IIPM News - 25 Years after operation blue star
A comprehensive follow up by those who witnessed it. How this single event altered the psyche of Punjab and marked the beginning of the end of terror
MODERN TIME
The brave new world
Satish Jacob revisits Amritsar 25 years after militancy ended and finds the city booming
These were the men responsible for a reign of terror, primarily in the countryside, that blighted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people when the movement was at its strongest. As I drove by car on the Grand Trunk Road to the holy city of Amritsar, I embered how tense I and Mark Tully used to be on the stretch between Ambala and Amritsar. It was in this region that Sikh extremists were most active and their violence had reduced economic activity to a minimum. Barring a few bullock carts, trucks and a handful of cars, the traffic on the road was sparse. People avoided traveling on this stretch. The militants used to stop cars and buses, drag out the passengers, particularly non-Sikhs, and shoot them.
In the countryside around Amritsar – an extremist stronghold - the fear was even more pervasive. Even in daytime, few people ventured out to tea shops.
But the villages and towns around Amritsar are now teeming with activity, the roads are congested and noisy and the tea shops, playing Punjabi bhangra music at full blast, are all houseful. The Grand Trunk Road between Ludhiana and Amritsar boasts scores of glitzy buildings – roadside restaurants with names such as ‘Balle Balle Farms’, amusement parks called ‘Las Vegas’ , theme parks modelled on Disney, waterparks, restaurants, highway hotels and mammoth wedding halls where the middle class gets its children married.
The road itself is vastly improved. The Grand Trunk Road, which used to connect Delhi with Peshawar during the British Raj, is now a four lane expressway.
A journey on the Shatabdi Express, the express service which connects Delhi with Amritsar, provides visual symbols galore of how life in Punjab has been transformed over two decades. Cell phones ring constantly in the ‘executive class’ compartments as suave, well-groomed executives work on their laptops while trolleys roll down the aisle offering snacks and meals. There is an air of prosperity and optimism based on the conviction that this prosperity is here to stay.
The passengers on the Shatabdi are mainly young businessmen. Many are in the construction business because construction is booming all over Punjab. The state looks like a building site. In Ludhiana alone, parts of the city are unrecognisable as shopping malls and gleaming office blocks come up.
Agricultural land is being developed by builders who are putting up shopping complexes, offices and residential flats.
One executive I met on the Shatabdi to Chandigarh, Saurabh Wig, works for one of the leading real estate firms in Delhi.
It is constructing new townships in Chandigarh and Ludhiana and in some of the satellite towns around these two cities. “There is a desperate need for residential and commercial accommodation to cope with the rising number of people who are being employed by the new industries coming up in Punjab. Just look at the call centres alone – they need space for their workers and somewhere for them to live,” said Wig.
Property prices have tripled in the past three years after decades of stagnation. Such is the boom in prices that people from all over India are buying land in Punjab almost with their eyes closed, knowing that whatever strip of land they throw their cash at, will appreciate handsomely in a few years. This includes Indians settled abroad who are ploughing their money into land and property not, as they used to earlier, to use as farms or homes, but as an investment.
Punjab is, in fact, emerging as a favoured business and investment destination. The state government, anxious to attract investment, has permitted one hundred per cent foreign equity as a way of promoting Information Technology. The Chandigarh region alone boasts of more than dozen call centres. Students, retired people and housewives find in them an opportunity to earn some money during shifts that still leave them with enough time for their other preoccupations.
Even smaller towns such as Mohali are attracting investors eager to build modern hospitals, hotels, shopping malls and call centres. Old movie halls are being razed to give way to multiplexes. The bureaucracy has been ordered to remove the stumbling blocks that could put off investors. A World Bank survey singles out Punjab as a place where ‘it takes the minimum time to start a new business amongst all the states in India’.
In Amritsar, which had seen an inexorable flight of rich businessmen from the city during the separatist violence, the old buzz has returned. The old businessmen have returned to re-establish their enterprises, accompanied by newcomers. Land here, which had plummeted in 1985 to about 100,000 rupees an acre is now fetching 15 million rupees per acre. On Mall Road, the smartest residential and commercial area , a plot of four acres was recently auctioned for Rs 21 crores. At Jullundur, I used to stop for sweets at a restaurant and sweet shop called Lovely Sweets when I was reporting on the militancy.
The middle-aged, jovial owner, Naresh Mittal, would always be around, ready for a gossip and a few jokes. Today he is one of the most influential businessmen in the city. Apart from Lovely Sweets, Mittal and his two younger brothers Ashok and Sunil, now own, inter alia, a motor car showroom, a motorbike showroom and half a dozen educational institutes, all of which have ‘Lovely’ in their names, including the Lovely Institute of Science and Technology which is affiliated to the University of Punjab and is the first private university in the state.
The Mittals have no doubt that this newfound prosperity is here to stay. A recent survey showed that Chandigarh has the highest per capita income of any Indian city (though Punjab as a state slipped from the top position in terms of per capital income a few years ago and presently occupies the fifth slot). Ludhiana apparently has more Mercedes than any other city, including Bombay, the commercial capital.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM ArticleThe brave new world
Satish Jacob revisits Amritsar 25 years after militancy ended and finds the city booming
These were the men responsible for a reign of terror, primarily in the countryside, that blighted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people when the movement was at its strongest. As I drove by car on the Grand Trunk Road to the holy city of Amritsar, I embered how tense I and Mark Tully used to be on the stretch between Ambala and Amritsar. It was in this region that Sikh extremists were most active and their violence had reduced economic activity to a minimum. Barring a few bullock carts, trucks and a handful of cars, the traffic on the road was sparse. People avoided traveling on this stretch. The militants used to stop cars and buses, drag out the passengers, particularly non-Sikhs, and shoot them.
In the countryside around Amritsar – an extremist stronghold - the fear was even more pervasive. Even in daytime, few people ventured out to tea shops.
But the villages and towns around Amritsar are now teeming with activity, the roads are congested and noisy and the tea shops, playing Punjabi bhangra music at full blast, are all houseful. The Grand Trunk Road between Ludhiana and Amritsar boasts scores of glitzy buildings – roadside restaurants with names such as ‘Balle Balle Farms’, amusement parks called ‘Las Vegas’ , theme parks modelled on Disney, waterparks, restaurants, highway hotels and mammoth wedding halls where the middle class gets its children married.
The road itself is vastly improved. The Grand Trunk Road, which used to connect Delhi with Peshawar during the British Raj, is now a four lane expressway.
A journey on the Shatabdi Express, the express service which connects Delhi with Amritsar, provides visual symbols galore of how life in Punjab has been transformed over two decades. Cell phones ring constantly in the ‘executive class’ compartments as suave, well-groomed executives work on their laptops while trolleys roll down the aisle offering snacks and meals. There is an air of prosperity and optimism based on the conviction that this prosperity is here to stay.
The passengers on the Shatabdi are mainly young businessmen. Many are in the construction business because construction is booming all over Punjab. The state looks like a building site. In Ludhiana alone, parts of the city are unrecognisable as shopping malls and gleaming office blocks come up.
Agricultural land is being developed by builders who are putting up shopping complexes, offices and residential flats.
One executive I met on the Shatabdi to Chandigarh, Saurabh Wig, works for one of the leading real estate firms in Delhi.
It is constructing new townships in Chandigarh and Ludhiana and in some of the satellite towns around these two cities. “There is a desperate need for residential and commercial accommodation to cope with the rising number of people who are being employed by the new industries coming up in Punjab. Just look at the call centres alone – they need space for their workers and somewhere for them to live,” said Wig.
Property prices have tripled in the past three years after decades of stagnation. Such is the boom in prices that people from all over India are buying land in Punjab almost with their eyes closed, knowing that whatever strip of land they throw their cash at, will appreciate handsomely in a few years. This includes Indians settled abroad who are ploughing their money into land and property not, as they used to earlier, to use as farms or homes, but as an investment.
Punjab is, in fact, emerging as a favoured business and investment destination. The state government, anxious to attract investment, has permitted one hundred per cent foreign equity as a way of promoting Information Technology. The Chandigarh region alone boasts of more than dozen call centres. Students, retired people and housewives find in them an opportunity to earn some money during shifts that still leave them with enough time for their other preoccupations.
Even smaller towns such as Mohali are attracting investors eager to build modern hospitals, hotels, shopping malls and call centres. Old movie halls are being razed to give way to multiplexes. The bureaucracy has been ordered to remove the stumbling blocks that could put off investors. A World Bank survey singles out Punjab as a place where ‘it takes the minimum time to start a new business amongst all the states in India’.
In Amritsar, which had seen an inexorable flight of rich businessmen from the city during the separatist violence, the old buzz has returned. The old businessmen have returned to re-establish their enterprises, accompanied by newcomers. Land here, which had plummeted in 1985 to about 100,000 rupees an acre is now fetching 15 million rupees per acre. On Mall Road, the smartest residential and commercial area , a plot of four acres was recently auctioned for Rs 21 crores. At Jullundur, I used to stop for sweets at a restaurant and sweet shop called Lovely Sweets when I was reporting on the militancy.
The middle-aged, jovial owner, Naresh Mittal, would always be around, ready for a gossip and a few jokes. Today he is one of the most influential businessmen in the city. Apart from Lovely Sweets, Mittal and his two younger brothers Ashok and Sunil, now own, inter alia, a motor car showroom, a motorbike showroom and half a dozen educational institutes, all of which have ‘Lovely’ in their names, including the Lovely Institute of Science and Technology which is affiliated to the University of Punjab and is the first private university in the state.
The Mittals have no doubt that this newfound prosperity is here to stay. A recent survey showed that Chandigarh has the highest per capita income of any Indian city (though Punjab as a state slipped from the top position in terms of per capital income a few years ago and presently occupies the fifth slot). Ludhiana apparently has more Mercedes than any other city, including Bombay, the commercial capital.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Labels: 4ps, Arindam chaudhuri, Business school, IIPM, IIPM-News, iipm-press, the sunday indian
Rashmi Bansal Publisher Of JAMMAG Magazine Caught Red-Handed, for details click on the following links:-
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Flavour of the day! India – with an unprecedented tally of 23 metals (including the first-ever Grand Prix, Integrated Lion & Cyber Lion) swept across all categories, and re-enforced by physical presence in all major juries – scored big, both at the hustings and the mind space of the global guru’s gracing the glamorous, glitzy and hi-profile ‘Oscars’ of the ad world! Accolades came thick and fast from hot-shots like Terry Savage (“They have done extraordinarily well this year”), Craig Davis (“brilliant ideas can come from anywhere. Bravo!”), Mark Gross (“Their work is beginning to stand out because they are getting to know more about the medium, its nuances and what should be done in that medium. They will now move only upwards …”), Rodney Fitch (“India has indeed scored very high!”) and Colleen DeCourcy (“India is already thinking on the new media as well and the creative talent is being groomed to think in that direction. That is a good sign. Clearly the expectations will be more, next time.”)
Internet has changed the way we communicate. The role of public relations has therefore become more significant in building this trust with the consumers. Now public relations have to let-go the message in order to build trust. When you are communicating with a blogger or somebody who is running an online forum, the way of communicating becomes different in an altogether different way. The message should be authentic and believable. Internet, therefore, has fundamentally changed the way of communication. As far as India is concerned, Internet penetration is just 5.4%. This is a very miniscule penetration. But that also means there is a big opportunity waiting to be exploited. But 85% of people who are online are reading blogs and out of which 40% of these read blogs daily.
with trepidation and a certain gumption that would hardly ruffle the feathers of a mighty and towering giant of an entrepreneur whose companies have been on a quest of global conquest in the last few years; albeit without the marauding violence and contempt displayed by the rampaging armies of George Bush Jr. I marvel at the vision, stamina, will power, fortitude, leadership skills and chutzpah you must have to manage a group with about 80 companies. I was an even more ardent admirer of your predecessor the late J.R.D. Tata.
first seven months of FY 2008-09. According to the AMFI data, Rs.406.08 billion of this was lost in October alone. Notably, BSE Sensex and BSE-500 also recorded their single biggest monthly fall in October. BSE Sensex plunged by 23.9%, while BSE-500 fell by 27.1% in October. AUM in equity related schemes too declined from Rs.1,890.25 billion as on March 31,2008 to Rs.1,579.13 billion as on October 31, 2008. This fall in AUM is partly due to value erosion in equities & partly due to redemptions that followed them.
lovingly brandish their nimbler, fuel-efficient machines at the American consumers, it’s GM and Ford that are not just going green with envy but are literally gasping for survival! To avoid falling into a similar trap, the impulse of going ‘green’ is running faster than blood in India Inc.’s veins. From IT giants to luxurious hotel chains, from automobiles to mutual funds, corporate India is moving fanatically ahead with green initiatives. But will the gamble eventually pay off? Deepak R. Patra digs in...
and some solid. I love music. I started my music career in the 80s with our band Vital Science. The lead singer of the band was one of my closest friends. We were together for 17 years. But suddenly he got misdirected and started thinking that music is un-Islamic. He didn’t stop at that. He started appearing in public and spoke against music. That’s when I chose to make this movie because he had no right to mislead the young.
renowned 12th century Sufi saint Baba Farid, the patron saint of Faridkot, the town now believed to be the home of Ajmal Amir Kasab, one of the terrorists who stormed Mumbai and was captured by the Indian police. As neighbours refuse to acknowledge him, and scores of bereaved families look to the government for justice, why not look for peace, and meaning in our lives, through the time-tested healing powers of Sufi music…
of the past three months in the relief camp as ‘harrowing’. Despite belonging to the Bodo community – the earliest inhabitants of Assam, and the supposed ‘bhumiputras’, he and the entire Bodo population of Dalgaon Batabari were thrown out of their homes by Bangladeshi immigrants in a matter of minutes. Today, their existence at the relief camp has been brought down to this: a tin shed, four kgs of rice, 1.1 kg of dal, 250 ml mustard oil and some salt, “per person, per week”.
“With a market share of 24%, Honda has been at the top of the premium segment. We will continue to provide the latest technology to the customer on a regular basis,” says an optimistic Masahiro Takedagawa, President, Honda Siel. Even Gaur adds, “Honda is an established brand in India and enjoys a brand equity few can match. The company caters well to the customer with the best of products.”
authoritative neighbour, Russia, which bombed the Georgian cities and snatched control of her seceded province of South Ossetia. While Russia stopped its assault after a week of adventure, it did not do so before stretching her attacks on ‘mainland’ Georgia. Tanks, heavy artillery and infantry were already on the outskirts of the Gori in central Georgia when ceasefire orders were finally read out. This was the first ever attack on a Georgian city in ‘Georgia Proper’. The attack is said to have intensified after Georgia announced a unilateral ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from South Ossetia, which many believe were actually chased out by the Russian forces.
the best among peers is what spears a man ahead of the race. But all these desires come with lots of constraints – lack of finances being one of them. One such aspiration that has remained long unfulfilled for many Indians is the desire to own a family car. But no more! The second hand car market has made all those dreams of driving an opulent vehicle come true. The growing used car market across the country in the form of both organised and unorganised players is a testimony to the vast potential of this segment.
to the environmentally concerned speed junkies. The cutting edge design features a canopy style door opening and all wheel drive system.
Central to the design is a high performance gas turbine powering each wheel independently.
roof. And under such circumstances, one of the most affected is the Indian mutual fund industry. In fact, its miserable run over the last couple of months have left investors really disillusioned. Following the AMFI data, the joint average AUM of the 34 fund houses in the country plunged to Rs.5,296.29 billion in July, compared to Rs.5,647.52 billion in June. This 6% drop in AUMs marked the second successive month of losses. However, in the meanwhile, A. P. Kurian, Chairman, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) shares with B&E’s Sunanda Roy, the initiatives taken by them & concerns that need to be addressed.
have hit the Indian terrain! The epitome of strategic alliance of the two lions from the Hollywood blockbuster can be well compared to the business alliance between Anil Ambani promoted Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra) & Chinese power equipment maker Shanghai Electric Corporation. No doubt, with this unprecedented deal (Indian domestic power utility player tying up with a power equipment-manufacturer), Ambani is looking at a larger picture. The Chinese component of that picture is expected to increase in the coming time in view of the ongoing Indo-China business treaty. Even if its with or without the Chinese partners, to say the least! But then, will the alliance really support Ambani junior in getting his desired chunk of the power and energy market flesh?
hat now a Goldman Sachs report says that factors like little time left before the government’s term expires, the need to pacify and meet the demand of allies and the next general election, might force the government not to take up any controversial issue or bill in the Parliament? In similar lines, disinvestment and listing efforts of the government, too, have been in the news lately. More than a dozen IPOs and FPOs are expected to come into the equity market. But firstly, it doesn’t make sense to bring equity offers when the markets have lost more than 34% in dollar terms since mid-May; and secondly, across the board approvals are required, clearly going against the logic of time remaining before the next general election. But then, the government does need money to fill in the huge fiscal gap (see graph above) that its ridiculously populist measures have created. Evidently, it is looking for quick-fix solutions since it has failed to adhere to the requirements set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
between the developed and least developed world. You either help or face the consequences for not helping. BBC, CNN et al speculated that global terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda have entered into the diamond trade in Africa, which exemplifies that Africa is becoming prime concern for global security. Ironically, many countries like Ghana, Senegal, Mali and Benin are witnessing GDP growth but not able to eliminate hunger, poverty. While these factors remain rampant in the world’s poorest continent, they’ve become the critical weapons for terrorist recruiters.
instability and uncertainty about its future. For a long time, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed has been criticising his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The war of words between the two has now resulted in a vertical split, with the 82-year-old Mahathri Mohamed quitting the ruling alliance United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). While resigning, Mohamed has levelled serious charges of incompetence, corruption and nepotism against Badawi. Analysts expect many members of UMNO to follow Mohamed and leave. This could jeopardise the future of UMNO that has been ruling Malaysia ever since the nation attained independence in 1957.
high-end luxury cars and wear designers clothes, employ maids and a full time cook, and regularly vacation abroad. By 2025, there will be 9.5 million Indians in this class and their spending power will hit 14.1 trillion rupees- 20% of total Indian consumption. Long-established spending attitudes are already changing rapidly. For generations, Indians did their daily shopping at fresh-food markets and regarded packaged foods as ‘stale’. However, just like their Western counterparts, a new generation of busy urban Indians is starting to appreciate the convenience and choice offered by packaged foods.
is limited to developing countries only. But not quite, though. The highest governing body in sports, International Olympic Committee had accepted bribes- in the form of cash, entertainment, business favors, travel expenses, medical expenses, and even college tuition fees for members’ children. There were seven high level inquiries held into the Olympic Games city-bidding process recently.
during the Arcelor acquisition talks, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has taken quite a while to develop a serious India focussed business strategy. But that is now changing fast.
thought this is the most boring cliche you’ve ever heard, it just seems that our government perhaps has never even heard about it, what with their focus never fully understanding the dynamic changes that developing economies undergo. One reason why multi-year budgeting is perhaps the doctor’s order of the day for us!
Multi-National Force-Iraq) carries out extensive studies of popular attitudes. Its December 2007 report of a study of focus groups was uncharacteristically upbeat. The survey found that a sense of “optimistic possibility permeated all focus groups ... and far more commonalities than differences are found among these seemingly diverse groups of Iraqis.”
all seem to be acting in tandem to pull down Shanghai Stock Exchange from maintaining the bull run. The rather laid-back Chinese markets, which had hardly seen much activity during 2000-2005 (the index had stuck to 1,000 mark, despite strong economic fundamentals), had suddenly caught on with the global financial trends in the past two years – registering an all time high of 5,500. But the first month of 2008, caught the bull by the horns, paving way for the bears to pierce the bubble, based on over-valuations and high rate of speculations seen in the Chinese markets. According to experts, the Chinese shares before the current fall was trading at “price-to-earning ratios of 50 and forward ratios of 40.”
unsuccessful attempts by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General & African Union Chairman, John Kufuor, to broker peace, EU Commissioner Louis Michel has finally persuaded President Kibaki to meet Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader, Raila Odinga, soon. The high profile delegation also announced that it would await the outcome of dialogue between President Kibaki & the ODM leader before deciding its future course of action. Meanwhile, Michel said as a friend of Kenya, the European Union (EU) was optimistic that the present political state of affairs would be resolved through political dialogue. Meanwhile, Peter Anyang Nyong’o, ODM Secretary General said that ODM & its partisans would continue their peaceful passive resistance until the Kibaki Government shows that it wants dialogue to resolve the crisis. He also accused Kenyan police of killing many demonstrators in several cities by using live ammunition.
Though 2008 is a crucial year because there is election in most of world powers or dominating countries but estimations show that there will hardly be any major change in their leadership. Ramifications of elections in major countries may remain skeptic and theatrics.
back as a Senior Organic Chemist, little did he know that he would reach this far. Thirty seven years hence, Lechleiter has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, replacing Sidney Taurel, the current Chief Executive. Lechleiter will assume office from April 1, 2008. As Lechleiter recently said to Forbes, “Who would’ve thought that a kid who joined the company in 1979 as an organic chemist, wearing his whites, would be standing here today?” Taurel passed the baton to Lechleiter at a time when the company, in the last six years, has incurred losses amounting to $6.8 billion in sales to generic competition.
are, precious stones & of course, the soldiers cloaked in their traditional Burmese civilian attire. Most of the women in the market, too, are related to the military in one way or the other, because much like the other sectors, the gemstone industry (the third biggest revenue earner for the government), too is controlled by the military junta. The garb under which the Burmese ‘soldiers of fortune’ carry out the dubious trade in gems is, the Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd., a holding company fully owned by serving as well as retired military personnel & the state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise.
rendra Modi won the state elections in Gujarat. What was projected as a neck-and-neck fight turned out to be a kind of a sweep for the incumbent Chief Minister. According to some experts, Modi won on the development plank. Others, who hate him, contend he fought on the Hindutva issue. There is the third set of experts, who claim Modi evolved his own brand of ‘Moditva’, which won him the elections. So, what was it really that helped him?
US should not impact the long standing ties with Russia. The Naval Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta sings a different note, when he says that Russia’s dilly-dallying over the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov price would almost force India to “ponder where our defence relations are going to’’ with Moscow. All this confusion among the policy makers has been caused by the Russia hiking up the price to refurbish the carrier by staggering $1.2 billion. The 44,570-tonne Gorshkov, was slated to fly the Indian naval ensign by August 2008 as per the $1.5-billion package deal signed in January 2004. This sudden announcement by Russia to increase the rates & to push back the delivery to 2012-13, has in fact, put paid to the naval plans to have a robust blue-water force. And this has led many in the naval circles to look Westwards to fulfill the need. “The American nuclear powered carrier, Kitty Hawk, is likely to be available shortly, India should start looking elsewhere if the Russians are acting tough,” Commodore (retd.) G. Sharma, the MD with Northman Grumman India told B&E.
the Russian electorate in the election to the Duma vindicates the sheer support that Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party enjoys among the common Russians. United Russia eventually ended up with garnering more than 64% of the popular vote. It was also the harbinger of the fact that not just Putin himself but Russia also wants Putin and his pragmatic policies to continue even when he steps down from the post of President. And no wonder incidents have started taking shape on the same lines only. With the announcement of Dmitry Medvedev as his successor, Putin has just made sure of that. It is nobody’s guess as to who would continue to rule Russia from the shadow. And for good perhaps. With Medvedev urging Putin to become the Prime Minster it only makes that proxy rule more prominent. Nevertheless, Putin’s style of no nonsense approach towards rebuilding a decaying society proves that even today if one remains sincere towards the right kind of governance one can become extremely popular. For us it is a lesson that one need not be a populist in approach to beat the anti- incumbency factor. Well Putin just showed that with a resurgent Russia back on track and ready for more of his doses.
out that there was no significant divergence between the policies pursued by Aziz, and the FMs in the earlier regimes. They agree that the distinction lay in the “effectiveness of implementation.” In contrast, Singh was hailed as the new messiah of globalisation by the middle class.
he had handled a wide variety of assignments. He had headed a marketing assignment with the Tea Board. Earlier, he had turned around the UP Transport Corporation, where instead of retrenching the surplus staff, he added more vehicles. Before that he took the UP Cement Corporation to profits after 19 years in the red. As a young District Collector and Magistrate, he had worked in rural development and disaster relief work in Chamoli district for which, his recommendation for a Padma Shri was set aside, only in view of his young age.
has found his better half and is all set to exchange wedding vows next month. So did he use Google search for this too? Well, sounds like a joke but when you run a global search engine with a market share of 58.5% (as per Comscore), the question is not worth nothing. Strangely, even today when everything about this monstrous $211.7 billion worth online giant seems to have changed dramatically; right from its annual revenues – which have shot-up by a teeth-rattling 3,676.77% during the past five years to $16.58 billion in 2007 – to its offerings, the truth is that its ‘child-like simplicity’ (which shows everywhere from its homepage to its engineering team structure) has only started showing some change of late. And going by the fact that Google’s share prices are at all-time high of $747.24 on November 7, 2007 (an appreciation of 779.11% in the past three years) and is estimated to touch $900, as per Credit Suisse, this ‘slow’ change surely seems to working well for Google Inc.
Richard D’ Aveni looked a corpulent sight, a few years ago in a five star coffee shop. A tenure professor of Dartmouth College and a conservative to the core, Richard could make you wince with dismay while holding forth on how America must ruthlessly project its power – even at the cost of “collateral damage”. The now famous Thomas Friedman book about the flat world and the Goldman Sachs report on the BRIC economies had already been published and Richard was on a long journey of discovery into the ‘next big boy of the global arena’. I didn’t agree with most of what Richard said; but one statement of his still resonates when I pick up a newspaper or watch a so called erudite TV show. Taking a huge swig of Coke, Richard had witheringly remarked that Indian policy makers must change their negative and timid mindset. “Do you want to forever remain the Mexico of China? were his words that still haunt me.
and online local information that makes a big difference to people’s lives. There are many grassroots health workers, who are comfortably using hand-held computers for storing medical data and information. And there are students in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh, who learn via TV that makes use of EduSat (Education Satellite). “An internet and a dish connection in high schools connected to EduSat facility enables the students to collect information on the subject of their choice, or talk to experts in the related field while sitting in their schools,” says Reddy.
your style statement: serious, funky or sophisticated – take your pick. Everyone wants the latest & the best. And ironically, this is one segment where the latest and best seems to change almost every passing day. In 2007, we witnessed the launch of the second generation of Razr, additions in the N and E series of Nokia & the Walkman range from Sony Ericsson.
came from the door of Godrej was as far back as in the year 1918, when the company decided to venture into the soap industry [Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘swadeshi’ movement made many freedom fighters endorse the ‘desi’ soap]. But since then, the basic premise and the business model of the company have more or less remained the same. Yes, the 90s did have Godrej jumping into an on-now off-now alliance with top class companies like GE. But like we mentioned earlier, Godrej, in the last few weeks, has seen more radical transformation than it had in the past ten decades.
to promote their recent change in brand identity. What’s more? The retail giant has spent an unbelievable Rs.200 million on just the logo change of Shopper’s Stop. So even the poly-bags that you carry with the goodies from Shopper’s Stop sport the new logo. The in-the face campaign has left many wondering what was the need to use such extravagant steps and that too for just a logo change. Well, what most of us don’t know is that the logo change is just a miniscule first step to the massive restructuring exercise that the retail group is planning. Surely in the months to come the Rs.10 billion Shopper’s Stop will ramp up its act and announce more promotional activities and ad campaigns.
arrogant feeling welcomes you at the Maruti Suzuki office in New Delhi as soon as you enter their premises. Were they trying to forcefully portray a nuance generally associated with their professed invincibility and confidence? That, I couldn’t quite a lay a hand on; but I could say this that the ambience of the office, even though copied hook, line and sinker out of the sets of ‘That 70s Show’ (don’t bother if you’ve not seen it) was as straight in your face as Groucho Marx spouting, “Take it or leave it!” Well, I’ve seen the competition (I mean their offices). Modest, agreeable, comforting? Surely! Explicitly overpowering? Umm, no!