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Ballarpur Industries in talks to sell Malaysian arm to China's Nine Dragons

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.




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Printing solutions co Printo buys rival Print Bazaar's parent firm

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.




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Meet Ryan: A 7-year old boy who is the highest-paid YouTube star of 2018

The boy topped Forbes' list of "Highest-Paid YouTube Stars 2018" with an impressive earning of USD 22 million.




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Toy maker Funskool inaugurates new factory in Ranipet

"The company will invest another Rs 15 crore in another three months. The factory is close to Chennai port, thereby facilitating easy exports to our buyers abroad. We are happy to inaugurate our third manufacturing facility in India and production has already begun ,” said John Baby, chief executive officer (CEO), Funskool.




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Reliance acquires British toy-maker Hamleys for undisclosed sum

Reliance Retail’s marquee label operator Reliance Brands is the India master franchisee for Hamleys, which reputedly has its origins in the world’s oldest toy store in London that was opened in 1881.




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The man with all the toys: Why Mukesh Ambani bought Hamleys

With 167 stores across 18 countries, Hamleys gives Reliance Retail a much-needed global footprint.




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Can Mukesh Ambani turn Hamleys into a titan or it'll just be a trophy buy?

Even with Reliance's considerable experience, turning a trophy into a titan isn’t a given.




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Reliance Brands completes acquisition of Hamleys

Reliance Brands has completed acquisition of 100 per cent stake of Hamleys Global Holdings (HGHL) through a special purpose vehicle company set up in United Kingdom for cash consideration of GBP 67.96 million, Reliance Industries said in a BSE filing Thursday.




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AR educational toymaker PlayShifu lands $7M funding led by Chiratae, Inventus & Bharat Innovation Fund

The startup plans to use the funds raised to focus on building unique phygital interactions, new product developments and expand its retail presence from 15 countries to more than 30 countries




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World's top toymaker joins companies leaving China's factories

The world’s largest publicly traded toymaker, which has licenses for popular franchises such as “Frozen” and the “Avengers,” said US goods produced in China could drop to about 50% by the end of 2020, from just under two-thirds currently.




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Reliance opens 100th Hamleys store in India

Hamleys entered Indian in 2010 with its first store at High Street Phoenix Mumbai and is currently the largest toy retailer in India with 100 stores in 36 cities.




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Iconic toy maker Lego in talks with the Indian government to prioritise play

Rohan Mathur, senior regional sales manager - South Asia for The Lego Group spoke to ET about the toy industry, company’s India plans and its recent event in Delhi engaging the Indian government to prioritise play.




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Reliance Brands to take Hamleys to US, Canada

Reliance Brands will take Hamleys toy stores to the US and Canada to capitalise on the vacuum created by liquidation of one the world’s largest toy store chain Toys R Us.




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Toys 'R' Us makes comeback after teaming up with Target

More than two years after filing for bankruptcy, Toys 'R' Us has managed to make a comeback with the support of a competitor, just in time for the holiday season. The iconic toy brand has relaunched its website, shortly after US retail chain Target announced a partnership with the defunct brand's parent company Tru Kids Brands.




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Hanung Toys promoter detained at airport following LOC issued by PNB

Hanung Toys and Textile Ltd owes Rs 2,300 crore from a consortium of 15 lenders led by state-owned PNB, which alone has exposure of Rs 599 crore.




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Reliance Brands picks Sumeet Yadav to head Hamleys global

It has hired Sumeet Yadav, former CEO of South African restaurant chain Nando’s in India, to head Hamleys, according to two people aware of the development.




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200% import duty hike to hit toy business in India: Importers

The Centre, in the Union budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has proposed raising the import duty on toys from 20 per cent to 60 per cent from the next fiscal, saying that the step would support the MSMEs and promote local manufacturing.




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Toys association seeks rollback of customs duty hike

Imports account for almost 85 per cent of the total toys' demand in the country and only the remaining 15 per cent of the sale is met by the domestic manufacturers, according to the industry.




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Myntra & Jabong partner Hamleys, Funskool and others

Myntra has launched toys from the stables of Hot wheels, Funskool, Lego, Barbie and Simba on its platform.




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Sony enters into kids merchandise space

Sony has roped in brand licensing company Black White Orange to roll out kids’ consumer products




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Small towns go online to quench thirst for luxury

Most consumers tend to go bargain hunting online. For a large part of 2019, luxury mall managers reported that sales were lacklustre. Luxury goods websites, however, managed to buck the trend because of 20-50% lower costs on their sites. But at the moment, watch companies do not seem to be finding too many takers in tier-2 and 3 towns.




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Louis Vuitton India net profit jumps over 24% in FY19

According to documents recently filed with the registrar of companies (RoC), accessed through business information platform Tofler, LVMH, known for its iconic monogrammed bags, clothing, perfumes and leather goods reported an increase in profit after tax by Rs 3.19 crore.




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Raf Simons joining Prada in full creative collaboration

Prada, who has been the creative force behind one of luxury's most successful brands for 30 years, said the new partnership did not signal an eventual succession.




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Hermes India sees a 55% jump in profit, Dior still deep in the red

Hermes India had recorded a net profit of Rs 12.1 crore the year before. Revenue from operations rose 11% from the previous year’s Rs 98.8 crore on a standalone basis, according to its filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).




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Prada picks Bengaluru-based BigThinx for its fashion tech accelerator programme

BigThinx’s neural networks create a personalised 3D virtual avatar from 2D images for fashion brands and their customers.




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The stamp of luxury never really fades

Wise fashionistas merely store rather than discard, waiting for the tide to inevitably turn.




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Good Earth, Anita Lal-founded family-owned luxury home decor company, credits focus on Indianness for its success

Good Earth is now a prominent go-to destination for home decor enthusiasts and interior designers alike as it offers something for everyone.




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Safilo sees negligible impact from coronavirus outbreak for now

China accounts for just around 1% of the group's total revenue and Italy for 5%, the CEO said. Safilo's factory in China reopened on Feb. 10 and it is now running at 85% of its capacity, and no big problems occurred at plants in Italy.




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LVMH to make sanitising gel instead of perfumes, make-up at 3 factories in France, distribute it for free to hospitals

Twelve tons of the gel will be produced as soon as this week.




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Armani to make single use medical overalls at all its Italian factories

Giorgio Armani has donated 2 million euros in recent weeks to hospitals around Italy.




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Top French fashion brands start making free masks

Dior, which is also owned by LVMH, the world's biggest luxury goods group, has been making masks since the end of last month for hospital staff.




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Burberry to maintain employee pay through coronavirus crisis

While many UK companies have utilised the government's furlough scheme, which sees employees paid 80% of their salary, Burberry said it would not rely on government support for jobs in the UK where more than a third of its workers are based.




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Companies lure luxe buyers with ‘lockdown offers’

The offers are on luxury products such as watches, cars and shoes, just as many other players also join the ‘lockdown bandwagon’.




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Indian gold demand could hit 3-decade low as lockdown hits festivals, weddings

The drop in consumption by the world's second-biggest gold buyer could limit a rally in global prices.




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Covid-19 Impact: Titan reworks omnichannel directive for its jewellery wing to gain recovery in third quarter

We foresee a deferred demand. Most of the weddings in Q1 got pushed to Q3 or Q4 due to the lockdown. People may spend less money on destination weddings, clothes and other events around it. But we expect investment in jewellery for weddings, said Ajoy Chawla, CEO of Titan’s jewellery division.




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Jewellers may be staring at a 94% plunge in gold demand this Akshaya Tritiya

GJC chairman Anantha Padmanabhan said, “There may be some token booking for gold by individuals for amounts like Rs 5,000 or so. But there will be no big investments in gold as all the shops are closed. The drop in demand will be around 94%.”




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Gold may zoom to Rs 82,000 per 10gm by end ’21: Analysts

On Thursday, gold futures for June on MCX closed at Rs 46,352/10gm. So, in about one and a half years, gold prices in India could gain about 75%. In the international market, gold is currently trading at about $1,750 level.




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Jewellers use digital platform, offer discount to sell gold this Akshaya Tritiya

"As we started getting a lot of enquires from our regular customers, we have started taking Akshay Tritiya bookings online from 21st April onwards on our e-commerce platforms. The same will be delivered to the customers post lockdown ends," Aditya Pethe, director, WHP Jewellers said.




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Jewellers witness encouraging response from customers on their digital platforms for Akshaya Tritiya

Mr. Ajoy Chawla, CEO, Jewellery Division at Titan Company Limited said, "All 328 Tanishq stores remain shut this year and hence it would be unfair to compare numbers with last year. But the overall customer response to tanishq.co.in from key metros and even with tier-2 and tier-3 towns has been extremely encouraging.




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Diamond polishing industry staring at a decade low revenue : Crisil

Assuming the pandemic starts subsiding by June and trade channels normalise over the next quarter, CRISIL expects a revival in demand to be pushed into the second half of the fiscal.




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Nirav Modi set for remote extradition trial from May 11 in UK court

The 49-year-old, who has been lodged at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest last year, appeared before a UK court via videolink.




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Rough diamond import may be curtailed as pandemic stalls trade

India’s gross import of rough diamonds had declined by 13.43% to $12.39 billion between April 2019 and February 2020 from a year earlier.




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Global gold demand sees modest growth in Q1 on lockdown-led disruptions: WGC

World's gold demand during the first quarter of 2019 stood at 1070.8 tonne, according to WGC's Q1 Gold Demand Trends report.




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Gold demand falls 36% in January-March due to volatile prices, economic uncertainties: WGC

According to the World Gold Council's (WGC) Q1 Gold Demand Trends report, in terms of value India's the first quarter gold demand fell 20 per cent to Rs 37,580 crore, compared to Rs 47,000 crore in the same period of 2019.




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Virus, high gold prices dent India’s Q1 jewellery demand by 41%: WGC

Jewellery demand in the world’s second largest consumer slumped 41% to 73.9 tonnes , thanks to a 25% jump in quarterly average price to Rs 36,874 per 10 gm (ex import duty and GST) and the fallout from Covid 19, the WGC latest global demand trends report shows.




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Khazana Jewellery to contribute ₹10 crore towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

Brand Content Initiative




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Surat may lose cutting edge in diamond trade

Diamond trade at Surat has come to a halt because of the lockdown. Many workers have also left.




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In times of Covid, diamond jobs are not forever

India, the world’s largest diamond polishing hub that employs over one million people, is likely to see a staggering 50% job loss. Diamond merchants are struggling to manage their inventories or pay salaries to their craftsmen. Knock-on effects are being felt by one million more workers employed in the gems and jewellery industry.




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Tanishq announces to open its 328 stores across the country in a phased manner

The company will continue to strictly comply with all government rules while reopening and running operations at the store. The company plans to reopen first 50 stores by 10th May, 2020.




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Episode 59: Miunau

Datassette presents a series of mixes intended for listening while programming to aid concentration and increase productivity (also compatible with other activities).