“We would appreciate it if the Finance Ministry could approach the RBI or the respective authorities to direct NBFCs and Banks to waive off DBD (dealer by down) and MDR (merchant discount rate) charges to retailers on paper finance and on digital transactions for at least 6 months post lockdown,” All India Mobile Retailers Association said in a letter to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

“We recommend allowing all physical shops dealing on sales, repair and service activity of mobile phones, mobile devices (laptops and tablets) and their supporting accessories to be opened on a limited basis (three days a week for five hours) with limited number of staff,” AIMRA said in an April 17 letter to union home minister Amit Shah.

"All standalone (single) shops, neighborhood (colony) shops and shops in residential complexes are permitted to remain open in urban areas, without any distinction of essential and non-essential," the ministry of home affairs said in a notification on Friday.

The state government has given permission to various companies, including Samsung, to start operations with a maximum of 3,000 employees in a manufacturing unit.

Xbox will be available for Rs39,990, while the model with Kinect, an interface that allows the use of gestures to play games, will cost Rs45,990.

Pokemon is the most successful and lucrative video game franchise in the world, second only to Mario.

King Digital Entertainment Plc, owner of Candy Crush, has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Mumbai-based Dream Theatre, to license and sell Candy Crush branded products across South Asia.

Rovio’s India head also said that the company wants to have its own retail store where it can sell Angry Birds merchandise such as shirts and stuffed toys.

Toonz Animation, the flagship division of leading content company Toonz Entertainment, has signed a major deal with Gummybear International Inc.

The game, which has been launched in India and the US, is available for Rs 6,249 on its portal and Amazon.in.

ACK has roped in game developer Nazara Games to develop mobile games based on ACK and Tinkle characters, and the games would be launched in the next six months, said Mohan.

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Barely a week before he was taken into CBI custody on charges of defaulting on bank loans to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore, Rotomac chairman Vikram Kothari was among the top 100 key invitees to the mega UP investor summit.

Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Union Bank of India, and Bank of Maharashtra have jointly lent close to Rs 4,000 crore to the two Rotomac Group companies.

The total outstanding amount, according to the agency, is approximately Rs 3695 crores. The agency had sealed the office and house of Vikram Kothari’s residence, in New Delhi.

Shaw will feature in a line of exclusive limited edition stationery, inspired by and with inputs from him.

Complicated manufacturing and investment needs may have a role in keeping new players out of the business.

The company had also brought the Classmate Pulse Selfie notebooks, allowing personalisation of notebooks with a selfie on the cover.

The court allowed a day's transit remand for both the accused, who were arrested on Thursday for alleged default on loan repayment.

Though the business is a precarious one, bookstores are here to stay as long as there are readers driven by a compulsion to read, say leading booksellers in the capital.

Kohler would enhance its sales network in the domestic markets by having presence in 200 towns in next three years and become a 1,000 store company in next five years.

We will be investing approximately Rs 2-3 crore each in setting up 10 Lacasa stores covering around 40,000-50,000 sq. ft. area till 2020.

The company is present in built-in kitchen appliances and claims to be the number three brand in the country.

"Some part of Kurl-on's business did get cannibalized with the opening of IKEA's first store in Hyderabad, but it is not a cause of worry," Sudhakar Pai, Chairman and MD, Kurl-on says.

Bed Bath and Beyond has been struggling to boost sales in the face of changing consumer preferences towards online furniture retailers such as Wayfair Inc.

Shares of the New Jersey-based home furnishing retailer fell about 3 percent in mid-day trade.

According to the notification, companies that make phones priced at ₹15,000 and above and which make a cumulative investment of ₹1,000 crore over four years, starting with ₹250 crore in the first year, will qualify for an incentive of 6% for the first two years, followed by 5% for the next two and 4% in the fifth year..

Having suffered an unprecedented sales decline of 6-7 per cent in 2019-20, the industry will be up against challenges in both supply and demand sides due to the coronavirus pandemic, Panasonic India and South Asia President and CEO Manish Sharma said.

Products such as laptops, smartphones and printers have become crucial for those working from home, while household appliances like washing machines, ACs, TVs and vacuum cleaners are now more important than ever for households.

There are another more than 30,000 microwave ovens, AC and washing machines which needs repair at a time when Indians are locked indoors and doing household chores themselves due to the lockdown.

​​Individually, each brand is seeking more clarity and approval on the guidelines. The guidelines say that we would have to open in a phased manner. All brands are gearing up to open up, wherever, it will be permitted," CEAMA President Kamal Nandi said.

Samsung has created an ecommerce platform in partnership with Benow.in along with mobile phone retailers across the country that will allow them to sell and deliver smartphones. Offline stores are also being used to fulfil orders placed on Samsung’s e-store for television and appliances.

"The heavy appliances industry will be impacted by a significant loss of up to 60 per cent in March and almost 100 per cent in April. These two months put together contribute close to 25 per cent of the annual revenue," Godrej Appliances Business Head and EVP Kamal Nandi told.

Several brands took the decision since both offline and online market is closed leading to piling up of inventory in their warehouses, and several of their plants falling in red zones or in states where permission has not yet been given. Some states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka have also decided to not provide any relaxation to industries till the lockdown ends.

Companies like Panasonic India, Godrej Appliances, Dixon Technologies and Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd said with retail outlets shut there is no point to start production as there is existing unsold inventory of March at warehouses and dealers.

Most consumer durables companies in India rely on imported components. Poor input supplies since January and later closure of factories, malls, shops and offices due to the lockdown hit consumer demand badly.

"Sales and profits of set products business, including smartphones and TVs, are expected to decline significantly as COVID-19 affects demand and leads to store and plant closures globally," Samsung said in a statement.

Both LG and Samsung have opened bookings for various products on their websites for limited periods and are offering gifts of up to Rs 10,000 on pre-bookings made during the lockdown period. LG has opened pre-bookings till May 15 and Samsung by May 8.

Lee Jae-yong is vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics and was jailed for five years in 2017 for bribery, embezzlement and other offences in connection with the scandal that brought down South Korean president Park Geun-hye.

The company has cut prices anywhere from Rs 2,000 on the smaller screen televisions going up to Rs two lakh on a flagship 85-inch model apart from rolling out long tenure no-cost EMI schemes and bundling offers. It has launched a new 85-inch model at Rs 5.9 lakh bringing down its earlier pricing structure of Rs 10 lakh in this screen size.

Major retail chains including Viveks, Shahs, Girias, Vasanth and Co are among the signatories of the letter, which fears job losses might start impacting one lakh of families, besides a steep drop in direct and indirect tax revenues to the state.

The company had recently contributed Rs 15 crore to PM CARES Fund.

Other markets account for approximately 27.9 per cent of Dubai's imports, a statement released here by organisers of Paper Arabia 2013.

The business of fine writing instruments is growing in tandem with other luxury segments in Koramangala and its surroundings.

About a fourth of the corrugated box makers in the country are in danger of shutting down over the next few months as they are unable to pass on cost pressures to their clients.

With about a million products available on its website, Tolexo is among the largest B2B ecommerce sites in the country, serving 2.5 lakh businesses.

India’s largest maker of writing & printing paper has been in talks with Nine Dragons for some time now. Discussions are likely to lead to a binding agreement soon, sources said.

While the financial terms of the acquisition, which was completed last month, were not shared, sources privy to the developments said the deal valued Print Bazaar at Rs 8-10 crore.