Movie Review: Yamla Pagla Deewana 2

You would be a brave moviegoer indeed to subject yourself to this monstrosity, especially if you’ve been through one round of the Yamla Pagla Deewana assault.

The Deol trio possesses oodles of charm all right. But does that mean that the threesome would be just as appealing when they indulge in outright buffoonery? Watch Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, directed by Sangeeth Sivan, if you aren’t sure of the answer. But if you are, stay away.

Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are joined by an orangutan in this moronic comic caper about a father and son duo that is out to con the world in the face of stiff resistance from the third member of the family – an honest son/sibling who swears by mehnat ki kamaai.

Sunny Deol is Just One Singh, as Johnny Lever (in the guise of a bumbling avatar of Shahrukh Khan’s Don) puts it after being pilloried mercilessly by the Super Sardar.

And the ape is Einstein – yes, that is what the orangutan is called – and his IQ is higher than the two men in its charge in London, Dharam Singh Dhillon (Dharmendra) and Gajodhar Singh Dhillon (Bobby Deol). These two guys are Varanasi thugs who have landed in the UK in the hope of swindling a wealthy nightclub owner, Sir Yograj Singh (Annu Kapoor), of his riches.

Varanasi was the setting of the first film and that is where the sequel opens. Dharam Singh’s upright son, Paramveer Singh Dhillon, is now a UK bank loan recovery official who takes it upon himself to protect the interests of the man that his dad and brother are trying to dupe. The conmen have no idea that their intended prey is deep in debt and is struggling to save his business.

There are two girls in this soup, both daughters of the bankrupt tycoon. Gajodhar has his eyes on one of them (Neha Sharma), while Paramveer falls for the other (Kristina Akheeva).

The rigmarole make about as much sense as Dharmendra’s attempts to communicate with the orangutan. Gibberish infects the entire film and the air of inanity thickens to such an extent that what is supposed to be humorous repeatedly takes the shape of tiresome gags.

On a serious note, it is hard to believe that 77-year-old Dharmendra is in such dire straits that he is reduced to this. One can only pray and hope that the generous rabba that Sunny Deol keeps appealing to in the film, will save the Deols from any further misadventures of this nature.

The spirit of Salman Khan is invoked on numerous occasions in the course of YPD 2 and Bobby Deol even spouts lines from films of the Dabangg star.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Sidney Herbert to Florence Nightingale

Crimean War was fought between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the unsolved Eastern Question and dispute between Russia and France over the Palestinian holy land. British statesman Sir Sidney Herbert, who was head of Britain war office, wrote this letter to Florence Nightingale urging to mobilize and train nurses for the war victims. Nightingale responded positively and was awarded with the sobriquet “Lady with the lamp” when war got over.

16 Feb 1855, Crimea


You will have seen in the papers that there is a great deficiency of nurses at the Hospital of Scutari.

The other alleged deficiencies, namely of medical men, link, sheets, etc., must, if they have really ever existed, have been remedied ere this, as the number of medical officers with the Army amounted to one to every 95 men in the whole force, being nearly double what we have ever had before, and 30 more surgeons went out 3 weeks ago, and would by this time, therefore, be at Constantinople. A further supply went on Thursday, and a fresh batch sail next week.

As to medical stores, they have been sent out in profusion; lint by the ton weight, 15,000 pairs of sheets, medicine, wine, arrowroot in the same proportion; and the only way of accounting for the deficiency at Scutari, if it exists, is that the mass of stores went to Varna, and was not sent back when the Army left for the Crimea; but four days would have remedied this. In the meanwhile fresh stores are arriving.

But the deficiency of female nurses is undoubted, none but male nurses having ever been admitted to military hospitals. It would be impossible to carry about a large staff of female nurses with the Army in the field. But at Scutari, having now a fixed hospital, no military reason exists against their introduction, and I am confident they might be introduced with great benefit, for hospital orderlies must be very rough hands, and most of them, on such on occasion as this, very inexperienced ones. There is but one person in England that I know of who would be capable of organising and superintending such a scheme; and I have been several times on the point of asking you hypothetically if, supposing the attempt were made, you would undertake to direct it.

The selection of the rank and file of nurses will be very difficult; no one knows it better than yourself. The difficulty of finding women equal to a task, after all, full of horrors, and requiring, besides knowledge and goodwill, great energy and great courage, will be great. The task of ruling them and introducing system among the, great; and not the least will be the difficulty of making the whole work smoothly with the medical and military authorities out there. This it is which makes it so important that the experiment should be carried out by one with a capacity for administration and experience. If this succeeds, an enormous amount of good will be done now.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Movie Review: Go Goa Gone

Saif Ali Khan is a bit of a freako in B-town who, despite enjoying star-lineage, is truly different.  The Chhote Nawab has a definite life beyond movies, is a voracious reader, known to have a scintillating wit and is forever open to the unconventional.  Story goes that when the director-duo went across to Saif for a narration in the hope of getting him to play the lead role, initial zap & bewilderment [“a movie about zombies?  Are you guys nuts?”] was followed, very soon, by hysterical laughter and a firm commitment to not only act, but produce the film as well!

As expected, G3 is bizarre and has zero reference to context in terms of anything Bollywood has ever done in this unusual, crazy genre.  What for chrissake is a zombie-com??  This could pose as a huge roadblock with fans of the usual B-town staple [toilet humour, action & rom-com] but audiences with open minds and willing to enjoy the whacky & weird are in for a treat!  Three fun-loving guys & their girlfriend rock at a rave party in Goa hosted by a mad-looking Russian and get bombed with booze & drugs.  They wake up to find that they are in zombie-land.  Scared like hell, they run helter-skelter, clueless about the next move and given some kind of protection by the crazy Russian, who himself is scared shit too but doesn’t show it, feigning bravado.  Its pure, unadulterated madness cut loose unleashing wisecracks powered with manic energy on an overdrive.

The performances are uniformly good – Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari and the girl Puja Gupta.  Saif as the crazy Russian [with that funny golden hair] is superbly spot-on too.  It’s a very different genre with the concept of zombies coming centre-stage and all the action around them offering a novel experience.  The camera work – lensing Goa & Mauritius – is sumptuous, the music appropriately wacky, but as a narrative – situations & dialogues – can sometimes be a bit tiresome due to its repetitiveness & forced gags.  After all, how long can you keen the zingers going fresh, hilarious & original, na?  Everything considered, however, a great bold leap into a whole new fun-land!  Heavily recommended for al lovers of whacky fun!  Bravo Krishna & Raj … Go, Goa, Gone will go places!

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

The end of poverty

Will World Bank's plans to eradicate poverty by 2030 succeed?

Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank, has set out on an ambitious goal. He is looking to remake the world in his own image that will surely appear utopian to many. What Kim wants is to have “a sustainable world where all households have access to clean energy. A world where everyone has enough to eat. A world where no one dies from preventable diseases.” That looks like a tall order but the World Bank has a plan of its own. It is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. At a time when the world is yet to recover from a full-blown recession and where more than one-fifth of the population still languishes in dire poverty, Kim's chances of fulfilling his dreams may look improbable, if not impossible.

However, this bleak economic picture is not deterring the World Bank from pursuing its lofty goals. Its stated mission “to end extreme poverty within a generation” has not been compromised. The target itself is an update of the Bank's Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set in 2000. It was born out of the Bank's desire to end the misery of 1.3 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day. The MDG goals, according to World Bank, are reasonably supported by the organization’s data, which showed a drop in absolute poverty from 43% in 1990 to 21% in 2010.

However, there are two impediments in the way of accomplishing Kim’s dream. First, the environmental challenge of climate change could act as a big dampener to economic growth and development. The lives of 360 million people would be in jeopardy by the turn of the century if the root causes of climate change and its devastating effect on food grain production are not tackled. Experts predict that catastrophic climate changes would be brought about by noxious emissions and increasing pollution to the environment. Environmental abuse would lead to a rise in the global temperature by as much as 4 degree Celsius – an outcome that must stopped at all costs. Second, the developing and underdeveloped nations will need to catch up with the richer nations through sustainable economic development if they aspire to lift their teeming masses out of poverty.

The problem is that lifting the first impediment can have a negative impact on the second. That is because industries in the developing world are mostly environmentally non-compliant and polluting. So enforcing emission norms would mean shutting down manufacturing units. That is one reason why the geographical pattern of poverty reduction is largely lopsided – only 45 out of 84 developing countries are on track towards meeting the environmental goal. Likewise, the prospects of achieving sustainable economic development appear not too bright considering that it requires adroit planning, inclusiveness and uniform wealth distribution, which are often missing in the developing countries’ economic agendas.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

EPA proposes, industry disposes

Why its environmental proposals have failed to pass muster

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) deadline of April 13, putting a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions on new factories, has fallen flat on its face. As a result, it has been forced to extend the deadline. The emission target was set by the EPA a year back to limit the release of CO2 per unit megawatt hour of electricity for new factories to 1,000 pounds. But the target makes life difficult for factories, especially coal plants, which on an average emit about 1,768 pounds of CO2. Given this reality, it's not surprising that the EPA directive has prompted over two million outraged comments, forcing it to extend the deadline and ponder on the validity of the imposed targets.

This is not the first time that the EPA has been constrained to stretch its deadline. Even before, complainants have moved court, putting the brakes on EPA's plans. Most of these legal manoeuvres have been prompted by economic reasons. But to say that the impasse was created only because of stakeholders wanting to protect their financial interests would be stretching things a bit too far.

Of course the EPA move would affect the economy negatively, at least in the short run. But it also goes to show that policy wonks haven’t got their maths worked out prudently. The EPA model for Tier 3 improvements doesn’t factor in, according to the Environ International Corp, any health betterment for the people. On the contrary, as per the American Petroleum Institute, the gasoline price will be hiked by 6-9 cents per gallon. And that’s an indirect cost on top of the $10 billion direct capital outlay. Clearly, the internally made model of EPA is flawed to its roots. It neither provides a solution to human health improvements nor does it help in mending the economic frailties as they exist.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

His madam's voice

Attacks by Trinamool leaders on institutions are prompted by Mamata Bannerjee

Attacks by Trinamool Congress leaders on rivals and institutions in West Bengal has more to do with the diktats issued by Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Bannerjee than any criticism of Marxist regimentation.

Naturally then, when the ebullient all India general secretary of the party Mukul Roy took head on the State Election Commission (SEC) and launched a vicious personal campaign against the State Election Commissioner Meera Pandey, going to the extent of describing her as the stooge of CPI (M), it became crystal clear that he was merely doing his leader’s bidding.

The Bengal Chief Minister can go to any extent to attack and malign her political adversaries, as was evident during her war of attrition with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the UPA government. Following in the foot steps of his supreme leader, Roy used choicest invectives against Pandey, a fact which irked even Governor M K Narayanan to make a point: ``All I have to say is that such intolerant utterances about somebody who is carrying out constitutional responsibility is unfortunate.” Attributing motives to SEC’s refusal to hold panchayat elections on a single day as suggested by Mamata and hher team, Roy remarked “ I have a strong feeling that a conspiracy is under way to delay the election in order to keep  the CPI(M) happy. I think there is an understanding with the CPI(M)”. But that was not the worst; he added for good measure that ``she was seen in company of some senior CPI(M) leaders”.

Senior bureaucrats have not taken these jibes and allegations lightly. They are waiting for the right moment to hit back. They say their rulers have developed a habit of attacking and insulting officers to cover up for their own failures. State Election Commissioner Pande is known for sticking to rules. In the past, she has even antagonized senior Left Front ministers but the political leadership always appreciated her sound bureaucratic approach and allowed her to function.

Mamata in fact favoured holding panchayat elections in December this year in a single phase. The time was important for her as she did not want intra-party feuds to dominate electoral proceedings. But the major problem against holding elections then was revision of electoral rolls and completion of delimitation of the wards. It is said that at least 10 lakh new young voters have been enrolled. In addition to the present incumbents, officer bearers of the panchayats would continue to be in office till May 30, 2014. Obviously there was little that the new representatives would have done if the elections were held in December. Later the government suggested a two-phase poll. But in view of the high stakes and sensitivity of the elections, Pande preferred not to take a chance and suggested a three-phase poll.

A closer look will reveal that irrespective of whatever Roy has been saying, the fact is that Mamata has made it an ego issue. She has come to brook no challenges to her decisions. Pande by sticking to her stand, therefore, is guilty of opposing the chief minister. The SEC intends to hold the elections in April, 2014, so that the new members would be ready to take charge after May 30 and it makes sense.

It is worth recalling that the same Mukul Roy addressing Trinmool workers on December 1 last year had said that panchayat elections will be held in April-May and asked all party members to sink their differences and work unitedly. He should be able to answer what significant changes had taken place since then to necessitate a change in his party’s and the state government’s stand.

West Bengal Panchayati Raj Institutions have altered the face of the state. There has been all round development in the quality of life for the rural population. The villages now have an institution which has transformed their standard of living to a higher level than under the present Left Front regime.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Shrinking hemlines

A slashed defence budget will further hit the Indian Army's modernisation programme. Mayank Singh reports

The Indian Army is calling it blue murder. Why? Due to lack of sufficient government initiative, their most important weapons systems are fast depleting. Operational capabilities are being hit. The military top brass says the time for lip service to defence preparedness is over; the need is to take the arms modernisation programme to another level. The question is, will it happen? 

Insiders say the basic military hardware required for any warfare - artillery guns, air defence guns and missiles, light helicopters, night fighting capabilities and strike capability in high altitude – are fast running out, if they are not already gone. Among a plethora of other reasons, this slack defence preparedness is due to faulty defence budgetary allocation. Although the finance minister hiked the defence budget by 5.3 percent to Rs 2,03,672.1 crore (US$ 37.4 billion), there are wheels within wheels. The 2013-14 defence budget is pegged at Rs 1,93,407.29 crore but faces the twin threats of high inflation and an adverse rupee-dollar exchange rate. Military insiders say it will make even the current level of preparedness difficult to maintain.

Modernisation is a continuous process; no military in the world can boast a permanent state-of-the-art weapons system, From time to time, given the high level of Research and Design (R&D), arms are bound to become obsolete. It calls for a cautiously drawn mixture of state-of-the-art, obsolescence and obsolete weapons and systems.

What is the composition? Explains an Indian Army officer dealing with planning and modernisation issues, "Around 15 to 20 percent is state-of-the-art, about 60 percent falls in the obsolescence list, still in use and not yet obsolete, and around 15 to 20 percent comes under the obsolete category.” But alarm bells are ringing as most of the arms and equipment are approaching their limits. The only thing that can help is money or indigenisation, both of which are not evident anywhere on the horizon.

As early as May 2012, the Ministry of Finance mandated a 10 percent cut in all non-plan expenditure excluding subsidies, interest payments, salaries, etc. It is important to remember that all defence expenditure comes under non-Plan expenditure. This has resulted in a nominal reduction in defence revenue expenditure but the reduction in defence capital expenditure has been substantial, amounting to Rs 10,000 crore which caters for modernisation and procurement.

It appears as if austerity is meant primarily for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Of particular concern to the army is the further decline of the share of the defence budget in GDP, which is now the lowest since the past five decades since 1961-62, a throw back to the Indo-China border conflict, when it was only 1.66 percent. It is 1.79 percent of the current GDP which was 1.90 in 2012-13. Naturally, the army will have to take the burden of this reduction.

The army with an approximate budget of Rs 99,707.8 crore,  accounts for 49 percent of the defence budget followed by the Indian Air Force (Rs 57,502.9 crore) and Indian Navy (Rs 36,343.5 crore). Although, the navy’s share has decreased the most by 1.4 percentage points, the army’s share has declined by 1.3 percent.

Last year, the army with an approximate budget of Rs 97,302.54 crore accounted for 50 percent of the defence budget which was down by one percent; out of this the modernisation budget of the military had declined by three percent to Rs 13,804.02 crore.

This year, in 2013-14, the air force is the only service which has increased its share in the total defence allocation from 24.9 percent to 28.2 percent. According to MoD officials, the reduction in defence capital expenditure was arbitrarily taken by the Ministry of Finance.

But the problem is not confined only to allocation of funds. Laxman Kumar Behera, Research Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), says that in the past few years, the MoD has not been able to utilise a large sum of money, particularly in the capital acquisition segment of the budget which is also the main source of the modernization plans. Between 2002-03 and 2011-12, the underutilised money touched a staggering Rs 35,500 crore mark.

There are still no accurate estimates of how these reductions and under utilisation in defence expenditure will finally impact the defence acquisition and modernisation programme. The reality on indigenous defence production does not make for pretty reading. Ordinance factories are taking years to assimilate even those expensive technologies which India is buying from other countries under various transfer of technology agreements. As far as the budget allocated for R&D is concerned, the less said the better – at the moment it remains pure lip service.

Says Behera, an expert on defence budgeting, "The focus on indigenisation has become a lip service as the budget shows. This is evident from the utilisation and allocation of resources for the ‘Make’ projects under which domestic industry, particularly private sector, is required to design and produce advanced platforms for the armed forces. Of the total allocation of Rs 89.2 crore made in 2012-13, not a single rupee was utilised. Now, the allocation has been slashed to a mere Rs 10 crore in the new budget.”

India's position becomes particularly precarious when contrasted with the defence modernisation programmes of its powerful neighbour. China, the world's largest growing economic and military power, has been modernising at a rapid pace for over a decade, backed by a double-digit annual hike in its defence budget. At $ 115.70 billion, China’s official defence budget for 2013-14 is 10.7 percent more than the previous year and it is over three times India’s planned defence expenditure.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Alagiri alone

The elder brother has lost decisively to younger brother Stalin. Appanasamy analyzes the agony of Alagiri.

M.K Alagiri, the elder son of DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, appears lonely, desolate and shocked. If he had read up a bit of Indian history, he would have still been lonely and desolate, but not shocked. More than 300 years before Christ was born, the younger son of King Bindusara vanquished all his elder brothers and became Emperor Ashoka. More than two hundred years before Bahadur Shah Zaffar was exiled in Burma ending the Mughal dynasty in India, one of his more famous predecessors Aurangzeb had usurped the throne from his elder brother Dara Shikoh. Even in modern dynasties, Alagiri would have found similar examples. In the 1970s, when Indira Gandhi was giving the final touches to the Establishment of the Gandhi dynasty in the country, she chose the younger son Sanjay Gandhi to inherit the mantle and the throne. Mercifully, there was no fratricidal battle here as the elder son Rajiv Gandhi had absolutely no interest in anything except flying planes. It is only the inexplicable cruelty of destiny and history that made Rajiv the ruler of India.

Alagiri seems to have lost decisively to his younger brother M.K Stalin in the race for leading the DMK after Karunanidhi. The final nail in the proverbial coffin seemed to to be hammered on March 30 when Stalin chose Madurai, the so-called stronghold of Alagiri, to celebrate his birthday and his anointment as the successor. Barring a few die hard loyalists, Alagiri helplessly watched enthusiastic DMK cadres desert his camp with gusto and embrace Stalin as the new leader. Well before this very public humiliation and sidelining of Alagiri in Madurai, the patriarch Karunanidhi had made it crystal clear to DMK cadres that Stalin would lead the battle against arch rival J. Jayalalitha, the current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Just in case, Alagiri still nurses some illusions, the DMK has served show cause notices to a few loyal supporters of the elder son for anti-party activities. Their crime? They ostensibly boycotted the March 30th birthday celebrations of Stalin in Madurai as a gesture of support for Alagiri. The rest seem to have got the message loud and clear and have fallen in line.

According to reliable sources in Chennai, Alagiri tried the twin tactics of a virtual and veiled revolt and an emotional appeal to his father. Both seem to have failed. When DMK was deliberating the withdrawal of support to the UPA government over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, Alagiri seemed to be the sole voice of dissent insisting on continuing the frayed alliance. But to Stalin and the patriarch Karunanidhi, the message from grassroots cadres was unmistakable: it was imperative for the DMK to sever all ties with the Congress for its own political survival. Once the decision to withdraw from the UPA was announced, other ministers belonging to the DMK promptly resigned. Alagiri refused and sent in his resignation separately two days later, after holding meetings with Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Clearly, that angered his father Karunanidhi even more. Sensing the collapse of his revolt, Alagiri flew down to Chennai and apparently had an emotional meeting with his father. According to sources, Alagiri complained that he was hurt because he was in charge of the southern flank of the party and was not even consulted when the decision to withdraw support to the UPA was taken. Apparently, Karunanidhi bluntly told his son that he never took interest in party affairs and hence  had no right to complain. Karunanidhi seems to have added sarcastically that visiting Chennai and meeting his mother does not constitute party activities.

For seasoned observers of Tamil Nadu politics, the recent speculation over who will inherit the mantle from Karunanidhi seems to be pointless. According to them, the inheritor was decided way back in the Emergency during the 1970s when Stalin led youth DMK cadres against the Indira regime. Stalin was jailed and tortured. Alagiri apparently stayed away from politics at that crucial juncture. Subsequently, Stalin served as a Mayor of Chennai and kept in touch with grassroots party workers at all levels. Even during 2001, when Jayalalitha, after storming back to power had ordered the arrest of Karunanidhi, it was Stalin who faced her wrath rather than Alagiri. According to party insiders, Karunanidhi seems to have noticed how Stalin has always been prepared to go to jail and face troubles as it is considered part and parcel of political life. In contrast, Alagiri prefers to avoid all that. They cite the example of, how Durai, Alagiri's son sent absconding and evaded arrest for more than a 100 days when he was accused of illegal granite mining. DMK sources say Karunanidhi was not happy with it as it created a perception that family members of the DMK had so much earnings that they needed to hide it. The party is very sensitive on this issue after Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi had to spend a long time in Tihar jail in the 2G scam case.

DMK insiders say that Karunanidhi was incensed when he heard reports about his elder son hobnobbing with the likes of P Chidambaram. The DMK still nurses a deep sense of betrayal over the manner in which A Raja and Kanimozhi were treated by the Congress. More important,  DMK leaders know that Congress big shots like Chidambaram are worried because they have virtually no chance of winning Lok Sabha seats without an alliance with either DMK or AIADMK. Given this backdrop, DMK leaders think that Alagiri was allowing himself to be used by the Congress.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Book Review: Calcutta: Two Years in the City

El Dorado in the mist 

The name of the city in the title of this delectable book is as significant as it is deliberate. Author Amit Chaudhuri insists that he calls Calcutta by its old name when the language is English. It automatically becomes Kolkata when he speaks in Bengali. That is actually the way it has historically been. The official renaming of the city (in 2001), he believes, is probably one of the factors that has hastened its decline.

Chaudhuri, novelist, classical musician and academician, writes that “out of the remnants” of the great city and “through a single act of renaming, eventually arose a new one – without pedigree or history; large but provincial; inhabited but largely unknown – called ‘Kolkata’.”

Death and rebirth; decay and the hope of regeneration; and multiple departures and returns – those are the broad themes that the author tackles in this part memoir, part social analysis centred on a city that exercises an almost difficult-to-define hold on the mind and heart of the writer.

An elegiac air hangs over the mesmerisingly episodic book, which reveals various facets of Calcutta and presents a deeply observant and sympathetic portrait that does not flinch from identifying the snapping points that led to the marginalisation of what was, a little over a hundred years ago, the “second city” of the Empire.

The lamentation is loud and clear, but it never becomes baleful – it is elegant, shot through with genuine emotion, and bewitchingly lyrical. Chaudhuri tempers his hard-nosed look at the many distortions that have crept into the city’s soul in the last 30 years with an unflinching sense of belonging that facilitates total candour.
 
Chaudhuri grew up in Bombay and was educated in England. The eastern metropolis was only a city of vacations for him until, in the late 1990s, he decided to gravitate towards Calcutta.

Why did he move to the city? The answer: “Because I’d been rehearsing that journey for years: as a child, in trips from Bombay in the summer and the winter; and later – in my continual search for a certain kind of city – in my reading. And Calcutta would make its way back to me, unexpectedly, through Irish literature and Mansfield and Eudora Welty and the writing of the American South.”

But while Chaudhuri continues to live intermittently in the city and draw sustenance from it, he feels that, like “the career of poetry in the globalised world”, Calcutta is near extinction. “I could still tap the magic of its neighbourhoods when I wrote my third novel, Freedom Song, in the mid-nineties; but, after that, I felt I couldn’t do so any longer – just as a teenager might outgrow a ‘phase’ of writing poems…”

But in this book, the idea of which he resisted for three years, he brings “the drama of the place” alive through varied vignettes of life on Park Street, bustle of humanity outside the Sealdah station, and in the more rarefied homes and clubs of the ‘ingabanga’ (Anglicised Bengalis who still revel in the mores of the colonial past), besides a host of other settings.
Rarely has a book about a city been so personal in nature yet so expansive in scope. Chaudhuri guides the reader into and through parts of the city that he particularly likes – Park Street is high on that list. “Park Street,” he writes, “is neither Oxford Street nor the Champs-Elysee, but here, in the stretch between Chowringhee and the junction of Free School Street and Middleton Row, it has an energy comparable to no other downtown district that I know.”

He also describes, with not a little horror, the inability of the city to protect the historic colonial and “genteel bourgeois” structures that define its character. He holds up Berlin as a contrast. “When I was last in Berlin three years ago, the memorialisation of the past was relentless, but the attempt, by Berliners, to embrace and re-inhabit the city’s troubled post-War history was striking too. Calcutta has still not recovered from history: people mourn the past, and abhor it deeply.”

He infers: “If Calcutta suffers in comparison, it’s not really to other cities, but principally to itself and what it used to be. Anyone who has an idea of what Calcutta once was will find that vanished Calcutta the single most insurmountable obstacle to understanding, or sympathising with, the city today.”

He clearly does not love the Calcutta of today, a city that is “neither moored to its past nor part of a definite future”. The book obviously dwells at length on contemporary politics in Calcutta and Bengal but, since it covers only two years (2009-2011), it stops just short of the ouster of the Left Front government.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Should we give up already?

On February 12, 2013, US President Obama passed two executive orders for setting up cybersecurity standards for various industries. These executive orders exemplify the intent shown in the United States to fight cyber crime and the immediate concern of the administration that without executive orders, it is almost next to impossible to encourage a coordinated response against cyber crime – which seems to be the only way to control the growing global menace.

Unfortunately, Indian authorities – despite passing some cleverly drafted internet laws – have either no idea on how to tackle cyber crime, and have no intention to generate a coordinated response. And that is an extremely fearful situation. One doesn't wish to sound like a doomsday soothsayer, but what if one fine day you woke up to find the nation's banking system crippled because one smart alec in Nigeria broke into our interconnected banking systems and transferred all the money to untraceable accounts?

It's a no-brainer that the Internet is one of the key pillars on which the future economies will grow. There have been several reports that underscore how Internet offers a much-needed boost to a nation’s productivity levels. In the context of India, Internet’s contribution to the nation’s GDP is set to grow exponentially from $30 billion in 2011 to a whopping $100 billion in 2015, according to a Mckinsey report. Private and public companies in the country are swiftly integrating Internet-based services into their business models. The aim is to take advantage of New age offerings in order to cut down on the ever increasing costs.

Global consulting firms predict that India will overtake the United States by 2015 to become the second-biggest Internet user in the world after China. Naturally, the corporate world and the Indian government are going gaga over the prospects and how it would help lift all boats. On its part, the Indian government has already announced plans of up to Rs.200 billion for broadband expansion across the country where more than 10% of the population (150 million to be precise) is on web now.

But as always, there is a flip side to the coin as well. As businesses and societies in general increasingly rely on computers and Internet-based networking, cyber crime and digital attack have increased around the world. These attacks include financial scams, computer hacking, downloading pornographic images from the Internet, virus attacks, e-mail stalking and creating websites that promote racial hatred. According to the Norton Cyber Crime Report of 2012, 1.5 million people are impacted every day across the world – close to 18 people per second – falling prey to cyber crime, including attacks, malware and phishing. Globally, the financial loss as a result of cyber crimes has been to the tune of $110 billion in 2011.

More than 42 million people in India were victimized by cyber criminals last year, with approximately $8 billion in direct financial losses, the report said. According to the report, 66% of adults in India have been victims of cyber crime in their lifetime. In 2011, 56% of adults online in India experienced cyber crime, translating to more than 115,000 victims of cyber crime every day or 80 victims a minute and more than one a second. One in three adults online (32%) has been a victim of either social or mobile cyber crime in the last 12 months, and 51% of social network users have been victims of social cyber crime. Specifically, 22% of social network users reported to have been a victim of identity theft.

Even government websites were not spared. There have been incidents of defacement of top government agencies like CBI (December 2010), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited in December 2012, Oil and Natural Gas Commission in November 2008 and other ministries and departments (which aggregated 294 till October 2012). Indian websites catering to diversified industries have been defaced at regular intervals. While 9,180 websites were hacked in 2009, the figure shot up by 57% to 14,392 cases during the first 10 months in 2012.

Clearly, the growth in cyber crime has started assuming disconcerting proportions. But surprisingly, the Indian Penal Code has not figured a way to define “Cyber Crime” precisely. It’s only after the latest amendements to the the I.T. Act, passed in 2008, that a large number of cyber crimes have been brought under the ambit of the law. Currently, there are stringent provisions related to cyber security under sections 66C, 66D and 67(1), under which any conspiracy for cyber terrorism is punishable, and the sentence may extend to life imprisonment.

However, laws alone cannot curb cyber crime, which is often conducted in jurisdictions where timely extradition, trial and punishment in a cost-effective manner are difficult and, hence, ineffective as a deterrent. To its credit, the Indian government has of late started taking steps to build up awareness and preparedness to take on the challenge of fighting cyber crime. In July 2010, the government proposed establishing a unit of specialized hackers to counterattack international hacking activities. In January 2011, the proposal was formally announced under which the government aims to train five lakh cyber crime warriors under a public-private partnership with an estimated cost of Rs.1 billion. It has also been pushing for summary arrests of cyber criminals with the help of cyber crime police stations. In 2011, the National Crimes Record Bureau registered 1,184 arrests for cyber crime under the IT Act, a hike of 67% from 799 arrests in 2010 (a mind boggling 768% up from 154 cases half a decade back).

But the big question remains whether these steps will suffice to check the rising meance of cyber crime? According to McAfee’s report for the third quarter of 2012, the volume of SPAM in India’s Internet territory touched the 40-million mark. Though the figures have been slashed by 60% y-o-y (100 million in September ’11), there still remain areas where one needs to look into at the earliest. Also, cyber attacks are becming more sophisticated and harder to detect.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Power to the weak

TSI had, on December 23, 2012, done a story Enabling sensitivity on the lack of a dignified life for the physically challenged people in the country. The story highlighted how despite the growing awareness, India still lacked genuine sensitivity towards such people and how they face routine embarrassment and discrimination despite a plethora of laws. Though the country already has laws that ensure rights and rehabilitation of people with disabilities, their condition has not improved much over the years. The story specially focused on a new rule in the state of UP as per which only people with a 100 per cent disability would be given free passes in the government run buses. The new law was not only inhumane, it was also in sharp contrast to the old law as per which people with even 40 per cent or more disability could avail of the facility. 

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Rise of the Raconteur

Sujoy Ghosh loves his stories. You can make that out from his movies as much as you can tell from the way he converses. The maker of Kahaani and Jhankaar Beats shares why he finds a good story irresistible with Pratishtha Malhotra

After getting a degree in engineering and MBA, you entered into films. How different would life be if films had not happened to you?
More stable I would guess. A job always comes with certain assurances like a salary, pension etc which is taken as granted. Now I have to make sure those happen. Unstable, but life is lot more exciting.

You do not come from a background of films. How difficult or easy was it to come into an industry which was alien to you?
It was tough, but I personally feel it’s as tough as any other field. Even after my degrees, I had to work quite hard to get a decent job. So, I guess, getting into films is a little bit harder, but it presents the same challenges.

What prompted you to leave your job and make films?
The fact that I could not do two things at the same time! I realised that if I really wanted to make films then I would have to give it my 100 per cent. I could not latch onto the security of a job and still try to make films. One must be focussed and dedicated to whatever vocation he or she chooses to pursue. No risk no gain...

How did your family and friends react to your decision?
I think it was too unexpected a decision for my family or friends. It’s not the kind of decision they expected from me so they did not know how to react. I think, deep inside, they must have thought it to be a passing infatuation. And being totally alien to the film world, they just could not fathom how I would even start. So they did not think it was serious enough to deserve a reaction.

From Jhankar Beats to Kahaani, how has the journey been?
Tough, very tough. But what I really enjoyed was that the tough situations were created by me because of my films not doing well. So that was cool. I could not blame anyone for that. In this field or any other, you can only let your work speak. Now it’s better. So now it’s cool and I'm happy.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

The Raging bulls

It’s a throwback to the 1970s with added dollops of swagger and attitude. Saibal Chatterjee looks at how the new age bollywood blockbusters have ditched their candy floss fixation.
Salman Khan Anger is all the rage again. With the heat soaring on the big screen, ‘being Dabangg’ pays at the turnstiles. No wonder kickass cop Chulbul Pandey, the nemesis of all crooks and cretins that are hiding in small-town crevices, is on the prowl a second time. His mean streak isn’t just intact; it has been significantly enhanced.

Rs 100-crore box office grossers are passé. Salman has already topped the Rs 200-crore mark with Ek That Tiger, the tale of an unstoppable secret agent who scours the world in search of enemies of the nation. The industry is now talking in terms of Rs 300 crores for Dabangg 2. Breathing fire is big business today.

It isn’t just the wisecracking, swaggering Pandey who is hitting the high notes of fury with his duniya jaaye bhaad mein (to hell with the world) brand of dialogues. He has the likes of Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan in Singham), ACP Vikram Rathore (Akshay Kumar in Rowdy Rathore), bodyguard Lovely Singh (Salman Khan in Bodyguard) and Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan in Ghajini), to name only a few, for company.

It certainly isn’t lonely out there, and these motor-mouth men, flaunting six-pack abs and using their guns with as much felicity as their wits, are outdoing each other in the scramble to grab a piece of the action pie. And no one is complaining. When Bajirao Singham growls Aata majhi satakli (Enough is enough, I’ve blown my fuse) every time he squares off against an adversary, the applause from the audience is instantaneous.
He is an upright police officer who brooks no opposition, be it netas, goons or fellow cops. They are all fair game as he gives explosive vent to his spleen. A rotten system calls for rough and ready methods in order to be cleaned up.

Reminiscent of the heady heydays of Amitabh Bachchan’s legendary angry young man persona, the rage that is thundering in the hearts of Hindi movie protagonists of Singham’s ilk is, pretty much like it was way back in Deewar and Trishul in the 1970s, a reflection of the dark and vengeful mood prevalent in the streets of the nation.

The scenario is set: the common man is a hopelessly harried creature, at the receiving end of the machinations of corrupt politicians, venal criminals and unctuous policemen. Enter the Enforcer. From the lanky Big B with bloodshot eyes to the hunky Hrithik Roshan with his my-way-or-the-highway method of dispensing justice, Vijay Dinanath Chauhan has come full circle.
In the 1990s – those were the years that immediately followed India’s economic liberalization and the consequent process of globalization and heightened consumerism – glitzy NRI romances and big fat Punjabi wedding flicks held sway over the masses. Love was in the air and it manifested itself in songs sung blue on the streets of New York and London or in the picturesque vales of the Swiss Alps.

It was a colour-spangled, languorous dreamscape in which anger and violence had no place. Minor setbacks in matters of the heart did. But no problem was ever big enough to push the hero over the precipice. He strummed the guitar, hummed a ditty, and serenaded his girl with all the charm at his disposal and all was well again!

Shahrukh Khan, despite early box office successes as an anti- hero in films like Baazigar and Darr, switched tracks to emerge as the soft-at-heart romantic. He was Rahul or Raj, a lover boy who launched many feminine fantasies. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai defined the era.

What’s more, even Salman Khan thrived in this new ambience of collective well being, appearing in romances like Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, films in which everybody sang and danced till the cows came home. Cut to the 2010s. The music may not have gone out of the lives of the Dabanggs and Singhams, but the guns are out and the fists are flying like never before.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Can the land of rising sun rise again?

The newly-elected government in Japan has come up with a blueprint for growth that might just be enough to put an end to decades of economic stagnation and falling prices and usher a new era of growth. And there are reasons to be hopeful

The Japanese economy has begun 2013 with a great deal of uncertainty. The economy is fragile and perhaps in recession, and a new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is at the helm. Yet for the first time in 20 years critics across the globe are somewhat optimistic about the economy’s future. The reason is simple. Abe has some fresh ideas that might just be enough to lift the economy after two decades of underperformance.

Since his party’s (Liberal Democratic Party) comprehensive win in December 2012 election, Abe has been vocal on national security and on a radical economic plan (his election agenda too) that will form the focal point of his administration. And there are reasons to be hopeful. The incoming government has already provided a blueprint for growth that if successful could bring the Japanese economy back to life.

Abe’s new plan stands on three pillars. The first is redefining the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) “price stability target” to consumer price index growth of 2% y-o-y over the medium to long term, from the previous 1%. The second measure is that the current quantitative easing (QE) programme, which is set to expire on December 31, 2013, would be extended indefinitely, mirroring the US Federal Reserve’s current programme, called QE infinity among other things. The third and the final component is a commitment by the BoJ to increase monthly asset purchases from the current rate of about 3 trillion yen per month to 13 trillion yen per month starting January 1, 2014. No doubt a sharp shift in policymaking under Abe was keenly anticipated, but these moves are not as dramatic as they appear from the top, particularly the third constituent.

The total value of BoJ’s assets under current QE programme stands at 40 trillion yen (as on December 31, 2012) and is perhaps the best single gauge of the extent of the BoJ’s QE programme. For uninitiated, three things determine the size of a central bank’s balance sheet – new asset purchases (or sales), depreciation or appreciation in the value of existing assets, and the rolling over of government bonds as they mature. The BoJ’s 3 trillion yen in monthly purchases between now and the end of 2013, alongside some short-dated government debt paper reaching maturity, gets the BoJ to its target of 76 trillion yen, the proposed final target of the current asset repurchase programme.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

INTERNATIONAL POLICY: RUSSIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Although Russian economic growth came in at 5% y-o-y in Q4 2011 and registered 4.3% growth for all of 2011, it is still way below the 7% average clocked by the economy from 2000-2008 and is much lower than growth rates seen in China and India. Further, the economic growth was bolstered by a jump in oil exports in the last quarter of 2011 (see chart). The good news for Russia is that oil prices have only moved north since the economic crisis (on March 1, 2012, Russia’s benchmark Urals crude exceeded $125 a barrel, the highest since July 2008). The bad news is that the nation that has proven oil reserves of 79 billion barrels representing 6% of the world total and 45% of non-OPEC reserves is critically overexposed to oil prices, where even a slight disturbance in global oil prices could destabilize the nation beyond control.

One shouldn’t forget that such a scenario has occurred twice before. First in 1998, when the devastating Ruble Crisis hit its shores on August 17, 1998. Second, more recently in 2008, when the price of Russia’s benchmark Urals crude fell 77%, which not only caused an 11% peak-to-tough decline in Russian GDP, but also saw the economy witnessing a capital exodus.

The stark difference between the Russian economy ‘with oil’ and the one ‘without oil’ drives the nail much deeper. While the overall federal budget posted a surplus of 0.8% of GDP in 2011, the non-oil deficit was 9.6% of GDP.

On the other hand, growth in Russia is likely to stay dynamic through the rest of the first half of 2012 as household consumption (which accounts for about 50% of Russia’s GDP by expenditure and accelerated to 6.4% y-o-y in 2011 from 5.1% in 2010) will get additional support from increased military salaries and pensions and making a cut in the social security tax.

Moody’s Analytics expects the Russian economy to lose some steam as the year progresses, and predicts a GDP growth of about 3.6% in 2012.

But then, the more Putin promises in government spending, the higher the oil price needs to be to balance the budget. Along with that comes a political issue too. Scott Anderson, the New York based Sr. Economist at Wells Fargo Securities tells B&E, “Higher oil prices will not give Putin much incentive to follow through [with reforms], while vested interests will make the path to reform difficult.” In fact, since Putin announced $260 billion of spending programmes during the election, plus a defense programme totaling $763 billion, the oil price needed for balancing 2012’s budget is likely to be around $140 a barrel (rising continually thereafter) – a really big number to achieve. But if the US bombs Iran, oil prices will only go upwards.

But there’s another issue that’s strangely not yet caught global media, and that is dangerously increasing levels of capital outflows from the nation. Capital outflows from Russia totaled $84.2 billion in 2011, the second-highest figure since 1994 and a big jump from the $33.6 billion that exited Russia in 2010. In fact, the trend continues in 2012 – capital outflow from Russia amounted to about $17 billion in January 2012 alone. Although Russia is running an external surplus and retains a large stock of forex reserves ($505.40 billion as on March 22, 2012), it can only accommodate a moderate level of capital flight. Add to this the fact that Moody’s Analytics expects the fixed investment growth in Russia to fall from 5.2% in 2011 to 2.9% in 2012, and you may just have the start of some disastrous implications. Add all that up, and you have a significant probability of real per capita income falling in 2012-13.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

“Affordable housing should be made compulsory for end-use”

In an exclusive interaction with B&E, Nikhil Bhatia, Head of Western Region for CBRE South Asia, talks about rising real estate prices, the role of fund managers and affordable housing

B&E: The Indian real estate sector is currently experiencing a phase of rising prices and low volumes leading to a massive dent in sales and home absorption rates across the country. Does it bother you?

Nikhil Bhatia (NB): There are three key components which drive real estate market growth. They are: strong counter parties, location, and pricing. Since top builders, say for instance the Tatas, the Godrejs, the Mahindras are partnering with counter parties that are bankable and inter-related, their projects get completed on time. This is especially applicable in a high interest rate scenario. Home buying sentiments fall because most banks refrain from providing funds for infrastructure development as a result of which the project gets delayed. If the counter party is strong, then the buyers confidence gets a boost.

B&E: Why are real estate prices rising in India, especially in Mumbai and the National Capital Region (NCR)? Do you think that private equity (PE) deals make real estate projects costlier and unaffordable?

NB: Nowadays, private equity players are entering into structured debt financed transactions with developers where the latter are given about 13% to 14% regular coupons by the former. The builders in return retain a balance in redemption as premium so that in case of a default, they can use the collateral as a safety net. Thus, a $14 coupon is serviced every quarter in transactions. If both a builder and a PE player are using land together at par, then they both agree to a 12% to 15% minimum hurdle negotiation. Probably PE deals are making projects costlier, but at the same time builders are left with no choice. They have to raise money and PE funding is the most accessible in times when banks stop lending. It’s another story altogether, of course, if the builder is cash rich enough to raise enough funds from internal accruals.

B&E: But this arrangement only works for builders and trading investors. Don’t you think this is the right time to do away with PE deals in the real estate sector?

NB: I don’t think so. In fact, if implemented wisely, PE deals benefit both, the investors and and the fund managers. A fund manager can buy land with PE funding. Builders see opportunities and buy that land making it a lucrative transaction. The higher the level of maturity the higher returns it generates for fund managers.

B&E: Are investments back in realty? How have revival strategies worked for top builders and services firm including CBRE?

NB: Yes, investments are really back. Undoubtedly there is enough capital available for the real estate industry even now. Fund managers are looking at the key takeaways while entering into deals with PE players. They can see their investments maturing in the next few years. In fact, companies such as Blackstone, Ascendas, New Vernon, and IDFC have shown interest in buying core assets.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA