Brands
Private cos should help make Digital India a reality: Ravi Shankar Prasad
NEW DELHI: Communications and Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said that the centre will take the help of private companies to deeply entrench Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Digital India” programme in the system so that it starts yielding results.
Inaugurating the 23rd Convergence India 2015 expo organized by Exhibitions India, Prasad said, “India is in the midst of a digital revolution, and the government has unveiled new policies and regulations to accelerate adoption of ICT in key economic and strategic sectors to increase the competitiveness and productivity of the nation.”
He noted that events like Convergence India provide an impetus to the ICT industry and will propel the nation forward.
The three-day Convergence India Expo 2015, with the theme “Connecting India,” is showcasing emerging technologies from telecom, broadcast and the digital media, which will impact urban as well as rural India in a rapidly emerging digital, multi-screen converged world.
The guest of honour, Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Y.S Chowdary added, “Today, the time has come to think about the development of rural India. There is a great need of digitizing each and every sector. Our department recently created an app, which guides fishermen, when to fish and when not to fish etc. The beauty of democracy is a rolling model; we need to create a blue print and then work towards the execution.”
The other guests of honour present at the opening ceremony were Bharti Enterprise MD Manoj Kohli and Viom Networks Ltd chief mentor Umang Das.
The expo will witness high-powered conferences with 120 CXO’s featuring visionaries from various sectors deliberating on topics such as “Digital India”, “Internet for All”, “Cloud solutions for businesses”, “TV white space and its utility for mobile services”, and “M2M Adoption”, etc.
More than 1,200 conference delegates will exchange views and ideas with the speakers at the conference.
The expo is supported by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, and is endorsed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Other noteworthy concurrent events taking place at 23rd Convergence India 2015 expo are the 2nd annual Telecom Summit 2015; 2nd annual FTTH Council Asia Pacific Summit; and the jury round of Aegis Graham Bell Awards, which recognise and honour industry leaders in the field of telecom, broadcast, media and entertainment.
Exhibitions India group chairman Prem Behl said, “ICT is an important sector, which will play a vital role in contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a Digital India, Smart Cities, Make in India, Made in India, zero defect, zero effect, skill India, competitive India, ease of doing business in India etc., and showcase Indian talent to the world.”
The 2015 exhibition has attracted over 400 companies and their CEOs from 30 countries including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, UAE, UK and USA to name a few, showcasing the latest trends and technologies in broadband, telecom, cable, satellite, digital India, cloud computing, VAS, LTE Networks etc. Over 15,000 trade visitors are expected to visit the expo over three days.
Brands
Estée Lauder to shed 10,000 jobs as new boss bets on digital shift
The cosmetics giant raises its profit outlook but stays silent on a possible merger with Spain’s Puig, as job cuts deepen and a three-year sales slump weighs on the turnaround
NEW YORK: Stéphane de La Faverie is not done cutting. Estée Lauder announced on Friday that it plans to eliminate as many as 3,000 additional jobs, taking its total redundancy programme to as many as 10,000 roles, up from a previous target of 7,000 announced a year ago. The company, which owns La Mer, The Ordinary, Tom Ford, and Aveda, employs roughly 57,000 people worldwide. The mathematics of what is now being contemplated is stark.
The fresh round of cuts is expected to generate a further $200 million in savings, bringing the total annual savings from the programme to as much as $1.2 billion before taxes. That money, De La Faverie has made clear, will be ploughed back into the turnaround.
A CEO in a hurry
De La Faverie, who took the helm in January 2025, inherited a company that had endured three consecutive years of annual sales declines. His response has been to move fast and cut deep. A significant portion of the latest redundancies reflects his push to reduce headcount at US department stores, long a cornerstone of Estée Lauder’s distribution model but now a channel in structural decline. In their place, he is accelerating the shift toward faster-growing online platforms, including Amazon.com and TikTok Shop, a pivot that is reshaping not just where Estée Lauder sells but how it thinks about its customers.
The numbers are moving in the right direction
Despite the pain, there are signs the medicine is working. Estée Lauder raised its profit outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, guiding for adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.35 to $2.45, above analyst estimates and a notable step up from the $2.05 to $2.25 range it had guided for in February. Organic net sales growth is expected to come in at 3 per cent, the company said, at the high end of the range it set out in February.
The share price tells a mixed story. After De La Faverie took charge, the stock surged nearly 60 per cent, buoyed by investor optimism that a longtime company insider could finally arrest the decline. But 2026 has been rougher: the shares have fallen 27 per cent this year, weighed down by disappointing February results and the overhang of unresolved merger talks with Spanish beauty giant Puig Brands SA. The company gave no additional details about those discussions on Friday, leaving the market to guess.
Silence on Puig
The proposed tie-up with Puig remains the most consequential unknown hanging over Estée Lauder. A deal with the Barcelona-based group, which owns brands including Carolina Herrera and Rabanne, would reshape the global luxury beauty landscape. But with nothing new to say and a turnaround still very much in progress, De La Faverie is asking investors to trust the process.
Three years of sales declines, 10,000 job cuts, and a merger that may or may not happen. At Estée Lauder, the overhaul has barely started.
