McDonald's India to double outlets with Rs 750 crore investment

As per a PTI news report, McDonald's India is stepping up its operations in western and southern markets of the country by doubling its outlets with an investment of Rs 750 crore in the next five years. "We currently have 213 restaurants and are looking to add up to another 250 restaurants by 2020, which would entail an investment of Rs 750 crore," said Amit Jatia, Vice Chairman, Westlife Enterprise, a master franchisee for McDonald's. It will continue to focus on its top six metros in the West and South, Jatia said, which brings over 65 per cent of the business.

The company's overarching strategy now is to offer ‘healthier beverages’ to customers here. "We are now betting big on our coffee. We have opened McCafe's within our outlets serving premium locally sourced Arabica coffee at affordable prices," he said. "We offer a range of smoothies, besides coffees and this encourages customers to opt for non-carbonated drinks," he added. Started last year in the country, there are about 45 McCafes, which in the next two years is expected to go up to 140, he indicated. The company will spend invest Rs 20 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs per outlet, to set up McCafes

Paytm eyes Rs 500 crore revenue from hotel booking over next 6 months

As per a PTI news report, digital payments company, Paytm has expanded its platform to allow customers to make hotel bookings and expects revenue of Rs 500 crore from the service over the next six months.The Alibaba-backed company has partnered with players such as Goibibo, Ezeego1 and TSI-Yatra for the new service. 

"Travel has emerged as a very important category for us as the penetration of online booking is still very low in this vertical. The opportunity for the hotels category is immense, especially because the transaction penetration is still low in Tier II and III cities as far as travel concerned," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm. In the first phase, Paytm will offer an inventory of about 20,000 hotels to users and the number is expected to go up to 35,000 in a short time after launch. 

"In the first phase we have partnered online travel portals like Goibibo, Ezeego1, TSI Yatra, Via for domestic hotel booking. In phase 2, the plan is to offer international hotels by tying up with leading platforms like Expedia and Booking.com," he said. 

With the launch of this segment, Paytm will drive usage from these areas, causing a huge disruption in the travel space, he added. "We expect this segment to contribute Rs 500 crore to the revenue over the next six months," he said. Currently, the eCommerce platform also allows users to book bus tickets. (Source: PTI)

Paytm announces India's biggest Online Food Festival

Paytm, India’s leading mobile commerce platform, announced biggest ever Online Food Festival from October 9 to 11, 2015.The festival will offer widest selection of cuisines, exciting offers to customers who order from over 20,000 restaurants and chefs spread over 100+ cities in India through multiple online and offline food partners of Paytm's mobile wallet. Paytm expects to triple the traction for its food category during the festival period.

 Speaking on the festival, KiranVasireddy, Senior Vice President – Business, Paytm said, “We are thrilled to present our first Online Food Festival this October. By offering widest variety of cuisine along with exceptional deals and discounts to our user base, our larger objective is to generate greater awareness and traction for food ordering in India. We wish to make transactions in this space cashless and help consumers discover how convenient, efficient, engaging and rewarding it is to order grub with a few clicks.” 

Paytm has tied up with leading Indian online food ordering platforms such as Foodpanda, Dominos, Zomato, Swiggy, Faasos, Tiny Owl and Holachef along with Offline QSR chains such as Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee and Vaango to make this festival truly attractive for consumers.