, which launched m-pesa in Kenya in 2006, now has an 85 per cent market share in that African country with a population of 40 million. In Africa, more people have mobile banking accounts than traditional ones, he said.

About the rollout in India, Bhuvanesh Pratap Singh, Operations Director, West, Vodafone India, said only 35 per cent Indians have access to formal financial services with only one branch for every 12,000 people. Only 5 per cent villages have a bank and 73 per cent farmers’ households have no formal sources of credit. Besides, 300 million migrant populations across India had only a limited access to banking services. Normally, villagers have to travel up to 40 km to access a bank.

In India, the overall penetration of telecom services is 70% in urban areas and 40% in rural areas, with Vodafone being the number two provider in terms of revenues. In Gujarat, it covers 96% of population with a 17 million subscriber base, said Brajesh Bajpai, Business Head, Gujarat.

Vodafone would levy transaction charges between 1.2 and 1.5% of the value of transaction.

Vodafone launches women-run ‘Angel Stores’ in Gujarat

From : The Hindu Business Line

Ahmedabad, Nov 6:   

 

In a first of its kind in the country, Vodafone India on Tuesday announced the launch of ‘Angel Stores’, retail outlets run only by women employees, in Ahmedabad and Vadodara

Calling it a s step towards women’s empowerment, the company said these outlets would be managed and run completely by women employees. This initiative is in line with Vodafone’s endeavour of encouraging diversity and inclusion at workplace. Women will run services like security, pantry, customer service and management, Brajesh Bajpai, Business Head, Gujarat Circle said.

Vodafone would launch similar outlets in Rajkot and Surat shortly.

Vodafone India commenced operations in 1994 when its predecessor Hutchison Telecom acquired the cellular license for Mumbai. The company with revenues of over Rs 32,000 crore has operations across the country with over 15.3 crore customers

Hindu Business Line - June 2007

Recently, consumer products major Marico Ltd has captured 50 per cent market share in the Egyptian hair care market by acquiring two Egyptian brands. Mr Brajesh Bajpai, Marico's Country Head for Egypt, said that the country is a sourcing hub for North African region, Europe, Syria and Iraq. It offers advantages in terms of labour, manufacturing cost and lower custom duty. Indian companies in Egypt can leverage economical power tariffs, subsidised natural gas and motor fuel to their own advantage, he said.

Also on the Indian Embassy in Cairo site

Growing up... on Thums Up and Pepsi's Lehar soda?

From Hindu Business Line

Growing up... on Thums Up and Pepsi's Lehar soda?

Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, May 22

SOFT drinks major Pepsi Foods is taking on arch rival Coca-Cola India's Thums Up taste challenge head on. The in-your-face `Have You grown up to Thums Up?' film now has an equally aggressive retort in the form of Lehar, Pepsi Foods' brand of soda.

While the currently-on-air Thums Up film is about attempting to make Thums Up taste like the rival cola (with blurred voice-over), the Lehar soda film depicts an attempt to convert the soda into Grow Up tonic (an obvious reference to Thums Up).

The Lehar soda commercial does not stop at spoofing with look-alikes of Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen -- Thums Up's celebrity endorsers. The commercial also has a voice over that announces `toofani anda?', in a situation where crow droppings fall into the `tonic' glass. (`Toofani thanda' has been a distinct Thums Up sign off for several decades.)

The message that the new Lehar soda commercial attempts to convey, asserts Mr Brajesh Bajpai, Brand Manager (Lehar Soda), Pepsi Foods, is that Lehar remains the strongest soda in the market. "The idea of the commercial is to build on the platform of strength. It fits with the brand,'' he said. Hence the sign off -- `Lehar soda, strong soda', which incidentally is the same as last year.

Last year too, Pepsi Foods had taken on the `Grow up to Thums Up challenge' theme campaign with Lehar soda, also featuring a Salman look-alike. That was the first time Pepsi had decided to tap the electronic media for its low-profile Lehar soda brand.

Last year's Thums Up blind test challenge television campaign had resulted in Pepsi dragging Coca-Cola India to court for copyright infringement of its `dil maange more' adline. The Lehar soda film, created by agency Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA), is a 35-seconder and broke on mainline television channels a couple of days back.

According to industry estimates, the organised soda market is worth approximately Rs 200-crore, and Lehar soda is the market leader, followed by Coca-Cola's Kinley soda brand. "Lehar soda is the fastest growing soda brand and it grew by over 15 per cent last year. We expect to generate the same growth this year as well,'' Mr Bajpai said.

Lehar soda is available in 300 ml glass bottles priced between Rs 4-7 depending on the markets the brand is present in, besides 500 ml, 1.5 litre and 2 litre PET bottles.

So will there be a sequel to the Lehar soda ad? "We will take a call in 15 days' time,'' Mr Bajpai said.