MAM
Reva to develop hydrogen fuel cell car; ad budget to grow
BANGALORE: Bangalore based Reva Electric Car Company Pvt. Ltd. (RECC) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) have signed a statement of intent to develop two fuel cell hydrogen vehicles for a pilot project.
The first one will roll out in the next six months and the second a year later. The pilot project has been initiated by IOC to develop a hydrogen fuel economy in India as an alternative to hydrocarbon fuels such as petrol and diesel.
“IOC is committed to providing majority of the funding for the project an will create a the hydrogen infrastructure first at its R&D Center in Faridabad followed Delhi and Agra”, said IOC R&D director BM Bansal. “For successful commercialization of this technology, there needs to be low cost platform for fuel cell vehicles and infrastructure issues to be worked out,” added Bansal, who happens to be the signatory from IOC’s end.
“Fuel cell systems offer a promising technology of the future with advantages that include zero-emissions, high efficiencies and minimal noise,” said RECC chairman Sudrashan Maini. RECC already has a prototype electric car with hydrogen fuel cell, which has been unveiled by President Kalam in 2004.
RECC is increasing its ad budgets also significantly. “We plan to increase ad budgets to Rs. 400 million this year, this will be much higher than the Rs. 400 million we’ve spent over the last four years since the launch of the Reva,” said RECC deputy chairman and CTO Chetan Kumar Maini. “Rediffusion handles our account,” he informed.
RECC has over 1000 Reva cars running globally, including 200 in the UK.
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.
