In October last year, the metal shutters came down on the Cuffe Parade branch of Subhiksha Supemarkets. The chain, one of India's supermarket pioneers, had taken premises on the edge of a shanty town in this up-market district, home to billionaires like Anil Ambani, to try and cut rents. But it was still unable to make a profit.
"When they started, they had very high sales," Surendra Nair, who runs a scrap paper business next door said. "They were giving 10 per cent discounts, and many stores in Cuffe Parade were complaining because they had very less sales. Then slowly, slowly, sales became less, and it became loss-making."
For Vinod Gala and Girish Veera, who run Mahavir Provisions and Ketan Stores, two small grocery shops in Colaba market, the nearest shopping district, this is a cause for no small amount of satisfaction.
From the moment Subhiksha opened, customers came into their shops carrying receipts from Subhiksha and demanding the same prices. Subhiksha was selling lentils at just 48 Rupees per kilo, Gala said, whereas he could only make a decent margin at 56 Rupees a kilo. "They sell one thing cheap, and the customers buys other things more expensive," he shrugged.
Subhiksha was only the start. At the time, Reliance Industries, India's largest company, was planning to open one of its Reliance Fresh chain just across the street. Shops like Mahavir and Ketan looked certain to be undercut by a competitors with huge efficiencies of scale, and the ability to squeeze much better prices out of suppliers.
Subhiksha's failure was the first concrete sign that this was unlikely to happen. "The big companies can't eat us up because we are unprofessional," said Gala. "We are not unprofessional! I started work in this shop in 1972 when I was 11 years old."
When India's biggest business groups launched into food retailing in 2006 and 2007, the 'kirana stores', the local name for the grocery shops who make up 95% of India's retail market were dismissed as 'unorganised retail' or 'ma and pa stores', the implication being that their traditional approach would not be able to match the business strategists behind Reliance Industry's Reliance Fresh, Aditya Birla Group's More, and Godrej's Spencer's supermarkets.
The companies expected to rapidly triple their share of a market that McKinsey consultancy expects to be worth $450bn by 2015. Corporate retailers' opponents, meanwhile, issued dire predictions that millions of livelihoods would be lost as modern retail advanced.
But the close of Subhiksha in Cuffe Parade was a sign of deeper problems, both at Subhiksha and in the wider industry. On January 31 this year, Subhiksha managing director R. Subramanian confessed that the group was mired in financial crisis.
He has since closed all 1,600 of Subhiksha's stores, and is now casting around for a way to rescue his company. "It is sudden collapse," he admitted in a long press statement.
Subhiksha is the first major casualty of corporate India's attempt to do battle kirana stores.
Kirana stores have reacted unexpectedly fast. "The kirana-wallahs are learning the terms of the trade very fast,"said an analyst at a European investment bank. "Maybe the big retailers did not imagine them to change this quickly."
Veera and Gala are both impressively well-informed. They know the whereabouts and layout of every modern supermarket in South Mumbai, and are up-to-date on the major financial news about their owners.
When Subhiksha opened, Veera visited it to understand the threat. ""Customers kept coming to me and comparing prices," he says. "So I went to Subhiksha, so I can explain their strategy. Often when they have discounts, it is because the products are expiring."
Gala changed the layout of Mahavir Provisions. "I've opened up my shop and made it so that consumers can come and browse the aisles and buy things that they choose to buy," he says. Before, customers would simply hand over a shopping list to the an attendant at the front.
There's not much Subhiksha would have supplied that they can't get hold of. Anuradha Kalhan, an economics professor at Jai Hind College in Mumbai, says: "Kirana stores have everything that you need, and some of them are quite enterprising: if you keep asking for something they get it for you."
The shelves at Ketan and Mahavir are packed with Quaker Oats, English mustard, and American snacks, all goods requested by the cosmopolitan local population. And, unlike the supermarkets, they give consumers credit and will deliver something as small as a toothbrush directly to their doors.
Corporate retailers have also been their own undoing. The speed of their expansion left them with crippling cost structures. "It's not cheap to do retail in India," says the analyst. "The associated costs in terms of rent, in terms of salaries, in terms of the interest you pay, is very high. These kirana stores are actually running on a very low cost ? they've been operating these stores for the decades, so they don't have rent, and they're run by families, so no staff costs."
When modern retailers announced their expansion plans three years ago, they said they would replace the five to six middlemen between the farmer and the consumer with efficient supply chains, reducing the estimated 30 per cent of fruit and vegetables that perish on the way to the market in India.
But they have failed. "No one has succeeded in building an efficient supply chain yet," says a strategy manager at one of India's big corporate retailers. "If they had we would be able to see it in their offerings: they would be offering cheaper and better goods."
Today, most supermarket chains buy from the same traditional supply network they sought to replace. And if they have succeeded in building their own, they are not managing to cut wastage levels or costs much below existing levels. "If you look at the levels of 'dump', which is what is wasted, they're not doing much better," says the strategy manager.
Reliance Retail, the venture which had the highest ambitions for its supply-chain was last August forced to seek help from Wincanton, the UK supply chain specialist. But Wincanton backed out in September.
Ironically, reliance on the traditional supply chain is now proving an advantage. Shops at the end of a corporate retail chain have to accept whatever goods are delivered, whereas small shopkeepers only buy those fruit and vegetables that make it to wholesale markets in good shape.
"Customers have found out that their stock isn't fresh," Gala says with satisfaction. And as no retailer has managed to establish monitoring systems such as companies like Tesco have, management is rarely in the know about the state of their wares. "The problem with the big stores is they don't have their proprietor sitting inside them, the way I do," says Gala. "They just have employees."
The Subshiksha store on Cuffe Parade suffered heavily from pilfering from staff. Surendra Nair, the scrap paper merchant by Subhiksha, says that was the immediate reason for its closure: "I spoke to the supervisor, who was my friend, and he said staff remove the goods from the store and put them in their house."
Each of the many middlemen in the traditional retail chain has a long-established personal relationship with the next. Corporate retail has done away with this, leaving it prey to dishonest employees and contractors all along the route.
So far only Subhiksha has collapsed. But others are scaling back. Reliance Retail originally planned to roll out 3000 Reliance Fresh supermarkets by 2011. Today, with less than 800, it is looking at closing up to 30 of its least profitable shops. Aditya Birla has already shut around 50 unprofitable stores. Spencer's said in December it would close 56 stores and if it does not start making operating profits by the end of this year, its owner Godrej plans to leave the retail business entirely.
Kishore Biyani, whose Future Group pioneered modern retail in India, put it nicely in an interview at the start of the year: "Kiranas have clearly won the first round. The story of 'modern retail versus kirana' is over."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
MATCH INFO
Burnley 0
Man City 3
Raheem Sterling 35', 49'
Ferran Torres 65'
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPyppl%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEstablished%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAntti%20Arponen%20and%20Phil%20Reynolds%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20financial%20services%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2418.5%20million%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmployees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20150%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20series%20A%2C%20closed%20in%202021%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20venture%20capital%20companies%2C%20international%20funds%2C%20family%20offices%2C%20high-net-worth%20individuals%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
%3Cp%3EElena%20Rybakina%20(Kazakhstan)%0D%3Cbr%3EOns%20Jabeur%20(Tunisia)%0D%3Cbr%3EMaria%20Sakkari%20(Greece)%0D%3Cbr%3EBarbora%20Krej%C4%8D%C3%ADkov%C3%A1%20(Czech%20Republic)%0D%3Cbr%3EBeatriz%20Haddad%20Maia%20(Brazil)%0D%3Cbr%3EJe%C4%BCena%20Ostapenko%20(Latvia)%0D%3Cbr%3ELiudmila%20Samsonova%0D%3Cbr%3EDaria%20Kasatkina%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EVeronika%20Kudermetova%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ECaroline%20Garcia%20(France)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EMagda%20Linette%20(Poland)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ESorana%20C%C3%AErstea%20(Romania)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EAnastasia%20Potapova%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EAnhelina%20Kalinina%20(Ukraine)%E2%80%AF%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EJasmine%20Paolini%20(Italy)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3EEmma%20Navarro%20(USA)%E2%80%AF%0D%3Cbr%3ELesia%20Tsurenko%20(Ukraine)%0D%3Cbr%3ENaomi%20Osaka%20(Japan)%20-%20wildcard%0D%3Cbr%3EEmma%20Raducanu%20(Great%20Britain)%20-%20wildcard%3Cbr%3EAlexandra%20Eala%20(Philippines)%20-%20wildcard%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Eamana%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2010%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Karim%20Farra%20and%20Ziad%20Aboujeb%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERegulator%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDFSA%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinancial%20services%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E85%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESelf-funded%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The%20Crown%20season%205
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EImelda%20Staunton%2C%20Jonathan%20Pryce%2C%20Lesley%20Manville%2C%20Jonny%20Lee%20Miller%2C%20Dominic%20West%2C%20Elizabeth%20Debicki%2C%20Salim%20Daw%20and%20Khalid%20Abdalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWritten%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPeter%20Morgan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%20stars%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQureos%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EUAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ELaunch%20year%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E33%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESoftware%20and%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%243%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
AUSTRALIA SQUADS
ODI squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Twenty20 squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
