IIPM ARTICLE AND PUBLICATION: guru economist

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Primary education for all

Some 1.7 lakh children to benefit from the scheme

Shankar Sathua lives in Salia Sahi, a slum in suburban Bhubaneswar. Life became hell for him after his father’s demise. When he was four-year-old, Shankar had to work as a domestic help along with his ailing mother. But still he was struggling to meet the basic need. Finally with the help of some people Shankar opened a vegetable shop at a nearby colony. Since then, his family’s economy has stabilised as his small business is doing well. Still he has many problems to overcome. Illiteracy is the biggest one as he is unable to even count properly. But this will come to an end soon.

The Orissa government is planning to launch a new system through which a boy or a girl can get direct admission into a class according to his/her age. A non-beginner like Shankar can directly get admission in class seven along with his friends.

Dr Rabindra Acharya, a senior teacher at Capital High School, Bhubaneswar, says: “This is a good idea and we hope this provision of lateral entry of children in higher classes according to their age will reduce the number of school drop-outs and non-beginners in the state. This way, we can achieve the goal of primary education for all.” There are more than 1.75 lakh illiterate children in Orissa. The scheme will come into effect in all 30 districts of Orissa from July. Under the newly legislated “Orissa Education Rule-2010,” the government has introduced this provision for the first time. It has called it bridge course. According to government sources, the facility of lateral entry to students will be available up to class eight under bridge course. The execution of this new scheme will be carried out by Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) at district level. The School & Mass Education Department, which has the responsibility to achieve the goals of universal elementary education, is funding this mega scheme of Rs 1,740 crore. Iswar Chandra Barda, joint secretary to School and Mass Education Department, says: “This is an ambitious project that will make Orissa a 100 per cent achiever in primary education. And one important thing about this scheme is that the government will bear all expenditures of the students inducted under this scheme. OPEPA along with some other NGOs will execute the programme.”

The OPEPA has started a state-level training programme for primary school teachers in Bhubaneswar. The purpose is to make them aware of their new responsibilities. Now, about 55,417 schools across the state are ready to welcome a new group of students. The need of the hour is to re-orient the existing programmes and help implement the new policy of bridge course successfully from the grass-root level. This way the mission of providing primary education to children can be achieved by the government.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

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The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

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Monday, April 05, 2010

Appointing an expat CEO, for traditional Indian companies

If one were to call a spade a spade, considering India’s vast diversified culture where each state is as good as a country in itself, appointment of a global CEO who isn’t well-aware of the cultural differences and the state of affairs is surely an extremely high risk affair. But on the other hand, the international experience they bring is undeniably invaluable and could transform a company’s vision superlatively. So what is the critical factor companies look for when recruiting expat CEOs?

One answer could lie in domain specialisation. Often, successful matches are about balancing off the expat leader’s specialisation with the cultural functional void in his/her profile. When Brian Tempest was employed in Ranbaxy Laboratories, the R&D expertise that he enabled helped the company immensely. K. R. Kim, former LG India head honcho, was taken up by Videocon as the company planned a radical branding and business transformation. And the top management is quite pleased so far with his efforts. “Appointing a foreign national as the CEO of a company such as Tata Motors and Ranbaxy with deep Indian roots makes sense when the goals to be achieved are clearly defined,” says Vikas Pota, MD, Saffron Chase. Infosys goes one step ahead. It recruits a person in the top management position only if the individual – irrespective of nationality – has grown within the company over time from lower positions (and therefore knows the company’s culture inside out), “but a leader has to have specialisation in at least one domain,” says CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan.

The aviation industry has been striving for global standards of service, so it is logical that expats make their presence felt. Nikos Kardassis, who held the post of CEO at Jet Airways from 1993 to 1999, truly transformed the way global counterparts looked at the Indian aviation industry. Kardassis joined back Jet Airways in 2008 and was appointed as the acting CEO in 2009 after Wolfgang Prock-Schauer resigned from the post. Similarly, Bruce Ashby, who was the President at Indigo Airlines from 2006-2008 played a major role in establishing Indigo as a prominent player in the Indian aviation sphere. But Jet Airways learnt some painful lessons while dealing with expats. Schaeur, for instance, first resigned in 2007 to join Kingfisher Airlines but Naresh Goyal persuaded the Austrian to stay back. But things got complicated, as the Indian pilots and other employees developed an acrimonious relationship with expat employees. Schaeur was practically invisible from the rift between the airlines and the pilots last year.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

THE NEED OF A RIGHT TO FOOD BILL - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The banned outfit’s fugitive chief Paresh Barua may seek Maoist help

Barua’s whereabouts are not known, but an Assam Police source confirms that he might be hiding in China or Myanmar with a few supporters. Even as security forces and the home department claim that ULFA has lost its strength, the organisation recently sent an email to the press, ordering the Tata group to leave Assam as soon as possible or else face dire consequences.
The Tata group had laid the foundation of a five-star hotel in Guwahati a few days back. ULFA had been lying low since the arrest of its president. But the recent warning issued to Tata group indicates that ULFA isn’t a spent force yet. Its ‘revival’ seems to indicate the possibility that it now has the support of another strong rebel organisation. Reacting to this suggestion, the inspector-general of Assam police, Khagen Sharma, says: “It is true the Maoists are tying to build a strong base in the north-east but they are functioning on their own. There is no evidence that they have joined hands with a local outfit.”

Sharma points out that no militant group ever concedes its area of operation to another organisation. “So it is not possible for the Maoists to set up a base in the north-east,” he concludes.

As the Maoist rebel groups prepare themselves to establish a foothold in the north-east, security forces and the police are also on their toes. It is believed that the Maoists feel they can use the north-east as a safe hideout for their leaders as it would take the security forces a fair bit of time to figure out the exact location of the rebel camps.

Jiten Dutta confesses that the pro-talks ULFA leaders had failed to stop the youth of some areas of upper Assam from rejoining the organisation. He says, “There are some areas of upper Assam where illiteracy and unemployment are major factors. Some places have no communication network. So, we cannot meet each and everyone and create a consensus against ULFA. Most of the new ULFA recruits are antisocial elements.”

Regarding the possibility of the Maoists setting up a base in the north-east, People’s Consultative Group member Dilip Patgiri says, “As far as I know, the Maoists aren’t heading for the north-east. A few days back, the Union home secretary himself confessed that the Indian security forces would need at least seven years to weed out the Maoists. Maoist rebels already have a strong base in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and West Bengal. I see no reason why they would want to come to the North-East?”

ULFA is facing a huge problem after the crackdown in Bangladesh. It might, therefore, make sense from Barua's point of view to accept any that is forthcoming from other banned militant outfits. Moreover, ULFA has in its arsenal an abundance of sophisticated weapons but they lack the manpower that is necessary to put these arms to effective use. So it would be no surprise if Barua and whatever is left of ULFA do decide to actively pursue policy of seeking the cooperation of the Maoists as a stepping stone to rebuilding the organisation.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Cabinet nod for the Bill to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India

Mr Sibal’s efforts to address the challenges confronting the higher education sector in the country are already paying dividends. The Union Budget has allocated Rs. 11,000 crore for the higher education sector, a hike of 7 per cent. Liberalisation in the education sector may lead to a larger participation of private unaided foreign institutions providing better quality higher education. This will infuse creative and productive competitions in offering better salary structure to India’s talented but poor teaching community. And naturally the reverse brain drain will acquire a faster pace.

But what if this opportunity is utilised for mere commercial purposes and not for true value quality Education? “The higher education providers delivering cross-border education should ensure that the programmes that are delivered across the borders and in their home country are of comparable quality and they also must take into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities of the receiving countries,” Mr Sibal had said in the keynote address at the plenary Session of the World Conference on Higher Education, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on July 8, 2009. Way to go, Mr Sibal!

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Restoring the pride of mankind

The day we belief that we all are from a single origin, we end racism

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay warned in an annual report that Romanians are being discriminated in countries like the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy. She further suspected that the situation may worsen gradually. The news might not be able to grab much attention since the issue of racism has become more of a day-to-day affair in the global scenario, but its increasingly becoming odious is concerning the world community. The entire world is aware of racism and its effects but two extreme views from two famous personalities would perhaps simplify the issue. Adolf Hitler, former German chancellor, leader of the Nazi party, (1889-1945) said, “If I can send the flower of the German nation into the hell of war without the smallest pity for the shedding of precious German blood, then surely I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin.” On the other extreme, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968), the prominent leader in the African-American civil rights said on the issue of racism, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” Such diverse views on one subject reveals the complexity over the issue. None succeeded to build a society based on their principles that they dreamed off.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Ever heard of Bhint Budrak?

Methan is anything but a conventional village. For one, it has never witnessed panchayat elections. The sarpanch and members of the panchayat samiti are nominated by the villagers and they assume office unopposed. The village, inhabited by a mix of Hindus and Muslims, has never seen any communal tension. The Muslim population here is very prosperous and they have provided plenty of assistance to the setting up of and running the gobar gas plant.

The president of the Methan gobar gas plant, Kasambhai Elimad Thuka, says, “In 1987, village leaders like Jaffer Mohammad and Rahim Karedia broached the idea of a gobar gas plant. It was very difficult in the beginning but every resident of the village contributed a lot.” For plant maintenance and gas usage, every household with a biogas connection is charged Rs 50.

But a huge question mark now hangs over the future of the biogas plant, which has been hit by a shortage of cow-dung. Says Kasambhai, “The younger villagers have migrated to foreign countries. These families do not own cattle anymore. Hence the quantity of cow-dung is dwindling. We once had 50 stables in the village. Now there are only about ten. So we have to often obtain cow-dung from nearby villages. But the supply can be rather irregular.”

The effects are being seen on the ground. Methan once boasted 300 households with a gas connection. Now only half that number use biogas. “The shortage of cow-dung has led to low-pressure supply, forcing villagers to opt for stoves or LPG gas cylinders. Moreover, tribal and backward community people continue to use wood as a source of fuel,” says Kasambhai. A member of the Biogas Association, Mansoor Ali Momeen, says, “This plant needs specific changes. We need to develop a technology which can reduce labour inputs and increase the plant’s efficiency. In 1987, apart from Methan, biogas plants were installed in Meloj and Varsheela villages with help from the Centre but due to improper maintenance, these plants shut down within a year. The biogas plant in Methan is about 20 years old.”

Taking tips from Methan’s experience, Bhint Budrak is going full steam ahead. Started in 2007, the Bhint Budrak gobar bank has become a subject of study for many institutions. Sultan Momeen says that Bhint Budrak’s initiative should be emulated by every village.

Bhint Budrak is a predominantly tribal village that is situated on the Gujarat-Maharastra border. Education and health continue to be major problems for the populace here, but the village has achieved unmatched success with its gobar bank and biogas plant.

Before 2007, the village was only an insignificant speck on the map. The then district development officer, Vijay Sonvane, chose this village to set up a community biogas plant. The district panchayat allocated Rs 10 lakh but equally precious support came from SUMUL Dairy.

The president of Bhint Budrak gobar bank, Ramesh Vasava, says, “We got this project from the district panchayat and SUMUL Dairy because of our reputation for social harmony. Now, each and every person of our village gets gobar gas even as they earn by selling cow-dung. There was a time when we got only Rs 150 to Rs 200 for our dung cakes per annum. But now on we earn Rs 300 to Rs 350.”

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

“The US facilitated drug trafficking due to foreign policy concerns”

Dr Clarence Lusane is an author, activist, scholar, lecturer and journalist. For more than 30 years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, globalisation, US foreign policy and social issues such as education, crime, and drug policy. He has lectured and presented scholarly papers at a wide range of colleges and universities. He has also lectured on US race relations in over 50 nations. Dr Lusane received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard University in 1997.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Indian in Karachi, Dr Lusane, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations, School of International Service at American University, spoke on some vital issues. On topics ranging from war and peace, drugs and missing people in Pakistan, he made it clear at the onset that he was not representing the US government and what he said were his personal views. Excerpts:

While going through the CIA documents that were de-classified recently, it is amazing to find that Americans helped India and Pakistan in making a nuclear bomb. Now the US is crying itself hoarse in a bid to bring peace between Pakistan and India so that the Pakistan Army may concentrate solely on the so-called “war on terror.” As a professor of international relations, don’t you feel it’s quite hypocritical?

I would say we are still feeling the consequences of the Cold War even though it is more than 20 years now. There are habits in terms of foreign policy practices. There should be justice. Well, there has been a practice of pitting countries against each other but now it’s important to build cooperative relations between countries. And I think there is a new generation of politicians who think along these lines.

It has been well documented by the Americans themselves that the previous Afghan War was fought by drug money. Are there any indications that the “war on terror” is also being fought with drug money?

I think not enough attention has been paid to our relationship with drug policy and foreign policy. In the past, foreign policy concerns weighed over our drug policy. And what that meant was that drug trafficking was allowed or even facilitated because of foreign policy concerns. Today we still have a heroin addiction problem in the United States. So, it’s critical that we address this issue in Afghanistan because we can’t allow the drug problem to continue. It is so devastating to many communities in the US. The US needs to quickly find ways to work with the Afghanistan government to address the issues of drug production and drug trafficking.

The fallout of the previous Afghan War has been extremely injurious for Pakistan in the shape of drugs and arms culture. Again, the Americans are vying to leave Afghanistan and Pakistan in the lurch. Don’t you agree that Pakistan has been used as a conduit to fulfil American global interests?

I think it is far more complicated than that because there are people in the US who generally want peace and development in the region and have strongly advocated these causes. There have been other people who have a more narrow view of foreign policy. But it’s a debate in the US that doesn’t often make international news. There have been many people who have argued for more progressive, cooperative and equal relationships between the US and other countries. Hopefully, with the new President, we will see the focus shift to a more cooperative relationship.

As a human rights activist, what would you suggest as a step to resolve the issue of missing people in Pakistan?

I don’t know much about the issue but it is absolutely critical that the government respects human rights.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Cross my heart and hope to die…

Sue Rodriguez, a woman in her early thirties, was suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease that causes the nerve cells in the central nervous system, that control voluntary muscle movement, to degenerate. She knew that gradually her muscles would weaken so much that soon they would become totally dysfunctional. In the last stage the muscles would contract, leading to atrophy, and she would lose all control over voluntary movement. And finally, Sue knew, she would choke to death. With the contemporary laws presiding over the course of our lives, and death as well, the options she had weren’t many. And the few available to her were so bleak that they would have made her life a living hell. She didn’t want to live with that pain, she didn’t want such an agonising death. She wanted a peaceful death, and therefore requested the courts to allow her to choose the moment of her death. In other words, she requested for euthanasia, a request turned down by the courts.

So what is the apt thing to do in such a case, when you know the end is near? Live the last days of one’s life with the fear of pain and suffering with each breath or choose the time of death and die peacefully? Though in the above case Sue was eventually helped by a doctor who contravened the law and helped her die according to her wishes, and thus saved her of the nightmare she was going through, not everybody is as ‘lucky’! Some forms of euthanasia, from the Greek words eu (good) and thanatos (death), are legal in places like Belgium, Oregon, Washington, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand etc. Recently Oregon became the only state in America to have the Death with Dignity Act that allows physician-assisted suicide. Now Washington State will also allow terminally ill patients, with less than six months to live, to ask the doctor for a life-ending prescription. According to the law the patient must be 18 years of age, declared competent and a resident of Washington State. Moreover, two doctors must certify that the patient has less than six months to live; and the patient in question must make two verbal requests, 15 days apart, and thereafter make a written request witnessed by two people.

Following enactment of this law, Barbara McKay, who is in the last stage of ovarian cancer, wants to take charge over when and how she dies, and doesn’t want to burden her family because of her illness. But could such a law find a place in India?

“It is not required” shoots Dr. PK Das, Sr. Consultant, Oncology Department at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, “Here, when we see that the outcome is absolutely bleak we discuss it with the family members and they understand it. If the patient is in terminal condition and on the ventilator, we make similar arrangements at his home so that he can die peacefully at home. We don’t document all this legally, but follow the wish of the patient and the family members off the record. In foreign countries one major issue is that all the health-related expenses are borne by the state, and if somebody is critically ill or has cancer the state is required to shell out thousands of dollars every day. But this problem doesn’t arise in our country. Therefore it’s a bigger issue in the western countries and they want a legal system binding it”. But perhaps, this is life, where neither can we choose our time and place of birth nor that of our death! Legalities aside, whether a person has the right to die the way he wants to, if he can’t live the way he ought to, is a question that still hasn’t died the ‘good death’ yet

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Friday, March 05, 2010

With low penetration levels coupled with climbing growth rates

Experts believe that although the challenging times for MFs will stay for some time in the near future, but overall, 2010 should be a better year for them, considering the improving economic conditions and relatively good performance by the Indian stock markets. U. K. Sinha, CMD of UTI AMC tells B&E that the Indian MF industry is expected to secure growth in the near future by catering to the evolving aspirations of retail customers. He feels that the industry seeks to target an increased share of the customer wallet through product innovation combined with deeper retail penetration by expanding reach into Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns.

Dinesh Thakkar, CMD, Angel Broking also is of the view that in 2010 the markets would build on the gains put up in 2009. As per him, the acceleration in the economic activity, would hasten the earnings growth for India Inc., supporting the up move. Further, the strong liquidity inflows are unlikely to die down on back of the strong fundamentals and quality of earnings produced by India Inc., supported by reasonable valuations. This all in turn will certainly ramp up the returns garnered by fund houses by several times.

Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm, too estimates that the industry will grow at a higher rate of 29% in the next five years. “A very high household savings rate and low retail penetration make the market a target for foreign asset managers,” say Arin Ray and Sreekrishna Sankar of Celent. Even as per a latest CII-KPMG report, the Indian MF industry may grow at the rate of 22-25% in the period from 2010 to 2015, resulting in AUM of Rs.16-18 trillion in 2015. And why not? The increase in revenue and profitability of fund houses has not been proportionate to the AUM growth in India in the last five years. Low share of global AUM, low penetration levels, limited share of MFs in the household financial savings and the climbing growth rates in the last few years that are amongst the highest in the world, all point to the future potential of the Indian MF industry. Meanwhile, as research reports suggest, the retail segment is expected to be the largest contributor to the growth of the asset management industry in India and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35%-42% in the next five years. In fact, during this period AMCs could see an addition of nearly nine million first time retail customers. Not to say, positive economic indicators like higher than expected GDP growth at 7.9% for Q2, better IIP numbers at 10.3%, continuous improvement in auto sales figures are there to provide the much needed support to the industry in 2010.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Managing Fun!

Do events like amaze (IIPM’s annual festival) or carpe-diem (IIM calcutta’s cultural festival) really help in churning out “better” managers? Angshuman Paul meets eminent alumni for answers...

1940 was the year when American psychologist David Wechsler wrote a few gritty but little noticed papers in which he summarised his research on human behavioural patterns. Wechsler argued that human “intelligent behaviour” was, in fact, dependent on factors that were not necessarily connected with how “intelligent” humans actually were. Truly unique to its times, Wechsler’s study wasn’t what anyone in that era would have imagined to lay the foundations of an area of behavioural science that, it can be said, made men of B-school boys. And that area is ‘emotional intelligence’. Events that were not of purely academic nature, were introduced into the curriculum. And now, every B-School worth its salt has an ‘inclusive’ format for its annual festivals.

The question remains that EQ apart, do B-school festivals really add to a future manager’s managerial skills? Case in point: The 2009 edition of The Indian Institute of Planning and Management’s (IIPM) annual B-school festival in New Delhi, Amaze, that saw the presence of CEOs and top dignitaries not only from the corporate sector, but even from the social sector. A senior member of the organising committee of Amaze, Alpi Jain, argues that such B-school festivals are necessary for they reflect the inseparability of managing business and managing people. Does that mean there’s more to B-school education than our good ol’ classic case studies?

“Absolutely,” answers JP Singh, the former CEO of Bausch & Lomb, “I think there are many things which books can’t teach you and you learn them only when you participate in events like business school festivals. When you participate in such events, you learn lessons like people management and even how to flow/manage a project!” JP Singh would know; he graduated from IIM Calcutta whose annual festival, Carpe Diem, increased its budget from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh this year. JP Singh says that the practical knowledge he gained from his B-school’s festival contributed significantly to his knowledge pool, especially while he set up his own business. Today’s business school ‘fests’ comprise a wide array of competitions, including events both intellectual (debate, best manager etc) and entertaining (fashion shows, choreography).

And it only gets grander. Shah Rukh Khan hosted this year’s most attended IIPM-4Ps B&M quiz competition, Dare, in Bangalore, that witnessed participation from B-schools across continents. Then, MDI Gurgaon hosted its international online B-school festival – E-Blast. Harvard Business School has even become a “cultural partner” of the Starz Denver Film Festival in Colorado!

Amit Burman, Vice Chairman of Dabur India Ltd and an MBA from the Cambridge University, remembers, “In Cambridge, there were always some events happening; and my participation in them helped me a lot to control the initial challenges that I faced after joining our family business.

Vikram Tanwar, Dean (Academics), IIPM Bangalore, adds another viewpoint, “Apart from the individual learning, the fact is that a cultural festival brings together faculties, industry experts and students from other institutes under one umbrella at an informal level – such informal interactions are very much necessary for the growth of the students and their future networking.” Agrees Govind Shrikhande – Customer Care Associate, President & CEO, Shopper’s Stop Limited, “It’s true that B-school festivals bring together students and industry experts in a sharing-of-knowledge mode and are extremely important to the students’ overall growth.”

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Relax! It ain’t a giant wave, not yet!

With two IPOs hitting its shores one can finally see some sign of life in the primary market again. But is the market really ready? manish k. pandey acts investor... oops investigator!

At least 50,000 retail investors applied for shares when Mahindra Holidays & Resorts came out with its initial public offering (IPO) in June this year, while the much awaited Adani Power IPO, which closed last week, received a whopping 5,79,000 applications (the Rs.30 billion IPO attracted total bids to the tune of Rs.650 billion). So the entire IPO ecosystem is buzzing with energy and enthusiasm yet again. Investors are seeing this as a chance to party again after a prolonged sobering period.

But then, is the market really ready for the next big wave of IPOs considering that the retail investor is still sceptical to investing in IPOs after the failure of Reliance Power IPO? “Capital markets have short memories. They have the habit of forgiving and forgetting the losses quickly as soon as they start making money again. Investor response to the Adani Power IPO is a case in the point after the fiasco of Reliance Power IPO. Certainly, investors are back into the IPO arena and it’s business-as-usual for them,” reasons Jagannadham Thunuguntla, CEO and Equity Head, SMC Capitals.

Further, the participation of retail investors in an IPO depends primarily upon two factors. Firstly, on the valuations at which the IPO is being made available to investors and secondly, on the state of the market at the time of the IPO (which has a bearing on investor sentiments). If these two factors are in favour, there is little doubt about the success of an IPO. But are these two factors really in favour of the investor as of today? “I believe that the market is ready for quality IPOs. With the return of the risk appetite amongst the investor community at large, there is certainly a demand for newer IPOs. However, to ensure that investor appetite remains unaffected, it’s important that these IPOs are not bunched together within a short span of time,” cautions Hitesh Agrawal, Head – Research, Angel Broking.

But, despite the optimistic signs in the fund raising environment, there is a looming tsunami that threatens any momentum: the Budget has projected a deficit of 6.8% of GDP in fiscal 2009-10 and to finance this, the government will borrow about $80 billion from the market, which may further squeeze out the private sector, directly impacting their fund raising capabilities (Knowledge@Wharton). This statement certainly supports the contrarians who believe that the market still has a long way to go before it can finally take on to the IPO rush. “In reality, there is no rush of IPOs. It’s only media hype. Despite the secondary market being on an upward trend since March this year, we have had only 4 IPOs/FPOs raising Rs.4.43 billion. There was a huge expectation that this Budget would set the right tone for the secondary market, a prerequisite for the primary market. But, the immediate market reaction has shown that it is not very impressed,” avers Prithvi Haldea, Founder and CMD, Prime Database.

Certainly, a sense of stability in the secondary market is critical for IPOs to happen. This is because, one, when the appetite for listed stocks is also minimal, to expect new issues to find favour is hard and second, an issuer has to take a call of a stable market at least 30 days ahead (the time it requires to open and list an IPO). Since this stability or continued buoyancy is still not being seen, IPOs are not happening. In fact, as many as 17 companies are holding SEBI approval (typically the last hurdle in the launch of an IPO) for months now to raise Rs.69 billion, but are not daring to enter the market. “So at best, the next 3-4 months can see only 34 companies (holding and awaiting approval) hit the market,” says Haldea. Raison d’être: Issuers are finding the future outlook uncertain.

This can be seen by the fact that despite nearly 700 companies wanting to do an IPO, just four companies have filed their offer documents with SEBI since April this year. This certainly points out in the direction that the market is not yet ready for another big wave of IPOs.

shores.

No doubt, there are many IPOs that are in the pipeline, which include Future Ventures, Godrej Properties, Indiabulls Power, NHPC, Oil India, et al. While all these IPOs are much awaited and look promising, whether they are worth investing in would depend upon the valuations that they would command at the time of the IPO. Certainly two IPOs don’t make a trend, just as two vehement and scorned gentlemen are not enough to start a revolution. Guess investors will have to do with what they have.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

It’s all about having a purposeful fizz!

PepsiCo’s top honchos are now paying special heed to environmental initiatives. Angshuman Paul finds out more...

PepsiCo’s latest corporate report also talks about environmental sustainability. Can you elaborate on it?
SAL: Our group policy has always been to maintain the eco-system of the locality where we are operating. But now we would be doing that with a clear cut mission under ‘environmental sustainability’ and specifically for the South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) region.

So, what exactly are you planning for this region?
SAL: We would be planting more trees, especially citrus-based fruit trees. We also plan to preserve natural water resources and achieve positive water balance by 2009. In India we will save and recharge more water than what we will use in our plants. MK: Millions of people in this region are suffering from major deficiencies of key nutrients like iron, Vitamin A, et al, which is leading to serious health problems. Thus we plan to launch healthy products to address such issues.

How are these green initiatives helping Pepsi?
SAL: This is not a part of our branding and promotional campaign. We believe we are responsible for the resources that we use in our production process and as such we can’t deploy them. In fact, our multi-pronged approach to reduce water usage across production plants includes innovative reuse and recycling of water. We are also tying up with farmers to save water.

How much are you planning to invest for environmental sustainability?
SAL: PepsiCo Foundation’s commitments to safe water initiatives will reach nearly $15 million in the next three years. The funds will be utilised to address critical water scarcity issues. We will also take up some agri-partnerships projects with farmers. MK: We would also be reaching young women to make them aware of health issues. Our vision is to sell products which are healthy and in the process we will also ensure that we are not deploying any natural resource during the manufacturing process.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
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Monday, October 20, 2008

‘C’, the new ‘F’

Cyber crime is the new ‘F’ word
The Internet revolution has helped the world in many ways,

but as studies now confirm, it has supported the spread of hatred globally. A study released by the Jewish human rights group, Simon Wiesenthal Centre, exemplified that the abuse of sites, social networks, blogs and video sharing has spread more hatred and violence in the world in the recent years. The study found a 30% increase of sites (now running over 3000) that spread hatred. The recent Latvian documentary, ‘The Soviet Story’, which compared communism with fascism, agitated the Kremlin government; thousands of ‘suicide bomber’ games in America, which show the generic bearded ‘Muslim’ enemy, have been enraging Muslims globally; border petrol games, which aim to kill innocent Mexican immigrants migrating to America, are plucking their patience, and so on so forth.

Even hacking hasn’t been left to individuals. American intelligence since long has kept on blaming the Chinese government for nurturing nationalist hackers or promoting contests between Turks vs Armenians, Serbs vs. Albanians. China’s anti-cnn.com movement is another case for example. Global governments must curb the anonymity that the net provides through enforceable regulations that will create accountability, failing which, the menace can only turn rampant.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Friday, October 17, 2008

The no-brainer auto issue

The second struct

ural defect afflicting hybrids is their pricing. It could well turn out that unless auto companies ensure that the pricing levels of offered hybrids are in tune with mass market expectations – especially in markets like India and China, expected to be the world’s top two in the next five to ten years – they might well start failing. Hybrids are simply not cost effective, and will not be in the next seven to ten years, if at all then. A hybrid, to be rampantly successful, has to be priced in such a range that enables the consumer to perceive its ‘long term’ cost effectiveness over the ‘short term’, thus engaging his buying intent. Confusing? For better clarity, read what Deputy Editor Virat Bahri writes later on in the cover section: “Doubts are often raised about how cost effective hybrids really turn out to be. NuWire Investor’s Cali Zimmerman compared the [price of the] Toyota Camry hybrid with the normal version, and statistically proved that the cost difference cannot be recovered before 13.8 years!!! Even the first hybrid to be introduced in, say, a poor country like India – the Honda Civic – costs a huge Rs.18-22 lakhs.” How does one expect consumers in a poverty-ridden country like India (with per capita GDP just around $1000) to buy such a costly car? Isn’t it then quite a no-brainer issue to say that a hybrid, by its very definition, loses its USP once it is priced higher than even normal cars? Amusingly, not when you look at it from the perspective of billion dollar corporations who refuse to wink when drunk.

The no-brainer auto issue #3

Alternate fuel! In their blind quest for finding out god’s gift of a substitute for petrol, automobile companies are attempting to move the damned mountain when all they had to do was to change the course of the river. With hybrids getting beaten in hype only by this third dimwit of a concept called alternate fuel, car companies are only taking themselves and of course the customers for a royal ride attempting to create cars that run on grandiose non-market-tested ‘alternate’ fuel. Let me give you a primer on the alternate fuels available in the market and their ridiculous inconsistency. (a) Biomass: Fuel from plant matter or even waste material. Famous biomass fuels: methanol and ethanol. Unsolvable issues (for the next ten years) remain on how much arable land will be used (wasted) to host plant matter to produce required ‘cost effective’ ethanol. Pollution issues in ethanol production cycle are totally unresolved. Worse, methanol as fuel is not even efficient! (b) Hydrogen: Talk to me after 20 years and I’ll show you an affordable price-effective fuel cell that can logically power a car on the road. Currently, DuPont can fix one up for you in your car for the price of a mini-satellite. (c) Photo-voltaic energy from the sun; solar powered cars: Keep the windows open and make sure you don’t get embarrassed driving a car with no passenger seat at 10 miles an hour. (d) Battery operated hybrids: Been there, done that! (e) A cost-effective nuclear powered engine: Thirty years!

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Eenie Meenie Miney Moe!

With the variety on offer, customers have little to worry about issues like inflation. Life’s not so blissful for players though, and inflation is just the tip of the iceberg, says savreen gadhoke of B&E
Criminal seems to be the right word for it, when you look at

the state of affairs in the FMCG sector. It takes some of the country’s best marketing minds to research extensively on customer behaviour and prepare a ‘fool proof’ strategy to win in the market place. Millions are spent on advertisements, quite often with the ‘celebrity price tag attached’, managing distributor relationships, sponsorships, PR initiatives, et al. And when the product reaches the point of purchase, the time that the customer may take to bring this entire exercise to naught (by rejecting the product of course), could be not more than a fraction of a second. Like we said, criminal!

And when customer loyalty is already such an expensive commodity, unforeseen phenomena like the recent upsurge in inflation, which surpassed the 13-year high figure and touched 12.01% (for the week ended July 26, 2008), can make matters even worse. Current rising prices of raw materials, fuel, energy and essential commodities have hit the bottom lines of these FMCG companies. According to a report by ASSOCHAM Eco Pulse, the sector witnessed an increase of 16.2% in the prices of key input materials within the three months ending March 2008. As a result, net sales recorded a marginal increase and the sector witnessed a fall of 15.38% in net profits on q-o-q basis, thereby putting pressures on the volumes, which grew by a meager 5.76% during that period. Rakesh Kumar Sinha, COO, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL) told B&E, “The challenges are rise in raw material and commodity costs that are disturbing the entire FMCG industry, specifically the personal care segment...”

But hold on! There is good news in the air this time around. For, in the quarter ending June, 2008, the picture has transformed quite dramatically. The FMCG sector has performed significantly well in terms of its profit and sales figures. While HUL recorded an increase of 13.20% in its net profits on a sequential y-o-y basis, Nestlé India achieved a record growth of 26.54% in its net PAT.

Other FMCG players like Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd., Dabur India Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd. too recorded an increase of 18.13%, 11.94% and 11.63% in their net profits respectively, despite the fact that the prices of key raw materials like palm oil, edible oil, milk, et al, rose by an average of 15-20% during the period. Beverage companies were even luckier, as a Coca-Cola India spokesperson revealed to B&E, “Economic bureau has attached an economic weight of 0.1 on soft drinks, so the beverages market was not impacted much...”

A spokesperson from Dabur tells B&E, “Intelligent buying of raw materials is among the various initiatives undertaken by Dabur to increase efficiency and reduce cost of operations.” The company has benefitted from doing its purchasing on futures exchanges. Tushar Bhattacharya, a FMCG analyst at FICCI states, “New product launches, modernised packaging, introduction of low-unit packs (LUPs) and increase in volumes are few strategies that the FMCG companies in general have adopted to fight inflation.”

Another tactic employed was price hikes wherever possible. HUL and GCPL amongst others raised their prices by 2-20% to come out of the situations arising out of increasing raw material prices. As prices of milk marked an increase of 15-20%, Amul reacted in a similar manner. R. S. Sodhi, Chief General Manager, GCMMF (parent company of Amul India) told B&E, “Despite increase in inflation, there was no reduction in demand for our milk products. Subsequent to the rise in the prices of milk, Amul raised the prices of its products in the range of 5-15%.” Dabur India also hiked prices by around 5% of some products in key categories like hair care and oral care.

And those who did not increase their prices (to retain customers) resorted to another smart game plan. Instead of increasing prices, few of the companies reduced the weight of their products and sold it at the same selling price. Anand Shah, FMCG analyst with Angel Broking calls this phenomenon as pack rationalisation and states that “it is a kind of price hike only but directed by quantity.”

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative