Showing posts with label IIPM Ranking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Ranking. Show all posts

Friday, October 05, 2012

Revving It Up On The New Normal

The Superbike Segment in India is beginning to open up as Incumbents and New Entrants fill up gaps in The Market. B&E’s Sanchit Verma does a Quick Stopgap Review before the Number Game Begins

Outrageous is what defines these mean machines – be it their pricing, their power quotient, their cool factor, or even their target customer. Superbikes have always enjoyed a cult position across the world among those who have them, and never have failed to get noticed by those who don’t. And India has been no exception. Bikes like Yamaha R1, Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki Ninja have been painstakingly beckoning the creed of rich young and style conscious Indians of late. And they are not exactly getting disappointed, despite being high on the price factor, due in part to the high import duties. Otherwise, it is more of a smooth ride over the rough Indian landscape, since Indian home-grown manufacturers like Hero, Bajaj and TVS are still to manufacture a genuine superbike.

The market for superbikes in India was conspicuous by its absence till the earlier part of this decade. The era changed with rising urbanization and with the two wheeler sports segment, whose share in the total motorcycle market has grown to 17% in 2009-10 (from 14% in the previous financial year). Yamaha initially disappointed bikers with its products, which somehow didn’t give the owners the ‘Yamaha’ global brand experience. But bygones became bygones with the launch of the R15, which helped Yamaha rebuild its sporty image. Interestingly, when Yamaha brought to India their global favourites R1 and V-Max for a test sale to the Indian customers, they sold a surprisingly high 50 units in 3 months. Soon, other global players realised that the Indian market has matured enough to take on these high-end machines. Players like European major Aprilla have already announced big plans to re-enter the market with their motorcycles and scooter line up. Ducati opened its second showroom last year in Gurgaon with bikes ranging from Rs.1 million to 4.5 million in the portfolio. “We have received a positive response from all bike enthusiasts and it’s good to know they are excited about the Ducati brand. We feel honoured to be part of the evolving motorcycle industry in India,” said Mirko Bordiga, CEO, Ducati, APAC.

Bajaj also has understood the importance of a luxury bike in the portfolio. They have tied up with European major KTM Motors, and their product might hit Indian roads in 2011. Kawasaki also brought in the famous Ninja, which has received an enthusiastic response. Suzuki introduced the Hayabusa with proper service and spares parts availability. Never too late Harley-Davidson announced its much awaited cruiser bike entry by launching 12 bikes in the portfolio ranging from Rs.6.75 lakh to Rs.3.5 million. In fact, their recent plans to open up the CKD plant in Haryana showcases the rising demand in the industry.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 10, 2012

Follow the Sun Tzu way

Lakshmi Vilas Bank is planning to grow purely on secured lending. That kind of risk aversion is not only rare but is quite strange given the industry in which the bank operates. But does such a strategy really work? B&E runs through the bank’s top management to understand the answers.

83years, 58,000 shareholders and 1.64 million customers, yet the predominantly south-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB), which wants to spread its footprints across the nation and become a strong name in the retail lending space, is not ready to take the risk of unsecured lending including credit cards and personal loans. When we heard this rare and stringently risk averse premise of doing business in the banking industry, our first assumption was that it was a joke. Obviously, it wasn’t; but be that as it may, we did realise that there was a well endowed case study in the making, and grabbed the opportunity to go through the bank’s operations and top management’s strategic intent to understand the nature of the beast.

Amazingly so, the bank’s (over) conservative approach has resulted in an unexpected 52.71% growth in operating profit in the last fiscal. This is one of the best amongst various South Indian banks. LVB’s financial results can fox even the most discerning critic. Not only did LVB’s interest income jump by 38.28% to Rs.9.09 billion in the financial year 2009-10 from Rs.6.57 billion in the year ago, its total income too grew by a strong 32.47% to Rs.10.12 billion in the last fiscal.

And then comes the paradox. If a bank is so risk averse, its NPAs should be at historic lows, right? Wrong! LVB has some of the highest and most worrying NPA levels in the banking industry. For starters, LVB has managed to reduce both its gross and net NPA levels to 4.27% and 3.31% respectively from 5.12% gross NPA and 4.11% as of March 31, 2010. But, going by industry norms, the figures are still very high. For that matter, other South Indian banks like Karur Vyasa and Catholic Syrian Bank – two which B&E covered in its previous issues – are operating at a net NPA to net advance ratio of less than 1.5%. In fact, the NPA ratio was one of the biggest reasons for a sharp 38.82% drop in LVB’s net profit last year despite the earlier mentioned income growth.

The bank, which kept aside Rs.585 million as provisions and contingencies in FY’09, had to increase the same by a mammoth 131% to Rs.1.35 billion in FY’10. However, the bank, which is now investing on process changes and credit monitoring to improve credit quality of its asset portfolio, is seemingly confident that they will be able to bring down the NPA level to below 1% within the next 18 months. P. R. Somasundaram, MD & CEO, LVB, accepted to B&E, “The bank’s credit monitoring and recovery efforts have been very reactive in the past. Now we are keen on making it highly pro-active.” But then, as Vaibhav Agarwal, VP – Research, Angel Broking points out, “Despite the negative effect on the NPA front, smaller banks like LVB still need to lend to riskier segments as this is the way they can improve their overall earnings and deposit base, leading to an overall reduction in the bank’s deposit cost.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Michael Douglas is back!

Gordon Gekko made a rasping comeback in the Wall Street sequel, Money Never Sleeps, but what was an even more emphatic comeback was that of Michael Douglas against cancer. Diagnosed with a stage four tumour in his throat a couple of months back, Michael recently wrapped up his last chemo session and is now set for six weeks of rest and recovery. For life, greed is good.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 03, 2012

“AT THIS POINT, GEC BUSINESS IS GOING TO COME DOWN”

UTV’s Global Broadcasting division posted a remarkable turnaround in the last year. CEO M. K. Anand speaks to B&E on the favouring factors and future expansion

M. K. Anand, CEO, UTV Global Broadcasting, remarkably left another media behemoth, nee paper tiger, the Times group, to join the UTV group. B&E gets into conversation with the man who has taken UTV’s Broadcasting arm to the market with popular channels like UTV Bindass, UTV Action, UTV Movies Bloomberg UTV and UTV World Movies and finds out how he is set to take them further:

B&E: UTV Global Broadcasting is on an upward trajectory and growing faster than ever. What is the synergy driving the division?
M. K. Anand (MK): The only synergy from the corporation point of view is the brand name ‘UTV’. With the experience that Ronnie brings to the table coupled with his understanding of the Indian entertainment consumer, the trajectory has generally been up for the last 5 years in the B2C space. From a macro economic point of view, the market has taken a dip and again rebounded. What worked for us were the investment decisions that Ronnie took when other companies were cutting down. So this company decided that recession was over 6 months before the rest of the companies of our country did. That’s how we got a head-start. The growth in GRP (Gross Rating Points), which happened over the existing period was far earlier than when the recession actually got over because investment into content and distribution happened when other people were cutting down.



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Friday, August 31, 2012

Why MPs must get a pay of Rs 5 Lakh Per Month

The credibility of our politicians is so low that the media and the public at large are sniggering at the proposal to raise the salary of MPs to `50,000 per month. Thanks mainly to their own behaviour and the brazen corruption of some of their fellowmen, we often tend to forget or ignore the fact that those are MPs and MLAs who actually perform the most important tasks in the country. For the middle class chatterati which has a ‘radical’ solution for every problem that India faces, the solution would be doing away with MPs, and perhaps even elections. Frankly, the middle class chatterati has no interest in democracy. But India cannot afford such solutions.

Given the enormity of the task they perform, I think the MPs need to be paid far more than what they get now. Look at it this way: each MP is responsible for a shareholder base of about 20 million. The actual budget of each constituency runs into hundreds of crores every year. And while district collectors and district magistrates are merely transferred for incompetence or non-performance, an MP can – and often does – actually lose his job! To that extent, an MP actually deserves a monthly salary of `5 Lakh per month. There should be an additional travel and other allowance of `1 lakh per month. That sounds preposterously high? It is not. Paying them these ‘reasonable’ salaries will cost the tax payer less than `1000 crores a year.

But as pointed out and suggested by this magazine and many others umpteen number of times, the problem is not paying generous salaries to our MPs – they deserve that for sure. The problem is with the ‘perks’ that they enjoy. That really is costly and something no elected representative of any functional democracy can demand as a right. Yes, by all means pay `6 lakh every month to our honourable MPs. But then stop giving them free housing in VIP Delhi. Just as it happens in UK, USA, Denmark, Australia and most other democracies, ask our honourable MPs to find their own houses-rented or owned. This will lead to enormous savings for the society – apart from making the MPs more connected with the citizens of India.

Just imagine what can happen to the Indian economy if the logic is extended to all politicians and all bureaucrats in India. They are squatting on the most prime real estate assets available in the country. For example, pay a district collector (an IAS officer) a monthly salary of `1 lakh and ask her to find her own house. Surely the rent for even a wonderful house in a small town cannot exceed `20,000? Why let her stay in a massive bungalow with acres of lawns when that land can be better utilized commercially? You know what the answer will be when politicians and bureaucrats are actually offered this option – huge tax free salaries but no perks. They will find every possible excuse and refuse. That is because our mindset has really not changed much since the British left. 


 
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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Save the saviours

Welcome law for whistleblowers

Finally there is a sigh of relief as well as a sense of motivation for whistleblowers. The Union Cabinet finally cleared the redrafted Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2010 this month. This is a milestone as per as the issue of protecting lives of whistleblowers is concerned. This bill also gives more power to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to protect whistle blowers.

For the uninitiated, a whistle blower is an informant who exposes any wrongdoing within an organization to the authorities. Since it also exposes the people involved in irregularities, this ostensibly noble endeavour is naturally fraught with risk. There are instances galore of people who became whistleblowers with good intent, yet paid a heavy price. For example, Vijay Bahadur Singh, a Superintendent of Customs in Mumbai exposed the manipulations committed in Customs by senior officers by writing a letter on February 28, 2003 to the then President APJ Abdul Kalam. Unfortunately, later, his brother was killed. Satyendra Dubey exposed his seniors in NHAI for widespread corruption in highway projects. He wrote to the then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee but was himself later murdered. There were no laws with regards to protecting whistleblowers earlier but Dubey’s death and the extensive media criticism forced the government to bring on the Act. S. Manjunath, a former manager at Indian Oil Corporation, was shot dead by a petrol pump owner for exposing adulteration of petrol. Gujarat-based RTI activist & green crusader Amit Jethwa, who was protesting against illegal mining in Gir forests, also had to lay down his life recently. M. N. Vijayakumar, an IAS officer in Karnataka, went through rigorous threat & torture for exposing corrupt practices at high levels.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Srinagar is where the shikaras and houseboats wait for the tourists to return...

The city changes its hues with different seasons, each having its extravagant charm and splendour. Be it the vast, frozen Dal Lake in the pristine white winter, or the blossoming irises in Nishat bagh in the colorful spring, or the honey-dewed orchards and rippling lakes in the pleasant summer, the scenery will leave you spell-bound from the very first step out of your hotel, especially in the golden autumn when the crisp Chinar leaves carpet your way. Painters, photographers, poets will find inspiration for new creations around the year every step of the way!

Migratory birds and a variety of wildlife are also a major draw to this enchanting land. The Hangul stag, the endangered species of red deer, is particularly famous and is found in the Dachigham National Park. The Park is also where other animals typical to the state such as musk deer, black or brown bear, leopards and migratory birds are found.

A tourist in Srinagar will be spoilt for choice when it comes to picking up keepsakes. Shops filled with an awesome array of handicrafts – from silk or wool carpets with Persian designs, to intricately carved walnut wood and paper machie items – are found lining the streets. The wide variety of the craft-items ensures there’s something to suit every pocket.

The architecture of the city is a mix of old and new buildings; there are houses with sloping roofs, minarets of mosques rise into the skies while narrow streets are characteristic of the city. Lal-chowk is the commercial centre of the city and is located in the heart of the city.

The attire of the people here is simple and conservative. As Islam is the religion followed by the majority, most of the women wear burkhas and hijabs. On the other hand, the cuisine is rich and elaborate. Enough to whet anyone’s appetite, Wazawan is the ultimate in Kashmiri hospitality. This royal cuisine of Kashmir has been influenced by Iranian, Afghani and Central Asian styles of cooking, yet it’s unique and its preparation is considered no less than an art in the eyes of the Kashmiris. Non-vegetarian dishes dominate this extravagant 36-course meal.

As one watches the sun set from a house boat anchored on the Dal Lake, one can’t help but wonder why a heaven like this has had to endure such hellish years. Not a place you’ll forget easily, Srinagar is one place that will stay with you not just in photo albums, but also in the deepest confines of your heart.



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Friday, August 24, 2012

The peculiarities of the industry and the company’s future plans

Managing Director, Godrej Nature’s Basket, talks to b&e’s angshuman paul about the peculiarities of the industry and the company’s future plans
 
B&E: How does Nature’s Basket plan to leverage from the other businesses of Godrej group?
MK: We are leveraging from various other FMCG businesses. We would be selling all our food products in the stores. However, we are yet to implement other way of leveraging. We are planning to share our retail presence or even buy retail properties together.

B&E: Frankly, do you think the Indian market is prepared for a concept like gourmet retailing?
MK: There’s a huge demand for exotic foods, especially things like dried herbs, wines, which you get only abroad or is imported into the country. This is what creates the base for gourmet retailing. Even last year, irrespective of the global slowdown, the Indian economy registered healthy growth numbers. The metro lifestyle is witnessing a change; there is a growing liking for good food and this is what makes us feel that there is a market for gourmet retailing – if not in the mass level, then in the niche category.

B&E: What are your investment plans; have you reached the break-even point as of now?
MK: We don’t believe in announcing investment figures – we invest wherever we find it’s necessary. At this time, it’s too early to comment on if whether we have reached the break-even point or not; but I should mention that we have been growing at a rate of 80% and segments like assortment retailing, wine & bear retailing have been doing phenomenally well with significant contributions towards our turnover.

B&E: It’s said that to shine in the retail industry, it’s crucial to have a sturdy base of logistics. You have paid heed to this – but how much?
MK: I think and we strongly believe that you should not open a retail store if you don’t have a logistics plan for that particular retail store. We deal with 400 importers as most of our products come from overseas; and then we have our own storage procedures ensuring the quality of the goods and its freshness are maintained.

B&E: Food Bazaar and Spencer respectively from the Future Group, and even RPG are focusing a lot on creating inhouse brands. Will you follow suit?
MK: No, not as of now. Like I said before, we don’t believe in doing things just because other players are doing it. We rolled out an inhouse brand in organic mangoes at a time when no other players were offering the same.



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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Exclusive Darkness at noon

Dependants of jawans killed by Maoists struggle to stay afloat. A report from Orissa by B&E’s Dhrutikam Mohanty

Two years of anguish have gone by since Mase Madkami’s husband, an SGO jawan, lost his life in a landmine blast triggered by Maoists. But life hasn’t returned to normal for the 25-year-old woman. She lives in the southern Orissa village of Udupa, 25 kms. from the Malkangari district headquarters. Her hut, located in a distant corner of this tribal hamlet, has four rooms. Her husband, Ganga Madkami, was the family’s sole breadwinner. Today, the responsibility of their eight-year-old son and Ganga’s ageing parents is on Mase’s frail shoulders.

We reach her house at dusk. Her son, Sunadhar, is studying in the front room. Mase is busy cleaning a lantern. Udupa does not have electricity. In a while, the lantern will be the only source of light in this benighted home. “I never imagined I’d ever have to see such dark days,” Mase begins to narrate her tale of woes. “Five days after the incident, the chief minister handed out cheques to the families of the martyrs. He also promised each affected family a job, a plot of land and other government benefits. He had tears in his eyes. We had reason to believe that we’d be taken care of by the government.”

But Mase’s hopes were dashed. “For six months I ran from one office to another to get my dues. I finally received Rs. 4 lakh as compensation and Rs. 10 lakh for his life insurance. But I am still waiting for the promised job and land,” she says.

Her problems have increased manifold with the passage of time. She has to travel to Bhubaneswar every month to collect the family pension. Being a single lady, she is usually accompanied by somebody from the village, which entails additional expenses. At times she has to travel to the state capital more than once for the same purpose. Sometimes the officers concerned are not available. At other times, the processing of her payment is deferred. “We are illiterate poor villagers and don’t know much about government procedures. But running around like this for what was promised to me is actually hurting me more than my husband’s death,” says Mase, tears welling up in her eyes.

Given the constant drain on her limited resources, she is worried whether her son would be able to complete his education. She says, “Including my old father, I have four dependants. Tell me, how will I manage to continue paying for my son’s education?” Despite a government announcement of financial assistance for the education of the children of martyrs, Mase hasn’t received any payment. Sunadhar, on his part, wants to follow in the footsteps of his late father and join the police force. But will a heartless bureaucracy, which operates from the comfort and security of air-conditioned offices, allow this hapless boy to fulfill his dream? The story of 23-year-old Manini Devta is much the same. She had married SGO jawan, Kanhu Charan Devta in 2006. A year later, she gave birth to a baby boy. The family was a picture of happiness. But a landmine blast on July 16, 2008, at MV126 village changed everything. Kanhu died aged 26, leaving behind his young wife, one-year-old son and his old parents. Her entire life still ahead of her, Manini is struggling to survive. She stays with her in-laws in a small dwelling unit in Malkangiri’s police colony. Kanhu’s old parents have been mental wrecks ever since they saw the lifeless body of their son. Manini tells B&E, “I don’t know what to do now. Though we have received an amount as compensation, we are yet to get a piece of land or a job as promised by the government. Whatever we receive as pension is exhausted in running to different offices in the state capital. It is becoming increasingly tough for me to handle the day-to-day household expenses.”

Manini is a graduate and she expects to get a job under the government’s rehabilitation scheme. However, it has been two years now and her application, and her hope, are lost somewhere under heaps of files dumped on the desks of the babus. This system reeks of apathy at every level. It is a system that leaves a martyr’s widow at the mercy of callous government officials. Doesn’t the family of a brave young man who died fighting those that are waging war on the state deserve better?

The situation is no better for lady constable Pratima Rout, a survivor of the Nayagarh massacre masterminded by Maoists. She has been subjected to ill-treatmen, cheating and mental torture by her own department.

Pratima, who lives in a one-room rented house in Khandapada Road in Nayagarh, is only too willing to pour her heart out. Having been treated most shabbily by the police force that she belongs to, she is seeking justice, but nobody has the time or the inclination to give her a hearing. On that dark night two years ago, Pratima was in charge of the magazines house when 300 to 400 Maoists barged into Nayagarh police station firing indiscriminately. She was shot four times before she fell unconscious. She was hospitalised in a critical condition.

Hear her story. “My condition was so bad that the doctors had given up hope. I had lost a lot of blood. While those that had sustained minor wounds were discharged after treatment, I was retained as a vein in my leg was torn. I continued to lose blood. After nearly a month and 18 days, the department informed me that I won’t get any more financial assistance and that I would have pay my medical expenses. I was really taken aback. I was at my wit’s end. I had no idea how I would arrange the money.”

Though her brother went to meet the Cuttack Superintendent of Police and he assured the family that he would intervene on Pratima’s behalf, nothing happened. Pratima and her brother took loans and used up their savings. They then went back to the department seeking help as she had to undergo four different surgeries. When Pratima met the district superintendent of police, he suggested that she should apply for a loan from the Police Welfare Fund (PWF). She applied for Rs. 20,000. The money was released promptly. But Pratima soon realised that she had been lured into another trap.

Read more......

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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Blood on the runway

You know you’re going wrong when fashion trends transform your wardrobe from being cool to terribly cruel...

Fashionistas were purring in delight when designers at the recently held New York Fashion Week made models strut down the ramp in animal furs that ranged from a dyed silver-fox on a coat, to a leather trench-coat with mink’s fur running down its back, to hoods and skirts with fur trimmings and even leggings made out of leather! Designer Michael Kors, who has faced the ire of animal rights activists earlier, got plenty of applause for his ‘quintessential American sportswear’, which spared not even sports apparel from using real fur. As fashion critics are doling out appreciation for the innovative creations that have made fur more wearable, it is apparent that from hoods to shoes to suits, which boast of fur will now be among the must-haves of the fashionable set. This is perhaps the point when we should remind ourselves of the PETA warning – “Fur on your back, blood on your hands.”

“Cave-people-like designers who still use fur are chasing headlines from the controversy. It does not take one ounce of creativity to rip the skin off of an animal’s back,” said Poorva Joshipura, Chief Functionary, PETA India. Describing the cruelty of this industry Poorva added, “Because fur farmers care only about preserving the quality of the fur, they use cheap slaughter methods that keep the pelts intact but which can result in extreme suffering for the animals. Small animals may be crammed into boxes and poisoned with hot, unfiltered engine exhaust from a truck. Engine exhaust is not always lethal, and some animals wake up while being skinned.


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Friday, August 10, 2012

ABOLISH IMPORT DUTY

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE CEMENT INDUSTRY

Cement is certainly an important raw commodity / input for the infrastructure & real estate sectors. However, in the cement sector, import duty on inputs is higher than its finished goods that include high import duty on coal, petcoke and gypsum which are major inputs for the production of cement.

I expect reduction or complete abolishment in the present import duty on our input costs. The budget should also include some special schemes for boosting exports, which is the need of the hour. In fact, India’s exports could witness a significant improvement in coming years if the government adopts proactive measures.

I am also hoping for some reduction in the railway freight rate and more wagons to be added to the fleet in this year’s budget. Further, I expect the finance minister to target the GDP growth of at least 8% or higher for the next three financial years.

On tax reforms front, I would be very happy to see the reduction in individual income tax levels as it leaves the consumer with more spending power hence builds consumption leading to higher economic growth.


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