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

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

I just can't wait to be King!

Not a single seat won yet, but the PM candidates are ready

The final outcome of 15th Lok Sabha is still unclear, but, in his eagerness, L. K. Advani had already passed a proposal of becoming future PM six months ago in an NDA meeting and even started meeting titans of industry. However, with the assembly poll debacle in Delhi and Rajasthan; the confidence of the saffron brigade has ruptured. On the other hand, Left parties, who were aggressively pushing for Mayavati as future PM, now, feel that it is quite difficult to build a consensus on Behanji.

An internal survey by BJP and RSS reflected that the party might get 96-106 parliamentary seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections, much below the former tally of 113 seats. Even upper house members of the party were advised to participate in the coming elections to improve poll prospects. But the real drama unfolded when former VP Bhairon Singh Shekhawat showed his desire to participate in the upcoming elections.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Tuesday, October 09, 2012

They ain’t as ‘lucky’ as Martha...

...but they ain’t worried! It’s competency & quality that promise the future for Indian IT giants; not ‘luck’!

You might have heard a dozen times about the (in)famous business magnate Martha Stewart, the once stock-broker and now a well-publicised television host and magazine publisher. But what you probably never heard about her was how she made money while in prison. Yes, her personal fortune struck the billion dollar gong (with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s stock price rising by 90%) during her 5-months stint at West Virginia’s Federal Prison in 2004! So what about her? Well, in the past four years (since her release), she’s lost about 70% of her wealth; indeed, better behind bars! But wait, that was her, and we doubt if she had anything to do with IT Services (or India, for that matter!). And we also doubt if entrepreneurs in the Indian IT Services have even a dime-worth of ‘jail’ luck! Take for instance, Ramalinga Raju, the founder of India’s 4th largest IT Services firm, Satyam Computers. Today, he is behind bars (pleading for a bailout), and is in ‘no way’ ammasing great personal wealth! Then there is the 3rd largest flag hoisted atop the Indian IT fort – Wipro, which was banned from dealing with the World Bank over allegations of “improper payments.” Yes, at this perplexing crossroads, the pertinent question which strikes the conscious remains – was our ‘so-considered’ mega-competence in the IT Services field just a myth, with ‘titans’ of the trade proving our ultimate shame? Or will the vanguards of the Indian IT brigade, protect its citadel of glory, far into the 21st century?

Instilling confidence, Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group tries his bit as he asserts, “Just because one firm [Satyam] turned out to be rotten does not mean that the entire sector is a basket of rotten apples.” But doubting Thomases need more, and here’s some proof: while on one hand the big names mentioned above have seen their shares tumbling at the bourses, the other biggest three Indian IT Services companies (Infosys, TCS and HCL) have managed to maintain a steady stock price and investor confidence even after the Satyam scam broke out in the first week of January. Even their financial health (as per the Q3, FY2009 results) paints an encouraging picture, with the top three reporting considerably increased profit margins – Infosys (net profits of Rs.16.41 billion, an increase of 31.4% over Q3, FY2008), TCS (Rs.13.53 billion, 7.7%) & Wipro (Rs.9.78 billion, 11.3%).


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face


 
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Friday, October 05, 2012

246 PSUs; 33 Yet to Commence Ops!

A Number of PSUs Look Desperately for a light at the Tunnel End, Or even a Moving Train...

Navratnas have ensured in the recent past that the world looks at Indian public sector undertakings (PSUs) in a different light. But then, this is just like most aspects in India, where the large numbers at the bottom of the PSU pyramid are ignored for the few stars at the top, who bring up the averages as well as the GDP contributions for the nation. But such an ignorance of the bottom is suicidal at best.

Our great nation has around 246 PSUs in all. Talking in numbers, the net profitability ratio of PSUs has increased from 8% to 14.5% since the last one decade on an average. But then, given the mammoth number of PSUs, this seems quite miniscule – especially when the economy is experiencing a steep northward trend. Of the 246 PSUs, 33 are yet to commence operations. Out of the 213 functioning PSUs remaining, more than 50 PSUs are in losses. Their total contribution to the GDP of the country is merely 6.5%. A recent CAG Audit 2008-09 report points out that 15 PSUs of Gujarat made a loss of Rs.25.4 billion in the last three years. On a yoy basis, the loss has increased alarmingly from Rs.4.41 billion in 2006-07 to Rs.19.63 billion in 2008-09. This is just not confined to Gujarat.

Another CAG report found that Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) in Andhra Pradesh had accumulated losses of Rs.23.52 billion for 2008-09 and further concluded that PSUs could have controlled losses of up to Rs.12.38 billion with better management. The latest CAG report on Jharkhand reveals that 10 public sector undertakings in the state posted an accumulated loss of Rs.18 billion and made “futile investments of Rs.743 million” for 2008-09.


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

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Thursday, September 06, 2012

Slum free cities a realty ‘reality’?

While Mumbai, the host to the biggest slum in Asia still has a long way to go before it can become slum free, there are momentous changes that hold the promise of transforming India. B&E meets up with slum Developers, PE investors and of course, the government for an update!  
 
It seems Mumbai’s neighbouring city Pune is all set to religiously win the race to complete slum rehabilitation projects and hand over flats to slum dwellers free-of-cost. While slum dwellers living in Mumbai currently lack the opportunity of owning a 269 sq ft carpet area flat, slum rehabilitation projects are gaining momentum in neighbouring Pune city. There is, in fact, a lot of action taking place in slum rehabilitation in Pune with a host of small and large scale developers bringing out projects with 2 BHK and 1 BHK flats by various regional builders free-of-cost.

For builders developing slum rehabilitation projects in Pune, viability is the biggest challenge for them, opines Lalit Kumar Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Kumar Urban Development Limited (KUL), one of the major slum developers in Pune. “In order to combat the challenge, we are in the process of meeting slum dwellers face-to-face. As part of the agreement process, the proof of their thumb impression, photo identity will be kept with Slum Rehabiliation Association and Seva Kendra people. We will also ensure safety of the slum dwellers by providing them with transit camps till the time project comes up.”

“Our project is aimed at meeting the evolving needs of slum dwellers based on the fact that we have given opportunity to slum dwellers to choose innovative 2BHK uniform flat design of their choice so that 6 to 7 people can be accommodated per flat within the SRA project.” says Jain. A major issue with Pune slum families is that it is the women who contribute to family income by washing utensils and clothes in the middle and upper middle class houses in the area. For the same, builders have charted out plans to set up separate cottage industries for men and women with a corpus to sustain it in the remaining area.

Off late, builders in Mumbai are understood to be making a beeline for developing slum projects in the city. Some of the major factors favouring developers move to slum development projects in Pune are cheap entry capital and too steep clear land costs in Mumbai. “Indiareit is close to investing Rs.20-30 crore in two slum redevelopment projects in the city”, says Ramesh Jogani, MD and CEO of Indiareit Fund Advisors Private Ltd, a private equity fund promoted by Piramal Group Jogani. 

Interestingly, over 100 slum projects are going on in Mumbai currently, involving 2.50 lakh homes. The Union and state governments are aiming for a slum-free Mumbai by 2015. When contacted, S S Zhende, Chief Executive Officer, Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) told B&E, “There is a clutch of new developers who are sending in proposals for slum projects, particularly after the floor space index (FSI) was raised to 3 from 2.5 in such ventures last year. With higher FSIs, firms get additional construction rights for development.” Zhende also credits the high-powered committee formed last year to settle disputes between slum developers and authorities for making the projects more attractive to developers. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Forced to go in for C-section deliveries by doctors, women are finding it safer to give birth at home...

Forced to go in for C-section deliveries by doctors, women are finding it safer to give birth at home...

Guneet was lucky to have no complications with her pregnancy, hers was a normal case. She had anticipated a normal delivery, but was in for a rude shock when in the early stages of labour, her doctor told her to go for a Cesarean. She was not even given the chance to attempt giving birth the natural way. Her child is a year old now, but she still experiences pain in her lower abdomen. “I would have preferred to have a normal delivery, but my doctor decided against it,” she whines. For many women like Guneet, the doctor has, unfortunately, had the last word.

Sadly nowadays, most of the hospitals are misleading women to believe that they must undergo a Cesarean surgery regardless of whether there is a medical need for it or not. Statistics highlight the increase in the number of such deliveries. A recent survey revealed that one in three babies in the US are delivered by C-section; it is one in five deliveries in India. Cited among the reasons for this alarming rise is the delay in childbearing by ladies and also increased obesity in moms-to-be. Induced labour is among the main causes of trouble as pointed out by the study. Ladies who delivered via C-section were twice as likely to be among those opting for induced labour, for this is sometimes performed before the cervical dilation progresses to 6 centimeters in diameter. While clinical impatience may be blamed in the above case, several people are also forming the opinion that the surge in C-sections might just be caused by people in the medical profession in a rush to make some easy money.

Unlike any other surgery, in a Cesarean there are chances of the mother contracting infections; healing takes much longer and the surgery could also put her at risk of other long term health hazards. So could hospitals indeed be looking at financial gains by unscrupulously carrying out Cesarean deliveries, even in cases when it is not required?


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Monday, September 03, 2012

No marks For RK

While she broke-up with Ranbir Kapoor in November 2009 after almost a two-year relationship together, Ranbir left his ‘mark’ on Deepika Padukone through the ‘RK’ that she had got tattooed on the nape of her neck back then. She is planning to rectify this by soon opting for laser-assisted tattoo removal, and this is probably a result of her new-found friendship with Sidhartha Mallya. Do we see an ‘SM’ tattoo in the pipeline?


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A princely affair!

The cast and crew of Saif Ali Khan’s home production Agent Vinod recently experienced royal treatment while shooting for the film in Morocco. The junior Nawab of Pataudi stayed at a palace, in a suite which was larger than his residence in Mumbai! The meal preparations for Saif and Kareena were lavish and the table was laid with the finest of silverware. The Love Aaj Kal star was so impressed with the arrangements that he extended his stay to better savour the royal experience! 


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

NIKHILESH BHATTACHARYYA, ASSOCIATE ECONOMIST, MOODY’S ANALYTICS

Even though the uncertain financial situation in Europe and the Middle East warrants caution, there are stll several reasons for optimism on the domestic front

Although most indicators on the Indian economy are encouraging, persistently high inflation has given cause for concern. Wholesale price inflation was 9.6% y-o-y in April, while consumer price inflation was above 13%. The RBI doesn’t have an inflation target but aims to maintain inflation perceptions between 3-4.5%. These perceptions have been tested over the past year by persistently high inflation.

The uncertain financial situation in Europe and the Middle East has cast a cloud over the outlook for India. An intensification in European debt problems could precipitate another slump in foreign investment and lending and could cause a sharp correction in the stock market following the boom over the past year. These fears were evident recently, as credit default swaps for Indian banks rose significantly while the Sensex slumped for a brief period.

Even though the uncertain financial situation in Europe and the Middle East warrants caution, there are reasons for optimism on the domestic front. Leading indicators point to sustained rapid growth. Importantly for agriculture and inflation, monsoon rains have arrived on schedule, and early indications are encouraging. The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast monsoon rains to be 98% of their long-term average. A normal monsoon would likely lead to a rebound in agricultural output, which would boost GDP growth and ease inflation. However, it is important to bear in mind that last year’s monsoon rains weakened from August, and it will not be clear until harvesting in October as to how agricultural production will fare this year.


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Monday, August 13, 2012

DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY: VERSUS SOCIAL COST

Investments in defence at the cost of social good are unpardonable 

Even as recently as the last decade, when countries were ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, Albania, Libya, Russia, US and India have declared over 71,000 mt of chemical weapon stockpiles. The developing nations are no less in their over eager attempts to defend their borders. $32 billion is the 2010 investment for India in defence. Pakistan is $8 billion. China is $78 billion.

While it cannot be denied that a nation’s spending on defence technology is necessary due to various imperative and unavoidable reasons (mostly conflict with unreasonable neighbours), it is clear that if the same nation were to be equally committed towards eliminating poverty, the world could have surely been a better place. The funny part is, this is no Holmesian secret, and the nations involved know the discreet logic quite comprehensively. Then why don’t they simply eliminate poverty? Unpardonable...


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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Will they ever find a medicine to cure this limping cousin?

With legislations hampering the flow of capital into the Food Processing sector, it’s time for an overarching law to save agriculture’s closest cousin. Many hurdles, one goal – make the Food Processing sector shine!

India basks in the glory of diversity and proudly boasts of being a smoothly run sovereign democracy (Naxalism and Kashmir can be relegated to the footnotes for the sake of argument). Today, we sit on our laurels won in IT services and Pharmaceuticals and steadily, every other sector in services is being opened up to allow foreign participation, thereby create greater competencies and economies of scale. However, an interesting characteristic surfaces the moment we delve into the economics of liberalisation since 1991 – the opening up of all sectors to private and foreign investment, over time, have happened during a time when there were very few lives dependent on them for livelihood. Automobiles, telecom, banking, insurance IT, and pharma all were in their nascent stages and driven primarily by educated Indians. But with private money flowing in, a few million white collar jobs have been created and today, the services sector has scampered far ahead of manufacturing in the country. Sadly however, at the same time, the per capita food intake for the country has fallen below many sub-Saharan nations. Disguised employment in agriculture continues to run the vicious cycle of low capital investment, poor quality, fragmented markets negligible profits and again low investment. Amazingly, food processing, the next in the food value chain (post harvest) has borne the brunt of not only being the industry to absorb the massive numbers from agriculture, but also to create many new jobs related to technology and supply chain. But, the legacy of a socialist ideology and the commitments of coalition politics have made the sector languish till date in the dungeon of low scales, low investment and outdated technology.

Firstly, just for a start, the unorganised segment in food processing, will require an investment of about $23 billion over the next ten years (estimated on the basis of output ratio as 2:1 and capital intensity ratio as 5:1 of organised and unorganised sector). But on the credit side, there’s no dearth of roadblocks. According to the The Cooperative Act, cooperatives in the country, are restricted to borrowing only from Cooperative banks, DCCBs and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), thus resulting in only a few (and narrow) pipelines of credit available for food cooperatives to start processing operations. Similarly, the private banks are still prohibited to lend to State warehousing corporations which form the bulk of storage for all food products in India. There has been a constant rhetoric to allow the use of warehouse receipts as collateral for attainig credit from banks, however, till date, there has been no resonating tone from the government on the same.


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Thursday, August 09, 2012

Shiv Niwas Palace, UDAIPUR

The magnificent Shiv Niwas Palace originally served as the royal residence of Maharana Fateh Singh who later envisaged it as a venue for entertaining visitors to the city, leding to its conversion into a fine heritage hotel. Providing unparalleled hospitality (having hosted dignitries like Queen Elizabeth, Mrs. Jacquiline Kennedy and Roger Moor) this hotel is equipped with all modern-day comforts ensuring that your stay in Udaipur is an absolutely royal experience.

The view : The lawns, in front of the bandstand, are ideal for sit-down banquets, buffets and wedding ceremonies while the terrace is where small groups can enjoy a quiet meal along with breath-taking view of Lake Pichola as it glows with a gentle radiance in the evening sunset.

Archi type : The heritage lover’s paradise, the Shiv Niwas Palace has 36 suites and rooms arranged around the courtyard, airy, spacious and prodigal in the use of gold paint and exotic colours. The imperial suite that offers green décor glass inlay work on the walls with a large sitting room is the highlight. The historic honeymoon suite offers a private balcony and is lavishly decorated with antiques and the well-appointed deluxe rooms have a beautiful city view.

Bon appétit : Paantya is the multi-cuisine restaurant at Shiv Niwas offering a selection of authentic mewari, mughlai and continental cuisine. One must try the Raan Sikandari served with ulte tawe ka parantha, kareli ki nihari served with khamiri roti. The ones with a sweet tooth must try the to-die-for Chocolate Mousse Fudge Cake.

Around the corner : The historic structures around the hotel are enough to keep the inquisitive visitor busy. The shopoholics can have a field day in the many stores at the city palace complex that offer everything from art and craft to contemporary crafted textiles, furnishings, hand-crafted jewelry, precious and semi-precious stones, books and music.

From under the carpet : Being a heritage hotel, elevators are absent and as the property is spread-out guests are required to walk a lot.

Read more....





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