Metalic Facial:

Metallic facials have been in use since long. These facials clean, exfoliate and nourish the skin deeply. Now they have been revived by beauty experts to promote clear, well hydrated skin with renewed vigour. Let us find out how.

Old isn’t Gold: The skin reviving and hydrating Gold facial renews your skin with a golden glow. The old skin cells are exfoliated. The treatment encourages lymphatic drainage and removal of wastes and toxins. The gold cream and gold gel contain 24 carat gold, aloevera, wheat germ oil and sandalwood. The gold facial helps to improve blood circulation, skin elasticity, rejuvenates the skin and helps in delaying the formation of lines and wrinkles. Gold slows down collagen depletion and the breakdown of elastin to prevent sagging skin. .“Gold is one of the softest metals and is easily absorbed by the skin. It has powerful revitalising effects,” says Shahanaz Hussian. She offers 24 Carat Gold Anti-Age Exfoliating Scrub, Skin Radiance Gel and S.H.Nature's Gold Beautifying Mask in this category. These products are infused with goodness and qualities of gold properties to get you an instant golden glow. This might not be suitable for acne prone and sensitive skin.

Silver shine: Silver detoxifies and purifies the skin. Silver facial masks have anti-aging benefits. They are also said to help smooth wrinkles, heal soft tissues and relax the nerves and muscles of your face. Silver possesses antibacterial qualities as well. “Silver facial contains the goodness of silver powder which is excellent for nourishment and prevents formation of black heads,” says Dr Meha Mhatre, owner Tressez Trichology and Advanced Skin care centre, Mumbai. Omveda, VLCC and a few other companies offer Silver facial products which can benefit your skin texture and appearance. VLCC Silver Glow Scrub enriched with Silver Powder & Wintercherry Extracts is a powerful antiseptic, healing and soothing scrub. It rapidly removes dead skin cell, accumulated impurities and clears the skin pores. VLCC Silver Glow Cream enriched with Liquorice Extracts and Silver Powder fights against unhealthy skin dullness and provides intense nourishment, giving it a new energy level. Silver facial is not suitable for acne prone and sensitive skin as this might worsen the skin condition.

Platinum radiance: Platinum cleanses the dead skin and gets you brighter skin tone. It helps in muscle toning and skin firming to ensure smooth and shiny skin texture. Blend of platinum dust and aloevera juice helps to replenish the skin with lost moisture and glow and get you youthful appearance. Nature’s essence offers Platinum kit facial. This special Kit is a careful selection of platinum dust, essential oil and waxes which offers complete purification of the skin and platinum like radiance. This facial is also unsuitable for acne prone and sensitive skin and may cause breakouts and rashes.

Metals not only help us to adorn with ornaments, they also make us glow and shine like exotic nymphets. Give it a try and let metallic facials get you glowing this festive season.

Parimita Chakravorty

You ‘Nail’ed it

Beautiful nails are everyone’s envy. Just like hair and skin they are the barometer to your health. Let us find out the truth and secrets that your nails reveal about your health.

Dr Meha Mhatre, dermatologist and owner, Tressez Trichology and Advanced skin care says:

“Nails are made up of keratin, a hard, strong protein which is found in hair and skin as well. For healthy growth, your nails need proper nutrition. B-vitamins, calcium, folic acid and vitamin C are all very important.”

Take a good look at your nails. They look trimmed, perfectly filed and neat. But to a trained eye, your nails can reveal subtle variations in the texture or colour - a touch of white here, a rosy tinge there, perhaps some rippling or bumps in the surface. These signs provide enough cue to your health status. Nutritional deficiencies, your stress levels, undiagnosed diseases, all can show up on your nails, sending out warning signs.

True Blue: If your nails look bluish, it is a possibility that your lungs are not getting enough oxygen. This might mean that your lungs are not functioning properly and may have fluid in the lungs. Make sure that you are in normal room temperature to think on those lines. At times severe cold and high altitude can result in bluish tinge to the nails.

Pale,ffect: If your nails appear pale or White then it is quite likely that you have iron deficiency or Anemia. It reflects that you have low red blood cells count. The nail bed might become thin and concave. Half white and half pink nails might indicate kidney disease. Curled up nails also suggest lack of iron. Get a blood test done.

Snow White: Too white nails can reflect liver diseases like Hepatitis B, Cirrhosis and others. A weak liver will make your nail bed appear powdery white and flaky. Try to get a diagnosis done at the earliest.

Red alert: Red nail bed might indicate heart disease. Get your heart checked for any uneven symptoms.

Yellow fellow: At times yellow, thickened and slow growing nails reflect lung diseases like asthma, emphysema etc. If you have difficulty in breathing or get severely affected in dusty environments and also see that your nails look brittle and yellowish, get a check up done for any kind of lung ailments. Yellowish nails, with a slight blush at the base many indicate Diabetes.

Brown bit: If your nails are brown and if you are a vegetarian then it might indicate that you have vitamin B12 deficiency.

Nail it right: Usually signs on nails are accompanied by other symptoms, so it becomes easy for an individual and a doctor to ascertain the cause. Many a times nails suffer from various kinds of fungal infections which cause them to crack, peel and change colour and texture. So, check well before you conclude any health issues.

Nail care: Take care of your diet so that your nails look healthy and beautiful. Samreedhi Goel, Nutritionist & Personal Trainer, Proprietor of Size Wise the exercise studio, pune states, “Many lose vital minerals while going for weight loss. The deficiencies that occur during known or unknown deprivation of the body immidiately reflects on the nails. Nails become brittle, patchy and dull. Deficency of vitamin C, D3, B12 and low intake of calcium are one of the main causes of ubhealthy nails. Daily intake of citrus fruits, banana, pineapple etc takes care of vitamin C deficiency. Supplements of D3 and calcium help in good absorbption of the mineral by the body which results in healthy nails and bones. Biotin in dairy products is also helpful in dealing with these deficiencies."
Let your nails reflect a beautiful and healthy you.

Parimita Chakravorty

Movie mania-merchandising tie ups between movies and apparel brands

Movies and Bollywood rule the hearts of majority of Indian population. Clothes worn by Hindi film stars have always been a rage with the masses. The outfits worn by your favourite stars are no longer out of your reach. Thanks to movie merchandising, they are available at a store near you. Veer Zaara salwar suits, Bunty Aur Babli dresses, Parineeta Bengali sarees and blouses and Hum Tum stunning sarees became popular among the fashion conscious in the past. At present consumers are coveting clothing styles worn by the stars in Dostana, 3 Idiots, Kites etc. Movies are a trend setter and a catalyst for booming Indian retail trade sector as they help to push apparel sales with each popular film release.

Many movies tie up with selected brands or retail stores to launch a certain clothes line, wherein they can cash on the hype around the film release. Style statements by the stars are converted into business opportunity by these stores or brands. Film makers have taken note of the Indian obsession to look like movie stars and are using it as another way to promote their films by launching signature apparel collections from the film. Rafiq Gangjee, vice president (Marketing and Communications) of Yash Raj Films said, “We felt that the costumes worn by the stars in ‘Dhoom 2′, ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’ and ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ would have the greatest appeal amongst the target audience and hence developed a line of fashion garments.”

Clothing brands are not complaining either since most of the collection ends up with a sold out tag soon after they hit the racks. Customers have now started to pre-book their favourite styles. Van Heusen had tied up with Ghajini to create a collection of formal suits similar to star Aamir Khan’s look in the movie — the collection soon sold out. Fashion designer Neeta Lulla states, “I used to get so many requests to replicate Juhi Chawla’s blouse from Darr or the Nimbooda outfit from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, even Amrita Singh’s gold outfit from Aaina. So it’s nice that film-inspired clothes are becoming more accessible and cheaper now.”

During festivities, big brands and Large Format Stores (LFS) do try to catch the attention of the customers by introducing ‘sales’ and new clothes line. They know that it will be the ideal time for the customers to indulge. Therefore, big retail stores like Shopperstop, Pantaloons, Lifestyle try to introduce a special line dedicated to the movie release around festival season. Brands like Provogue, Reebok, Pepe Jeans and LFS like Shopperstop, Pantaloons, Lifestyle, have adopted this marketing and business strategy in the past which resulted in good sales and brand promotion for them and decent revenue generation and film promotion for the movie.

Shoppers Stop is India’s prominent retail group and operator of large format department stores, home stores, and specialty stores like Crossword, Mothercare, MAC, and hypermarkets. Bollywood merchandise retailing started at Shoppers Stop with Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Om Shanti Om, when the company started displaying apparels and products almost six weeks before the release of the film and around the occasion of Diwali, converting the retro style of Om Shanti Om into a business opportunity. A fashion show was also organized to introduce the clothing line in the market where stars like Shahrukh and Deepika walked the ramp to connect with the consumers. Apart from being affordable, the merchandise was extremely trendy, which arose a lot of interest in the consumers.

Shoppers Stop connected with young customers through movie merchandise based on films such as Love Aaj Kal, Karthik calling Karthik, Dance pe Chance and Om Shanti Om. Mr Govind Shrikhande, President and Chief Executive Officer, Shoppers Stop said, “Being market leaders and innovators in retail, Shopper's Stop has set many trends in the past. We are looking at film-based merchandise as a new way to connect with our customers, but not as a major source of revenue. Fashion follows the Bollywood cycle and is topical for 4-8 weeks; so film-based merchandise makes sense. It also helps that now film stars too have changed their opinion of brands; they respect the value of such merchandise and are willing to participate in the experiment.”

Recently, Pantaloons introduced T-shirts on the characters and philosophy of the movie ‘3 Idiots’. The customers felt empathy with the characters of the movie and could relate to the theme. Moreover the merchandise was not steeply priced so it became a hit with the younger consumers. “The collection offers shoppers an opportunity to partake of the magic of the movie as well as experience the style of their favourite stars. This association is one more step ahead in defining Pantaloons as a stylish and fashion forward brand.” said Mr. Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO, Pantaloons.

Provouge is one of the biggest retail apparel brands in India who has sold movie merchandise in the past for Rang de Basanti, Race, Prince etc. Wake Up Sid recently did a tie-up with Provogue to launch a trendy and stylish range of Provogue Wake Up Sid T-shirt Collection. The Provogue Wake Up Sid T-shirt collection is inspired by the mood of the film. For promotion, they distributed movie merchandise and gift vouchers signed by the stars. The latest movie inspired collection by Provogue is ‘Kites collection.’ The company decided that Hrithik and Barbara lead their advertising campaigns for this collection and arranged a special photoshoot in Maldives. The campaign has already got a lot of attention for their excellent chemistry and cool looks. Though the movie didn’t fair well, but the apparel line is making waves.

“A lot depends on how successful the movie is and how long it runs in theatres. Rang De Basanti was such a hit that our stocks got over almost immediately. Race took a little while to pick up but it did end up doing pretty well at the box-office and so the collection soon found many takers. Recent addition ‘Kites collection’ is doing well despite the box- office failure,” said Aarti Poddar, head of marketing at Provogue. Mr. Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO, Pantaloons said that the sale of licensed products of a movie, is directly linked to its box-office performance.

Brands are very choosy about the films that they want to be associated with. Aarti Podar said, “What’s most important is that the brand identity should fit with the movie. The movies are about the youth, who are also our target profile, so the clothes line should have a young appeal.” “When we plan a movie line, along with the style connecting with our brand, we look at the wear ability of the clothes and the popularity of the star cast,” says Vinay Bhatia, head of marketing and loyalty at Shoppers Stop.

According to industry estimates, though merchandising associations in India are still a small business opportunity, films can recover almost 10%-15% of the costs through this non-traditional revenue model. Movies and apparel brand association are here to grow as this has proved to be an effective business model for the apparel brands. Moreover, the consumer expectations have also increased in terms of getting a movie inspired clothes line. So wait for the next big release and revel in the style of your favourite stars with the movie merchandise.

Parimita Chakravorty

Benefits of Iyenger Yoga

Yoga, is the name synonymous with well being, quintessentially the best for agility, flexibility and over all health. Contrary to widespread belief, there isn’t one uniform set of yogasanas practiced all over the world. Yoga is an ancient practice with many different schools and teachings. There are various forms of yoga- including Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Bikram and Iyengar. Iyenger yoga has captured a lot of attention in the recent times due to its unique ways of including body alignment and props like (belts, straps, wooden blocks etc) to achieve over all fitness. It is considered the best remedy for stress relief. This form of yoga can be learnt at RIMYI (Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute), Pune and other branches all across the country and abroad. You can also hire certified Iyenger yoga trainers who can teach you at home.

Iyengar yoga, is named after Shri Belur Krishnamchar Sundararaja Iyengar, a native of southern region of India. Shri Iyengar created this sub-discipline of yoga after years of extensive research on various Hindu religious books and the Vedas that discuss in detail the practices of many gods and goddesses for eternal power and health. Iyenger yoga has been into practice for the last sixty years. This form of yoga is recommended for those who suffer from various spiritual and mental tribulations. This technique works on
different levels of the physical body, mind and the spirit.

Dr Rajvi H Mehta, teacher at Iyengar Yogashraya in Mumbai, and editor of Yoga Rahasya, the quarterly journal of the Iyengar Yoga Institute said, “Iyengar yoga emphasizes the building of stamina and development of flexibility, concentration, strength and balance. All these are achieved through deep meditation and various
postures.” It helps to prevent stress and negativity. It helps to achieve calmness of mind and increases vitality and well being of the body. As the body is exercised - the inner organs, circulation, joint action etc. are all worked so as to improve their function and efficiency. One thus overcomes many symptoms of an imbalanced modern life, such as headaches, stiff necks, lower backache, insomnia and digestive disorders etc. in the
process improving health as opposed to just fitness.

Some of the chronic ailments for which people have benefited from Iyenger yoga practice include:

Circulatory disorders; heart problems, hypotension, hypertension, circulatory problems in the legs.

Digestive disorders; constipation, acidity, diabetes and hernias.

Respiratory disorders; asthma, coughs, colds and bronchitis.

Nervous disorders; headaches, migraines, sinusitis and stress.

Reproductive disorders; menstrual problems, uterine displacement and menopausal problems.

Skeleton-muscular disorders; arthritis and pains in the knees, shoulders and other joints, curvatures of the back and back pain, slipped discs and sciatic pain.

It is always better to discuss your medical condition with your instructor before starting with yoga. Children below 7-8 years are not recommended to try this form of yoga as their spine and bones are still developing and if forced can damage the growth. Yoga can be practiced by men and women of all ages. For women, practice is beneficial during menstruation as well as pregnancy although the practice needs to be adjusted depending on one's physical condition.

Whenever you decide that yoga is the fitness solution for you, do try out the Iyenger yoga for a holistic transformation of your mind, body and soul.

Parimita Chakravorty

Get glowing, get gorgeous!

The festive season is here again. And many of you aim to look gorgeous with a flawless complexion and a youthful sheen. This season, you can get glowing by paying attention to your health and following a strict beauty regime.

Skin care before and after the festival:

Skin care is very important during the festival season as the increased level of pollution due to firecrackers, excessive traffic as well as the stress your skin bears due to extra sunlight exposure (while going out shopping, sending invites and socializing) takes its toll on your skin.

You can safeguard your skin from the harmful effects by regularly applying a good moisturizer and sunscreen. It helps fight against dryness in the air, pollution and increased UV rays exposure during the festival season. New range of Lakme Sun Expert - Anti Darkening Sunscreens with SPF 15 and above can help to avoid skin damage from UVA and UVB rays. It has two new powerful ingredients - Titanium Dioxide and Avobenzone, which block the UVA rays that cause skin darkening. Go for facials, peels and gentle exfoliation as it helps to get luminous complexion and keeps your pores free from pollutants, dirt and grime in the air during the festival.

Cleanse and tone your skin regularly to keep it healthy and supple. Try Guerlain’s Issima range of toners for various skin types like ‘Purifying Iris toner’, ‘Moisturizing Mallow toner’, and ‘Success smoothing toner’ which will give your skin a fresh look immediately. Apply skin serums and creams to avoid any dryness and blemishes. Clarins introduces skin serum and creams in their ‘Multi-Active’ skin range. It aims to provide tired skin with a new youthfulness and brightness. It has age-fighting benefits and eliminates dull complexion.

Avoid sugary and fried foods which are in abundance during festivals as digesting sugar leads to a process known as glycation that damages collagen and elastin, adding years to your looks and also gives rise to boils, pimples and rashes. Smoking and alcohol intake also make your skin dry and aged. Avoid it completely during festive season.

Have plenty of water for a healthy skin as it flushes out the toxins and keeps the fluids of the body running efficiently. Do not forget to remove all traces of your make-up with a gentle make-up remover before going to sleep. Clinique’s ‘Take the day off’ make up remover is perfect to make your skin free from any hint of make up, without any damage. Apply an effective night cream for that extra doze of moisture which will plump up your skin for the next morning. Clinque’s repair intensive night cream will give your skin that moisture boost.

Once the festivals are over, these tips can still be followed for an all year round glow. Once life gets back to normal, give your skin some papmpering at regular intervals with cleansing and moisturising facials to maintain that youthful appearance.


Make-up trends:

The colours you choose for your dress plays an important part in reflecting a glowing complexion. Same applies to your foundation, blush, lipstick or eye-shadow which can affect your complexion. Your make up colours should compliment your skin tone. Try your make-up in advance before wearing it in the festival. Try to use mineral make-up to avoid any skin reactions.

Apply a make up base before starting with any make up. YSL’s Daily Protective Make-Up Base SPF 30, is the best investment that you can make this festival season. It has a silky and untinted texture to preserve the complexion’s natural radiance, enhance the skin and prepare it for make-up. It will help your make up to stay on longer so that you do not have to apply touch ups frequently. It will also protect your skin from UV rays as it has SPF 30.

To fake a glow, invest in a good bronzer as well as in liquid highlighter as it brightens up your face instantly. Revlon’s Color Stay Mineral bronzer will give your skin a natural glow in a jiffy. A good highlighter and concealer can make your skin appear bright and young. YSL’s Touche Éclat Collector, a multi-talented highlighter with a unique formula, sculpts the features and banishes shadows in a stroke. With just a few sweeps of the brush the face lights up with radiance. A make up bag essential for sure.

Make your lips fuller with Max Factor Vibrant Curve Effect lip gloss. A touch of lip gloss instantly glamourises any make up look. This range has vibrant and bright pinks and mauves, which will compliment your festival dressing as well as give you a luscious perfect pout. Lip gloss is clearly a make up bag essential for those quick touch ups. You can also adorn your lips with Chambor’s Truly Lasting lipstick range in bright and bold colours perfect for festivities and occasions. The long-wearing formula of these lipsticks with shea butter sunscreen and vitamins A and E, creates maximum colour impact and helps lips look smooth and even. Shiseido’s Perfect Rouge range has shades like Salmon Rose, Day Lily, Valentine which will add to your festive glamour.

Get your eyes bolder and beautiful with massive dark eye lashes and Kohl. L’Oreal’s Kohl Minerals Powder Eyeliner can get you the smokey eye perfection as well as work as a kohl eye liner too. Try Maybelline’s ‘The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara for that smouldering effect. This is another must have for those quick touch ups on your social visits. L'Oreal’s Chrome Intensity Eyeshadow Quad has intense colours in green and blues, perfect to go with your traditional glamorous look.

Do not forget to colour your nails in bright purple, chocolate, orange, violet, gold and rose hues. These colours are very much in, this season. These will go well with your traditional ensemble. YSL’s Manucure Couture, Colour Nail Polish Duo has the perfect shades for the festive season to keep your paws pretty.

Keep day time make up light and night make up glamourous. Always highlight one feature at a time. If your eyes are dark then keep your lips neutral and vice-versa. The traditional wear is anyday a lot of bling and glamour so go subtle with your make up to balance the look.

Let yourself shine and glow this festive season by following these tips. Get glowing, get gorgeous!


Parimita Chakravorty

Alibaba casts a spell

Alibaba.com is the global leader in e-commerce for small businesses under the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through a global trade platform or market place known as www.alibaba.com for various importers and exporters. Alibaba group forms a community of more than 53 million registered users in more than 240 countries and regions. Alibaba.com also offers business management software and international infrastructure services targeting business across China, and provides educational services for enterprise management and e-commerce professionals. Alibaba.com has offices in more than 60 cities across Greater China, India, Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States. Alibaba.com is the No. 1 supplier market outside mainland China and the 2nd largest buyer market. India accounts for 11% of all registered users on Alibaba.com’s international marketplace as of June 30, 2010. We speak to Mr. Sandeep Deshpande, Country General Manager, India, Alibaba.com about the past achievements and future plans for this innovating and growing organization in the field of fashion and apparel.

Apparel: How was Alibaba group formed? Tell us about its inception.

SD: Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba.com who was previously an English teacher, set up his first Internet business completely by accident. In 1995, he felt a need to set up a business platform for Chinese small business. He decided to start an Internet company to make Chinese businesses searchable by foreign companies. He founded Alibaba.com with 17 other people in 1999 with a dream of helping small businesses grow their business through e-commerce. Alibaba.com was started as trading platform for small manufacturers to sell their wares. Since then, Alibaba.com has grown into the premier online marketplace for small companies around the world to identify potential trading partners and interact with each other to conduct business online. In India, where Internet penetration is still relatively low, there are already more than 1.45 lakh businesses using Alibaba.com.

Apparel: How is Alibaba.com helping the Apparel industry in particular? What is the contribution to e-commercial value from the point of view of apparel industry?

SD: Smaller enterprises in the apparel industry have traditionally looked within their own borders, and often just within their own province, to find trading partners. A study conducted by Alibaba.com in collaboration with Synovate Business Consulting found that 40% of SMEs in the apparel sector did not yet made use of the opportunities in international trade (as on December, 2009). Alibaba.com provides an efficient, trusted platform connecting small and medium buyers and suppliers from around the world. It makes global sourcing available 24/7/365 and removes barriers of geographies and time zones. Alibaba.com has witnessed tremendous growth in inquiries for Indian apparel manufacturers on the site. SMEs on Alibaba.com are seeing a higher rate of growth in global inquiries. For instance, Q2 2010 saw inquiries in Apparel increase by 48.9% as compared to 2009 Q2. We also provide a wealth of information related to international trade to keep our users abreast of the latest trading resources, industry news, upcoming trade shows, and trade trends.

Apparel: With the advent of internet, apparel sales have started to move online. How did Alibaba.com help to shape the growth of sales and fashion in the apparel industry?

SD: Apart from the leading organized players in the industry, several small and medium sized apparel manufacturers have also become significant contributors to the total apparel exports of the country. The site analytics shows that Indian SMEs manufacturing products such as T-Shirts, ethnic clothing, garment accessories, underwear and men's shirts are more popular amongst international buyers (as of Q2 2010). Many small companies in the Indian apparel industry cannot afford to have expensive marketing strategies such as trade shows, magazines and sales offices. This is where B2B e-commerce platforms like Alibaba.com play a vital role as they can offer great benefits to Indian suppliers with limited or no investment. Suppliers can establish a virtual storefront on our platform and gain access to an active international buyer community – all without the hassle of traveling, making long-distance calls or hiring a marketing agency. Moreover, we provide a wealth of information related to international trade to keep our users up-to-date on the latest industry news and trends. Buyers can use Alibaba.com to view supplier storefronts and product listings in more than 40 industry categories and over 3,500 product categories by keyword searching or browsing through our online industry directory. Both international and domestic suppliers can host their company profiles and catalogues in standardized “online storefronts” and post trade leads on our platform. This helps companies especially small businesses save a lot of resources from building corporate websites to promoting products and services online.

Besides aggregating a huge online community, a comprehensive e-commerce platform like Alibaba.com will also be equipped with real-time communication tools and
Third-party services like authentication and quality control.

Apparel: What are plans for future growth and business prospects? Which markets do you want to explore and why?

SD: India is a very important market for us because it has a large smaller enterprise population, a robust domestic consumption market and a rapidly growing export sector. With about 26 million SMEs in India, we believe we still have a lot of room to grow. It is now our largest supplier market after China and our commitment to our Indian members is stronger than ever. Our priority will be to continuously educate Indian SMEs about the power of the Internet so more of them will turn their business online. The e-commerce ecosystem in India is growing in sophistication, which raises the awareness and acceptance of e-commerce by sellers and buyers in large cities as well as smaller towns. An increasing number of SMEs even from smaller cities like Jamnagar and Bhavnagar have also registered on Alibaba.com in the past year. Through our extensive sales and customer services force in India, we are committed to further growing the market and helping more SMEs in small towns to get online. Commenting on the Indian operations, David Wei, Chief Executive Officer at Alibaba.com, said, “The growth of the Indian marketplace has been impressive. Indian small businesses are savvy and they understand the advantages that the internet can bring to them both in domestic and foreign trade. India is one of Alibaba.com’s largest markets and we wish to enhance our customer service and support for our Indian members in line with their evolving needs. The local customer service operations will enable Alibaba.com to work with our customers more closely, helping them grow faster, providing new jobs and fostering economic growth.”

Parimita Chakravorty