RAYMOND launches ONAM campaign in KERALA

Kochi, 24 August, 2012: With Onam round the corner, Raymond has unveiled a marketing campaign in Kerala to celebrate the largest festival of the State.

Interestingly, the campaign message of the retail arm of the brand, The Raymond Shop is ‘Celebrate Everyday’. It promotes living and celebrating life everyday – an apt messaging for Onam, which denotes a new beginning for glorious days ahead.

In addition, Raymond has launched a special Onam campaign specific to the Kerala market. The campaign will be supported by 360 degree activation including TV, Press, Outdoors, Visual Merchandising, amongst others. Raymond has also tied up with leading banks to offer benefits to their consumers.

Speaking on the new campaign, Mr. Mrinmoy Mukherjee, Director-Marketing & Business Development, Retail, Raymond Limited said “Onam is by far the biggest festival to be celebrated in Kerala. From Raymond’s perspective it is extremely critical that we capitalize on the buyer’s sentiment and provide customers, both old and new a perfect scenario to celebrate this most loved festival. The Raymond Celebrate Everyday campaign is highlighted in Kerala, encouraging consumers to celebrate the festival not only on its day but even before and after.”

Raymond views Kerala as one of the major markets for the brand and aims to expand extensively and aggressively in the state. The brand has on an on-going basis taken up various activities to engage with the consumers and continuously build brand recall.

With the upcoming festival Onam, the Raymond Shop has now tremendously increased its on ground activities by planning a host of consumer connect activities.

Raymond Ltd, one of the leading apparels, fabric and retail major in the country has continuously increased its reach pan-India with its current presence including multiple exclusive The Raymond Shops and thousands of multi-brand stores in various cities across nation. Currently, The Raymond Shop has presence in over 650 locations. The Raymond Shop is a retail network spread wide across Kerala covering all key cities namely Aluva, Kannur, Kochi, Kollam, Kottayam, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Pathanamthita, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.

Forbes lists Kerala company – AVT Natural – in 200 best companies in Asia Pacific

AVT Natural Products Ltd, Cochin has been named by Forbes in its list of 200 best companies from Asia-Pacific region with under $1billion revenue. AVT Natural is part of AV Thomas Group of companies based in South India.  The list published on August 18, 2012 is based on the financial data of the preceding 12 months. AVT Natural with US$ 47 Mio (Rs 260 Crores) Sales, US$ 11 Mio (Rs 60 Crores) Net Income and US$ 52 Mio (Rs 290 Crores) Market Capitalization, is one among 23 companies from India to find a place in this esteemed list.                                                                                 (in Mio US$)

Indian Companies in the List	Sales	Net Income	Market Value
Ador Fontech	31	4	26
Ajanta Pharma	133	15	151
Asahi Songwon Colors	46	4	20
AVT Natural Products	47	11	52
Commercial Engineers & Body Builders	91	8	87
Core Education & Technologies	321	63	592
Eros International Media	161	26	303
Haldyn Glass	34	5	16
Hexaware Technology	273	50	611
Indag Rubber	42	4	22
Jubilant Foodworks	213	22	1457
Kaveri Seed	73	12	201
KPIT Cummins Infosystems	294	29	370
Lovable Lingerie	26	4	104
Mafatlal Industries	133	79	21
Mayur Uniquoters	61	7	57
Mindtree	376	43	484
Navin Fluorine International	142	43	56
Puneet Resins	11	1	4
RPP Infra Projects	53	5	22
RS Software	52	6	21
Technofab Engineering	74	7	28
TTK Prestige	205	22	676
All figures are in $ million

The list is recognition of the importance of small and medium enterprises in powering the Asia-Pacific economy. It comprises of companies from China & Hong Kong (72), India (23), Taiwan (23), South Korea (16), Malaysia(14), Australia(14), Vietnam(8), Indonesia(7), Thailand(6), Japan(4), Singapore(4), Philippines(3), Pakistan(3), Sri Lanka(2), and New Zealand(1).

Only publicly traded profitable companies with revenue greater than $5 million but less than $1 billion were considered for the list. It was further trimmed down based on business performance indicators like sales and earnings growth as well as the return on equity delivered in the preceding 12 months and over three years. The list was further scrutinized to remove companies which are thinly traded on the stock exchanges and those facing accounting or major legal troubles.

To quote Forbes: “A weak global economy has not slowed down these companies from Asia-Pacific. Against the backdrop of a fragile global economy, the makeup of our Best Under A Billion demonstrates why small and medium-size enterprises are considered essential to Asia-Pacific.”