News

Textiles, Apparel Exports Seen to Rise By 10% This Year

Mumbai: India's cotton and apparel exports are set to climb by around 10 per cent this year as higher wages, political instability and concerns about workplace conditions in other producing MARKETS steer international buyers toward Indian exporters, industry officials said.

The rise in textile shipments from India - currently around 4.5 per cent of world TRADE - may eat into top exporter China's 36 per cent share of the MARKET and will be a boon for Indian textile merchants keen to exploit rising demand stemming from weak cotton prices and global economic growth.

"My orders have increased by about 20 per cent so far this FINANCIAL year. It's a golden period for the Indian textiles industry," said Vijay Agarwal, chairman of Mumbai-based Creative Group, a leading apparel exporter.

Buoyed by fresh export orders, Mr Agarwal is keen to expand his business by INVESTING Rs. 200 crore ($32.71 million) next year.

The main markets for Indian textiles at the moment are the United States and European Union.Mr Agarwal and other Indian exporters are anticipating a rise of roughly 5 per cent in global demand for textiles and apparel this year.

Thought of The Day

Thought of The Day

Article

Modi at the UN: Asserting India’s global role

The earth did not quite shake as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 69th United Nations General Assembly, but the PM did make his presence felt as the representative of a sixth of humanity, seeking to set the agenda for the multilateral organisation and proposing a global, comprehensive convention to tackle terror.

Modi dealt with Pakistan with welcome restraint, refusing to be drawn into a verbal duel over Kashmir to which Pak prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s speech at the UN had constituted an invitation. Modi reiterated India’s stand that Kashmir is a bilateral matter and that discussions cannot take place with a terror gun held to India’s head. By stressing the need to focus on the recent calamitous floods in Kashmir, Modi sought to present a contrast between Pakistan’s political preoccupation with Kashmir and India’s concern for the welfare of the people of the state.

As speeches go, this is fine, but actual concern has to be demonstrated by action on the ground, not by sweeping rhetoric. After a flood of waters, Kashmir now needs not a flood of words but systematic relief and rehabilitation. Restoring the traditional storm water channels that had allowed water to drain away, contingency plans to deploy heavy pumps to pump out water from low-lying areas where posh colonies have come up, and other such things have low rhetorical yield but address the real concerns of the flood-affected.

News

Sony enthusiastic, looks to restart factory in India

On a day PM Narendra Modi announced the `Make in India' initiative, Japanese electronics giant Sony said it may finally re-establish a factory in India as the company is “enthusiastic“ about making the country as a manufacturing base.

“Sony is committed to the Indian market and we welcome the recent initiatives by the Indian government, including inviting foreign companies to manufacture in India. While no decision has been made yet, initiatives like these have made Sony's management enthusiastic about looking at India as a potential manufacturing base,“ Sony India MD Kenichiro Hibi told TOI.

Sony used to manufacture in India earlier, but shut its fa cility in 2004 as it preferred to import products from plants in Thailand, Malaysia, China and Japan. A relatively-smaller business size in India at that time did not justify a production facility as the company found it more efficient to import, especially in view of India’s free-trade agreements with some of the countries.

But, Sony’s business has been growing in India at a time when some of its key markets in the West are not giving encouraging results. Sony's rivals like LG and Samsung, the Korean giants, are already making products in India.

News

Private investments to help develop 100 smart cities planned by govt: Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi: Private sector investments will play a key role in financing and building the 100 smart cities that the government is planning, urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said at the second annual ET Infra Focus Summit in New Delhi.

"I want to make it clear today that the key to building smart cities is private investments. That is how private sector can drive economic growth by investing in urban projects," he said.

The other means of resource mobilisation could be through multi-lateral and bilateral development agencies, municipal bonds, pooled municipal debt obligation facility, real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts.

The minister said that a high-powered committee set up by his ministry has reported that Rs 7.5 trillion would be needed over 20 years to improve infrastructure relating to transport, water supply, sewage and sanitation in the selected cities.

News

Microsoft keen to team up with India: Satya Nadella 

BANGALORE: On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for "i-ways for a Digital India" and asked industry captains to seize the initiative, the Hyderabad-born chief executive of Microsoft has offered a partnership to help accelerate the country's growth.

"Every time I visit, I'm energised to see the advancements India is making and truly believe technology is a key enabler for India to thrive and create more opportunities for every individual and business in its economy," . " said Satya Nadella, who was appointed as successor to Steve Ballmer in February. "We are keen to partner with the government and industry at large to help make this vision a reality," he told ET in an exclusive interview. 

Nadella, 47, gave the interview ahead of chairing the meeting of a jury that will select the winners of The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence 2014. The 11-member jury of industry luminaries deciding the awards will meet in Mumbai on Monday, September 29.

On Sunday, Nadella will be a guest in New York at the Indian-origin community's reception for the prime minister. Earlier this week, Microsoft's main rival Google announced that it is joining hands with the government to promote several of the aims of the Digital India effort.

Modi, who has been elected on the plank of development, has made the government's 'Digital India' initiative for a connected economy one of the important elements of his plan to modernise India.

HR Article

Five ways to beat the post-holiday blues

As you step off the plane at your holiday destination, you take a deep, relaxing breath; your break starts here. Then your phone rings. It’s work. Unfortunately, this situation is now becoming commonplace and for many of us holidays are no longer a time for genuine rest.

Our research shows that people face a significant workload increase during the summer months. Almost two-thirds (64%) of workers are placed under extra pressure from picking up colleagues’ work and more than half (55%) return from their own holiday to a backlog of tasks and emails.

The result of getting little rest and a rise in responsibilities is that 34% of employees have experienced stress, anxiety or depression over the summer – all conditions that can lead to more serious mental and physical illnesses.

As we wave goodbye to the sunny months, what steps can HR take to tackle these conditions?

1. Plan ahead

Too much pressure is detrimental to motivation and productivity, so it’s in everyone’s best interests to collaborate and support each other during busy periods. Line managers need to work with employees and help them to prioritise workloads.

More importantly, they should also map out resources against annual leave in advance of popular holiday periods, and make the necessary adjustments (such as altering deadlines or bringing in temporary workers) to prevent staff having to take on too much extra work.

Thought of The Day

Article

The Turnaround of Indian Economy Is Here: From Red Tape to Red Carpet

India is back on the commercial map of the United States after being ignored for the past few years, according to Sidharth Birla, president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).Birla is optimistic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US will attract major US companies to invest in India. A week after Modi’s visit, union finance and defense minister, Arun Jaitley is also set to tour the US.

“FICCI will be organizing two standalone events where we will invite top US business houses,” said Birla. He said the industry body was hopeful that the finance minister would be find time to address the US and Indian business leaders. Later, FICCI also plans to organize a meeting of Indian business leaders in London with institutional forum, American Investors. Jaitley is likely to address the meeting. “Business-to-business connect in America always follows a political comfort. The areas that could see an upturn can be infrastructure, manufacturing, and defense,” said Birla. Birla described the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ campaign as a window of opportunity that foreign and Indian businesses will not miss.

Policy Action Pills and The Prescription of FICCI

At the same time, he called for requisite policy and implementation measures for enhancing the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in the country. India's gross domestic product (GDP) will accelerate to 5.6% during financial year (FY) 2014-15, said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (Ficci) latest Economic Outlook Survey.The survey further reveals economic activity is expected to continue with this momentum in the second half of the current fiscal, Ficci said.

"The new government guided by the objective of restoring growth and governance has given very positive policy signals in its first 100 days. We see the confidence amongst investors slowly returning and hope that going ahead, the momentum on implementation front will build up," said the survey.
While agricultural growth is expected to remain steady despite a delay in monsoon, the industrial sector is expected to grow by 4.7% in 2014-15 fiscal. This is 1.6% points more than the growth estimate in the previous survey round conducted in June 2014, the association of business organization said.
Retail inflation is expected at 7.8% this fiscal, in sync with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) target indicated earlier this year. The economists who participated in the survey also felt that the RBI will consider a cut in policy rates only in the first quarter of the next calendar year. According to them, the India's central banking institution will wait and watch until there are definite signs of inflationary pressure abating. As per Ficci, the minimum and maximum range for GDP growth in the current fiscal is indicated at 5.3% and 6%, respectively, as against 5.3% estimated in the previous round, reflecting optimism.

The Final Diagnosis and Forecasts

The projection by the economists regarding exports and the current account deficit (CAD) reflected no imminent risks. The CAD to GDP ratio for the fiscal was projected at 1.9%. The economists also identified some priority areas for the government: developing a world-class infrastructure, ensuring uninterrupted power supply, resolving labor issues and minimizing procedural hassles and fast-tracking approvals. As the new Indian government is taking constructive measures to get back the economy on the growth track, the economists believe that the macro-economic fundamentals are gradually strengthening.

HR Article

New model leaders: How leadership is changing

Are the days of 'rock star' CEOs over? Do we need collaborative networks over rigid hierarchies? Read on to find out how leadership models are changing and explore HR's role in getting them right.

For those wanting to buy a book on leadership, you have a lot of options: 92,369 of them to be precise. And that’s from Amazon at the time of writing; it may well have increased by now. When it comes to what makes good leadership, it seems everyone has an opinion – and a fair number have got a book deal out of it.

But although there’s a huge library (of varying quality) to browse, business remains surprisingly poor at effective leadership. Research last year from Hay Group revealed just 18% of UK leaders are able to create a high-performance environment and 53% are generating demotivating working climates. Separate research from DDI and The Conference Board found only 40% of leaders and 25% of HR professionals globally view their organisation’s leadership as high quality.

Evidence suggests organisations’ leadership strategies are failing to keep up with a fast-changing world. To bridge this gulf, the notion of what a leader looks like needs to change, according to Cliff Oswick, professor in organisational behaviour theory and deputy dean at Cass Business School. “The days of the ‘rock star’ CEO are behind us,” he says. “We don’t need leaders who demonstrate ‘strong leadership’. We need people who are inclusive, reflective and facilitate the ideas of others.”

Thought of The Day

HR News

PCS union calls national strike

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has announced its 250,000 members in England and Wales are to take part in a national strike on 15 October.

The union represents local government workers across the UK – but employees in Scotland will not strike as they are under the jurisdiction of the Scottish government.

The action is a further protest over the public sector pay freeze, which has seen many employees in the sector without a pay rise since 2010. The last national strike the PCS held was on 10 July.PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka claimed the pay freeze has "slashed the living standards" of public servants.

"Until we chase down the tax dodgers and invest properly in our communities and public services, the so-called economic recovery will only ever benefit millionaires, while the millions pay the price," he said.

Health workers and council staff are being balloted about action on the 13 and 14 October respectively. The intention is to create a co-ordinated three-day period of industrial action across the public sector.

Public sector leaders less trusted

Article

The Upcoming Tour of USA and What To Expect From It

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is leaving for a seven-day-long visit to the United States, may give a boost to the Indian markets which are trading in a narrow range for the past couple of weeks, say analysts. 

Tracking the momentum, analysts are not ruling out the possibility that we may touch fresh record highs during the visit or just ahead of the visit in anticipation of newer partnership in the areas of defence and IT, among others. 

Both the Sensex and the Nifty touched record highs on September 8, 2014. While the S&P BSE Sensex' record high is placed at 27354.99 and the life high of the 50-share Nifty index is placed at 8180.20. "Modi's visit to the US will indeed be positive for the Indian markets as trade and investment are likely to take the centre stage in his maiden visit," said A K Prabhakar, Independent Market Expert. "If the Nifty scales above 8162 levels comfortably, then it can touch the levels of around 8400. IT, pharma and defence-related stocks may witness strong momentum during the visit," he added. Narendra Modi's maiden visit would be more focussed on defence and security partnership, energy - including renewable energy - relations, and economic and investment ties along with technology transfers. 

The Tour Itenary and the Agenda

Modi leaves for the US on September 25-26 for nearly seven days during which he will give his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 27 and then proceed to Washington for the summit meeting with President Barack Obama on September 30. Benchmark indices have been under some bit of pressure for the last few weeks, but analysts advice investors to remain invested at current levels and look at accumulating quality stocks on every correction. "I would not be an active buyer and use every dip to get into the same stocks and basically I do believe the bull market still very much intact and probably Mr. Modi's US visit will give it another Viagra boost," said Jagdish Malkani, Member, NSE & BSE. IT stocks will be in focus as Modi is also expected to raise concerns over the US Immigration Bill, that will affect the Indian IT industry if passed in the current form. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S 744) imposes new and onerous restrictions and higher fees on H-1B and L1 visa programmes on the international IT services sector and would create an uneven playing field, ET reported.

News

Roma Locuta Causa Finita: 214 of 218 coal block allocations cancelled

Rome has spoken. The case is closed. The fate of 214 coal blocks allocated since 1993 has been decided in what may be the biggest verdict so far by the honorable Supreme Court of India in an attempt towards ending crony capitalism.

State Bank of India chairman, Arundhati Bhattacharya on Wednesday said it looks forward to a “swift and transparent” bidding process of the coal blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court earlier in the day. It's not just the power companies that have to worry after this verdict. Even banks are going to bear the brunt of the apex court's decision to cancel the allocation of 214 coal blocks. State-run lender IDBI Bank Ltd has close to Rs 2000 crore loan exposure to companies affected by a Supreme Court order scrapping coal blocks but not all of it will be problematic, the lender's head said on Wednesday.

"We are assessing," MS Raghavan, chairman and managing director of IDBI Bank, told Reuters after the Supreme Court's verdict. An earlier analysis by Firstbiz had pointed out that banks’ exposure to iron and steel companies stands at Rs 2.65 lakh crore, until June 2014. That apart, banks’ exposure to power companies, which too will get partly affected, stands at Rs 5 lakh crore.

As we'd pointed out in early 2012, banks faced similar plight when SC quashed 122 2G spectrum licences granted UPA-government on the ground that they were issued a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner. Banks’ exposure to 2G loans was much less, about Rs 10,000 crore.

Thought of The Day

News

ISRO's MOM: India beats China; becomes first Asian nation to reach Mars

NEW DELHI: The success of ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on Wednesday made India the first Asian country to reach the red planet. With this, India now joins an elite club of the United States, Russia and Europe who can boast of reaching Mars.

Getting a spaceship successfully into orbit around Mars is no easy task. More than half of all missions to the planet have ended in failure, including China's in 2011 and Japan's in 2003.
No single nation had previously succeeded at its first go, although the European Space Agency, which represents a consortium of countries, did also pull it off at its first attempt.

India has been trying to keep up with neighbouring giant China, which has poured billions of dollars into its programme and plans to build a manned space station by the end of the decade.
Scientists described the final stages of the Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, as flawless. The success marks a milestone for the space program in demonstrating that it can conduct complex missions and act as a global launch pad for commercial, navigational and research satellites.

India has a robust scientific and technical educational system that has produced millions of software programmers, engineers and doctors, propelling many into the middle class.

India has already conducted dozens of successful satellite launches, including sending up the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, which discovered key evidence of water on the moon in 2008. And it plans new scientific missions, including putting a rover on the moon.

Article

Dignity of labour important to realise PM Modi’s dream of ‘Make in India’

Among the recent worrying trends in is the loss of a sense of dignity of labour. It is a big psychological problem to deal with in a country which has abundant young labour as its major asset. For the poor, uneducated and unskilled individual, the way to securing sustenance for self & family is by getting employment as a workman/woman. Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized quite clearly on his vision of providing skills to our unskilled labour force to give them a means to earning a dignified livelihood, while at the same time ensuring a healthy sized labour pool that will attract global industry. Only then will we be able to push the “Make in India” mission. 

I have sadly observed that in many cases vanity comes between an able individual taking to physical work to take care of his needs. Within a space of one generation, the same villagers who were famous for their ability to do arduous labour in their fields have turned into people who look down upon those doing it. 

In the IITs, the very first lesson taught to the brightest students in the nation is working in a factory. For six months students are taught the skills of a blacksmith, carpenter, sheet worker, welder etc. It is hard, physical labour. And, it is mandatory. This protects these children from getting arrogant & teaches them to respect the fact that no work is beneath dignity. I think it is one of the reasons that these children consistently do so well in life. 

Thought of The Day

FDI Article

Don’t be Afraid of FDI, We Need it More Than Ever

It’s clear what India’s next step should be to achieve growth: make foreign direct Investment (FDI) a top priority. However, India offers only a hesitant welcome to FDI. It seeks investment in several industries, including manufacturing, construction, telecommunications and FINANCIAL services, but not in others like multi-brand retail.

Often, regulation allows only a minority investment for fear of losing domestic management control. For example, FDI in insurance companies is permitted up to 49% with restrictions on voting rights to ensure that management control of an insurance firm doesn’t shift to a foreign entity.

Concern of loss of management control is of much less importance compared to sacrifice of economic growth. Considering the potential of FDI to spur growth, India’s ambivalence toward FDI is completely misplaced. If India wants to accelerate growth, it is imperative that the country attracts FDI in large, really large amounts.

Growth results from domestic investment from savings, from productivity improvements and from foreign  Investment . Countries like China that have grown rapidly in recent decades have taken advantage of all three sources of economic growth. India, on the other hand, has tried to achieve growth without much FDI.

However, India’s approach to growth is like bringing a knife to a gunfight: it’s destined to fail relative to other countries’ growth strategies, which take advantage of FDI. To transcend from 5-7% growth to 10-12% growth, FDI is essential.

News

BlackBerry Blend Appears on BlackBerry World Ahead of Passport's Launch

BlackBerry Blend, an anticipated service by the Canadian smart phone maker that enables users to connect to their BlackBerry smart phone via desktops, laptops or tablets, has started appearing on the BlackBerry World. The service is expected to be officially unveiled alongside the BlackBerry Passport handset at the company's September 24 events in Toronto, London, and Dubai. The service, though listed under the 'My World' section of BlackBerry World, leads to an error page when clicked. The listing was first reported by CrackBerry, which also details the features of the service. Previously, BlackBerry's CEO John Chen had confirmed that the Passport will launch in September at an event in London. Last month, the Canadian manufacturer had even started taking pre-registrations for the square-shaped Passport smart phone. The dedicated pre-registration page is still live, and interested consumers can sign-up to get more details about the smart phone.

What is in it for me?

Although the design of the BlackBerry Passport is already official, the manufacturer had only revealed it to feature a 4.5-inch 1440x1440 pixel resolution display with a pixel density of 453ppi.Other purported specifications of the device include a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor; an Adreno 330 GPU; 3GB of RAM; 32GB of inbuilt storage, expandable storage via micro SD card (up to 64GB); a 13-megapixel rear camera with BSI sensor; a 2-megapixel front camera, and a 3450mAh battery.

The BlackBerry Passport is said to measure 128x90.3x9.3mm, and weigh 194.4 grams. The smart phone is likely to support Nano-SIM while supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Micro-USB, NFC, GPS, Glonass, GPRS/ EDGE, 3G, and 4G LTE connectivity options.

Thought of The Day

News

Falling crude prices helps government control fiscal deficit

The finance ministry is increasingly optimistic that it can meet a tough fiscal deficit target, helped by a 12 percent decline in global crude oil prices since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge in May. Lower crude prices mean less government outlay for India, which imports 80 percent of its oil needs — at a cost of $168 billion last year — and subsidizes oil products such as diesel and fertilizer. "If crude prices remain below $100 a barrel compared with budgeted estimate of $105-$110 a barrel, total oil and fertilizer subsidies would be substantially lower," said a senior finance ministry official, with the direct knowledge of the matter. Moody's last week lowered the price assumptions it uses for rating purposes on Brent crude oil to $90 per barrel through 2015, which represents a $5 drop from its previous assumptions for 2015. Finance ministry and Reserve Bank of India officials are due to meet on Friday to decide how much the government will need to borrow from the markets in the second half of the 2014-15. The government borrowed 160 billion rupees less than it budgeted in the first half of the financial year, triggering market speculation that the fiscal deficit could end up even lower than the target of 4.1 percent of GDP. "As of now, the deficit target remains 4.1 percent," said a finance ministry official, who declined to be named since he was not authorized to speak to the media. While the situation is definitely improving, most officials in the North Block are taking a position of cautious optimism.

Thought of The Day

HR News

1 lakh, and counting: TCS is now top employer of women

In a landmark for India Inc, the number of female employees at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has crossed the one-lakh mark, making it the country’s biggest employer of women in the private sector. Women now comprise one-third of the IT major’s 3.06 lakh workforce. This makes TCS, also the most valued company in India, one of the top employers of women in the technology sector globally. The top slot is held by IBM, which has an estimated 1.3 lakh women out of a workforce of 4.31 lakh.

In terms of market cap, the next two players in the domestic IT market are Infosys (54,537 women employees) and Wipro (45,276) but the female workforce of TCS is more than the two combined. The IT and BPO sector collectively employs about 3.1 million, of which nearly one million are women, according to industry body Nasscom.

The Mumbai-headquartered IT giant’s achievement has also given a boost to the $103-billion Tata Group’s female employee strength, which now stands at more than 1.4 lakh. “We have a lot of female talent in India, especially in the technology space. It’s great to see that the company has been able to attract them. From 10,000 to 1,00,000, that is a growth of about 10x in 10 years,” N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS, told TOI.

In India, across companies and sectors, the gender ratio is undeniably skewed towards male employees. However, India Inc has been stepping up efforts to bridge the gap by implementing progressive policies and creating innovative solutions to hire, retain and encourage women talent. “Diversity challenges homogeneity in thinking, which is a good thing. There is no doubt that we want to be a rich and diverse organization,” said the TCS boss. There have been several research reports which indicate that women think differently than men, and bring more empathy and intuition to leadership.

News

India’s Unvired to power up Google Glass for enterprises

Bangalore: A small oil painting hangs in the office of Srinivasan Subramanian, the chief technology officer of enterprise mobility startup Unvired. It depicts a white ship sailing against the current.

"My wife did that (painting)," said Subramanian pointing to it. "It is an indirect way of support from the family." Unvired's other cofounder Dilip Sridhar said the inside joke in the office is that Subramanian's wife made the ship go against the current to show the difficulty of product companies succeeding in India.

But that was six years ago. These days the startup tucked away in Bangalore's Jayanagar is creating a buzz by offering Internet of Things (IoT)—a technology where devices communicate with each other intelligently — to large enterprises.

It has notched up a marquee list of global customers, including New Zealand's electricity distribution company WEL Networks, chemical company Kaneka, life science and tech company Sigma-Aldrich, among others.

"Services is something which is against our DNA," said Subramanian. "Product is more difficult route that is why it has taken us six years to reach there and weigh against the biggies."

Unvired is now working with Google X, a facility run by Google, on IoT which will help enterprises to improve productivity and efficiency using wearable devices like Google Glass. It has built an inventory and warehouse management app for Google Glass that integrates directly with the software.

News

HUL gets Mumbai vendors to wrap bhelpuri in leaflets featuring Pepsodent ad

 MUMBAI: When Vishal Thakkar bought four packets of bhelpuri from a roadside vendor in Mumbai late last month, they all came wrapped in similar green colour papers with children's drawings and messages about brushing teeth and fighting germs, bringing a smile to his face. Only when he found the same eye-catching design on the paper cone in his next 'chaat outing' did Thakkar realise it wasn't a coincidence.

It was part of a marketing campaign by Hindustan Unilever for its or oral care brand Pepsodent. India's largest consumer products firm has tied up with around 48 bhelpuri walas across Mumbai, asking them to wrap their popular roadside snack in leaflets of Pepsodent's campaign about fighting germs and brushing twice a day. 

"The idea was, 'how can we spread the oral care message to adults in a manner that is relevant for them?' Bhel is a popular evening snack and that is the time to tell adults to brush twice a day," said Atul Sinha, category head for oral care at HUL. Marketing experts say such initiatives create a bigger impact than promoting brands through paid media channels. 

"At a very low cost, you get high recall and people talk about it. So the engagement quotient is high too," said Alpana Parida, president at brand strategy firm DY Works. She considers HUL's initiative as part of 'earned media', which means creating a buzz by virtue of your own action.This is not the first time HUL has come up with such an innovative idea to take its message directly to consumers.

Foreign Trade Article

What India can learn from China’s international gold trading in free trade zones

As the Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed PM Narendra Modi’s Gujarati hospitality and delicacies, the Chinese officials signed agreements in India. In the meanwhile back home in China they launched a wonderful product – International gold trading in Free trade zone , which is open to foreign players, and has 11 yuan denominated gold contracts. Which means that players outside China would buy and sell Yuan priced gold, not USD denominated and it will be Tax free!

Even as the whole world is selling gold to invest in equities for better returns, India is getting ready to start buying as festivals and weddings start from next week. And then there is China which is looking to change the way world does gold business and pricing.

India has not only lost its 1st place to China as the world’s biggest consumer but also the opportunity to trade a contract worthy of global participation and price discovery.

China imported 1000 tons of gold in 2013 beating India to 2nd position as the biggest gold consumer in the world, also produced 400 tons. So it just seems right that the top importer and consumer trade gold in its own currency and perhaps create a benchmark price for just Asia but others too. People close to the development say that it might take 8-12 monthss for the volumes to pick up but they sure have a potential contract in hand.

Indian Economy Article

How Chinese philosophy can help PM Narendra Modi fire up the economy

German existential philosopher Karl Jasper in his book, The Origin and Goal of History, called 800 BC to 600A D the “axial period” of mankind. He became fascinated by the fact that figures like Pythagoras, Buddha and Confucius were all alive at exactly the same time, and that China, Greece and India, in the axial age, saw emergence of contending intellectual schools, each group apparently unaware of the other’s existence.

In India, Asoka embraced Buddhism; in Rome, Constantine turned to the Christians; in China, Han emperor Wu-Ti adopted Confucianism. Of the three, only Wu-Ti was ultimately successful: the Chinese empire flourished for 2000 years, almost always with Confucianism as its official ideology.

In Constantine’s case, the western empire collapsed but the Roman church blossomed. Asoka’s project foundered; his empire fell apart and got replaced by fragmented kingdoms.

Fast forward 1400 years, both China and India are focused on regaining their rightful place under the sun. Let us first analyse the journey of the two countries in last 30 years.

In 1980, India’s GDP per capita was $266 comparable to $307 of China. And now China’s GDP per capital ($6,807) is 4.5 times that of India’s ( $1,499).

India and China are very different from other countries in the world. Both India and China are vast, varied, and confusing; no different from what they were during axial age.

Today, PM Modi’s biggest challenge is to put India back on sustainable high growth track. Growth rates take some time getting used to and India is learning the same.

There is a rule used by statisticians called the rule of 72 (ref. Michael Spence’s book on The Next Convergence): it says that the time it takes in years to double in size at a specific annual growth rate is that growth rate divided by number 72. It sounds weird but it works.

Thought of The Day

Marketing News

Amway, Tupperware issue notices to e-commerce sites to halt sale of their products

NEW DELHI: Direct selling firms are facing the heat from online retailers. Amway, Tupperware and Oriflame have issued notices to e-commerce sites including Snapdeal,Flipkart and eBay, asking them to stop selling their products.

The merchandise of these three direct sellers is not only offered at discounts as high as 40% but also bypass and strike at the very heart of the direct-sales distributor model that these firms follow globally.

In the direct selling model, there are no sales through traditional retail outlets — companies hire distributors who, in turn, sell products to consumers. Most times, errant distributors themselves supply unsold stocks to e-commerce sites and the firms are working to identify and penalise them.

"Oriflame products are not allowed to be sold by unauthorised persons, entities and means and we have issued notices to these ecommerce platforms that are selling our products. The sale of our products on these online platforms not only diverts sales from our distributors but also undermines the essence of direct selling as a proposition," Vivek Katoch, director - corporate affairs at Oriflame, maker of cosmetics and personal grooming products, told ET.

Katoch said from a consumer point of view, some products need recommendations and usage details, which is not possible with online sales.

Tupperware, which sells plastic storage containers, too, has written to e-commerce sites. "We have written to many of the e-commerce sites informing them about the disruption they are causing to our distributors and sales force and requested them to stop selling our products on their websites," Tupperware CMO Chandan Dang said.

News

Sebi's move on Fast Track rights, FPOs to help government in disinvestment of state-owned companies

MUMBAI: Capital market regulator Sebi is planning to allow more listed companies to raise funds through 'fast track' follow-on public offers (FPOs) and rights issues, provided issuers fulfil certain conditions. The proposed move could also make it easier for the government to divest stake in some of the state-owned companies.

Companies having a free-float market capitalisation above Rs 250 crore will be able take this route, according to a regulatory official. This will make more than 300 listed companies eligible for the fast track fundraising option. Apart from meeting existing criteria, companies will also have to fulfil additional conditions - like, promoters will have to compulsorily subscribe to rights entitlement, the stock should not have been suspended from trading in the past three years due to regulatory violations, no conflict of interest should prevail between lead manager and issuer and promoters, and the company should not have settled any violation of securities law through consent mechanism.

The regulator is keen to further reduce the time for processing offer documents for companies with good track record. At present, compliant listed companies satisfying certain specific conditions and having a market capitalisation of Rs 3,000 crore are allowed to access the primary market in a time effective manner. Such companies can proceed with FPOs and rights issue by filing a copy of prospectus with stock exchanges and Sebi. They are not required to file draft offer document for Sebi commen .. "Typically, for a company wishing to raise money through an FPO or rights issue (with Sebi review), the timeline is about 5-7 months, which is very long in the current environment," said Sudhir Bassi, executive director-capital markets of the law firm Khaitan & Co. "In order to make FPO and rights issue more popular modes of raising funds by corporates, it would be useful if Sebi relaxes the eligibility requirements for fast track issuers."

Article

Destroying the office of the CEO and turnaround of Infosys: Vishal Sikka

Around noon on June 12, Vishal Sikka, named chief executive-designate by Infosys a couple of hours earlier, spoke in a town hall meeting, web cast across all of the company's development centers.An hour later, one employee at the Mysore facility who anxiously heard every word Sikka spoke, was a relieved man. "It was just so assuring hearing him," said the engineer, who joined the software company in 2011. "Not that he (Sikka) spoke of anything grand but whatever he spoke (including) digital transformations, on areas of cloud, etc, were in such a saint-like manner. That was it. That's all what we want here," said the engineer. It may be marked as the biggest resurrection at corporate India.

Just What the Doctor Had Ordered

Since his appointment, Sikka has taken five key steps, early signs of which seem to suggest that there has been a change in the mood from near-despondency to excitement. Note that on June 12, the day World Cup soccer kicked off, Vishal Sikka was the most discussed subject globally on Twitter.Sikka since then has tried to win the confidence of senior ranks at Infosys, instill confidence among the software engineers, and even reached out to former company executives, making many believe he has an "inclusive leadership style". Finally, in between making three trips to Bangalore, Sikka has also met with several clients and venture capitalists, leaving some to even suggest if Sikka is the new Murthy."From what we can tell through our contacts, the mood has changed...employees, clients and investors are definitely excited," said Ray Wang of Constellation Research. "There is a more can-do attitude than before," adding that "culture and people are key to success" in any services-focussed IT company.

On the day Sikka was named the CEO-designate, Infosys elevated 12 leaders to the position of executive vice-president with additional responsibilities. Experts then dubbed it as a good start by Sikka for it could help the company stop the exodus of senior talent. Since then, only one senior vice-president, K Murali Krishna, has left the company. This is heartening for Infosys which saw at least four senior vice-presidents quitting in the six months starting January this year.

Thought of The Day

News

USA returns favor to India with SelectUSA and Red Carpet

To address the imbalance of US investments in India being two-and-half times more in worth than the reverse flow, the US Department of Commerce Thursday announced it was making special efforts to encourage Indian businesses "set up shop in the US". The announcement was made here by Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally, executive director of SelectUSA, an arm of the US Department of Commerce whose brief is to attract and retain business investment in the US.

Thummalapally, originally from Andhra Pradesh and a former US ambassador to Belize in central America, is embarking on a week-long tour of five Indian cities, including Bangalore, Hyderabad and Coimbatore, to attract investments from these place to the US.

The SelectUSA Program

As part of its work of bringing potential investors in touch with the US economic development administration, a delegation from various American states is to come to India for the first time in the first half of 2015, Thumalapally told reporters here."There is tremendous bullishness in the US about Indian investments. Big Indian companies like Tatas, Mahindras and Reliance are already established there. We believe, there are thousands of Indian SMEs (small and medium enterprises) that can use our services," Thummalapally said.

News

Alibaba looking for magic lamp of funds in India

China's Alibaba has been in talks with Snapdeal as it looks to enter India's booming online retail industry, according to two people aware of the development. Alibaba, whose mammoth share sale in the US is underway, is considering investment in Snapdeal as one of its options while it sizes up the online consumer market in this country. "India is a huge opportunity for Alibaba," said a person directly aware of the matter. "Eventually it will look at entering the business-to-consumer space in India and talks are on."

The Economics of Crowd Funding

The Chinese company, which is expected to be valued at over $165 billion (Rs 10 lakh crore) at the conclusion of its initial public offer, has discussed a possible investment with Snapdeal, though both firms are yet to reach any conclusion, said the person. So far, Alibaba has only been linking Indian merchants with overseas buyers and sellers. If it enters the Indian online retail space by aligning with Snapdeal, it will be competing directly against market leader Flipkart and Amazon. While the Chinese company would be a late entrant, it has the advantage of size — by sales Alibaba is bigger than Amazon and eBay combined — and cash (it will raise up to $25 billion in the IPO this week) "We are currently in a quiet period," said Pamela Munoz, manager (international corporate communications) at Alibaba, in reply to an email query on the developments. One source estimated that Snapdeal could raise up to $300 million in a potential round of fund-raising. So far this year, Delhi-based Snapdeal has raised a total of $233 million in two rounds of investments, which saw participation from eBay and billionaire Azim Premji's family office Premji Invest. The last round in May valued the firm at $1 billion.

Political Article

The Political Economy of Diesel Price Deregulation

India will decide on ending government control on diesel pricing after elections in two states next month, an oil ministry source said, even though local prices of the fuel are currently higher than the global rates, making a case for a cut in retail prices. This is perhaps the first time that retail prices in India are higher than the global rates due to a sustained monthly rise in local prices since January 2013. "We tinker with diesel prices once a month...There is a case for a cut in diesel prices towards the end of the month but a decision is yet to be taken on that," the source with direct knowledge of the matter said. "The diesel under-recovery has been wiped out and there is over-recovery of Rs 0.35 per litre with effect from Sep. 16," a government statement said on Tuesday. The government will consider decontrolling diesel and cut the fuel's price by 40 paise per litre this month as the sharp fall in global crude oil prices has paved the way for a major reform in fuel pricing, government and industry sources said. The fall in global prices has helped state oil firms make a profit on diesel, which has been a source of heavy subsidy burden for about a decade. The government is weighing the political impact of fuel pricing as elections in crucial states of Maharashtra and Haryana are due in weeks.

North –South Consensus on Fuel Price Reforms

Officials said that the government has to take a call on whether or not it should announce price deregulation simultaneously with the cut in diesel prices. "Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to consult senior cabinet ministers on diesel price issue after he returns from Vietnam this week," one source said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan have already expressed their keenness on fuel price reforms. Before the unexpected fall in global oil prices, Jaitley had told Parliament that the government would be able to decontrol diesel fully in a year if there are no international shocks in the oil sector. 

Thought of The Day

News

A legend of the Indian automobile industry closes his innings at Maruti Suzuki

Mayank Pareek, the sales chief of India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has put in his papers after serving the company for more than two decades. Pareek’s departure is the second top-level exit at Maruti this year after Sudam Maitra, who was the in-charge of supply chain.

His exit also comes barely a fortnight before the upcoming launch of Maruti’s executive sedan, the Ciaz, on October 1.He is touted to be replaced as the head of marketing and sales by Shashank Srivastava, who is currently the executive officer for exports.

Pareek’s Innings at Maruti Suzuki 

Known among the automobile fraternity as the face of Maruti Suzuki, Pareek has served the carmaker for more than two decades at a time when its market share peaked to its highest for the past five years. According to people in the knowledge of he is likely to remain part of the automotive industry and may reveal his plans shortly. The reasons for the Pareek's departure is not clear, but unconfirmed talks surfaced shortly after, that he might be headed to rival carmaker Tata Motors. Pareek was instrumental in maintaining Maruti’s leadership position in the fiercely competitive domestic passenger vehicle segment. In the five months to August this year, Maruti’s sales have grown nearly 30%, more than double the pace of the industry, which grew by 12.5%.

Marketing Article

The Bits and Pieces of the Android One Program

The 'most powerful man in mobile' wears his stature lightly. Ask him how it feels to bear the title and he shrugs. "There are many powerful men and women in mobile. I'm fortunate to be part of that group. But by no means do I think I'm the most powerful person." At 42, the tall, slight and soft-spoken Sundar Pichai is senior vice-president at Google where he oversees Android, Chrome and Google Apps. He's been rumoured to have been in the running to become Microsoft CEO ("I can't comment on rumours," he says when asked). There's also speculation that he'll lead Google one day. "Larry (Page) is very committed to Google for the long term. So that's a hypothetical question," he replies.

 Pichai confesses to not knowing too much about Google's operations in India, though he adds, "I follow India news on the TOI website every day." In 2013 Andy Rubin who led the development of Android moved on and Pichai who was head of the Chrome platform took over. There has been speculation that the two platforms will be rolled into one." If we had decided to fully converge, we wouldn't have arrived at Chromecast. The team could think about it in a different way because the attributes of Chrome are different," said Pichai.

What Does Android One Offer To Customers and Manufacturers?

The Android ecosystem might already be a billion devices large, but Google wants to expand it more and at a faster pace. This is where its new programme, Android One, fits in. No, it is not a new operating system, but an effort to bring the best hardware-software combo possible to the magical $100 price point. So the first set of Android One smartphones, launched in India and carrying Indian brands on the rear, will all be priced at Rs 6,399, aiming to woo the first-time smartphone buyers. Sundar Pichai, Google senior vice president for Android, Chrome and Apps, said the price point and the entire value proposition is good enough to get new customers on board. “This gives us an opportunity to expand the market significantly… we see a lot of opportunity going ahead,” said Pichai, who is originally from Chennai. Pichai said Android One tries to solve the problems people face with hardware, software and connectivity while buying affordable smartphones. It will also solve the obstacle of language by including Google Translate with a Hindi-English-Hindi package. There will also be Google Now with a focus on cricket and even train reservations and going ahead free access to YouTube.

Indian Economy Article

Inflation Rates on the Decline: RBI to Wait Before Announcing Rate Cut

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said on Monday inflation in Asia’s third-largest economy was still high and there was no point in cutting interest rates to see inflation pick up again. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the month of August shrunk to a five-year low of 3.74% versus 5.19% in July. This is much below an ET Now poll of 4.4%. The WPI for June has been revised to 5.6% versus 5.43% earlier. 

What do the numbers say?

The primary articles inflation dipped to 3.89% in August versus 6.78% in July. The manufactured products inflation came in at 3.45% versus 3.67% in July. The food price index dipped substantially to 5.15% versus 8.43% in July. The fuel & power inflation was reported at 4.54% versus 7.40% in July. While the news was greeted with cheer, most analysts are of the opinion that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) tough stand on inflation will continue, since it is the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that the central bank tracks. CPI inflation slowed to 7.8 per cent in August from nearly 8 per cent in the previous month. Consumer food inflation went up 9.42 per cent from 9.36 per cent in the previous month but with the monsoon improving dramatically in September, a further spike is unlikely. Declining crude and vegetables prices will provide further relief with a cut in diesel prices on the cards. However, most experts still expect the RBI to hold interest rates when it reviews monetary policy on September 30. Retail inflation is still close to RBI's March 2015 target of 8 per cent.

The central bank wants to bring down interest rates when it is “feasible”, Rajan told a banking conference.Retail inflation, which the central bank tracks for setting lending rates, edged down marginally to 7.8 percent in August from 7.96 percent a month earlier, helped by slower annual rises in prices of fuel and clothes.

Thought of The Day

Internationl News

US poverty rate falls for first time in seven years

WASHINGTON: The share of Americans living in poverty fell last year for the first time since 2006, a sign an improving economy was finally trickling down to the country's least fortunate households. 

Still, the figures from the Census Bureau on Tuesday also showed the average person's income was essentially flat in 2013 when taking into account inflation, and 8 percent lower than in 2007 when the nation fell into recession. 

The report offered a mixed bag for President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party ahead of November's congressional elections. 

On the one hand, median household income, one of the broadest measures of economic well-being for the average voter, has declined since Obama took office and only edged up $180 last year to $51,939, which the report deemed a statistically insignificant increase. 

But the poverty rate did post a meaningful decline, dropping a half percentage point to 14.5 per cent. The decrease appeared driven by fewer people relying on part-time work, as the survey found an additional 2.8 million Americans were working full-time during the year. 

"That seems to be the main thing" behind the decline, said Charles Nelson, an official at the Census Bureau. 

A family of two adults and two children is considered to be living in poverty if they earn less than $23,624 per year, according to the Census Bureau. 

News

MIT tops world Universities' ranking; no Indian varsity in top 200

LONDON: Massachusetts Institute of Technology has emerged as the leading varsity in the world with no Indian institution featuring in the top 200, according to a global university ranking released today.

The top-placed Indian institution, the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay ( IIT-B), is 222nd in the world, followed by IIT-Delhi at 235th, IIT-Kanpur at 300th, IIT-Madras at 322nd and IIT-Kharagpur at 324th position in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings . 

The number of Indian institutions in the rankings has grown to 12 from 11. 

The other Indian educational institutions that were given a rank lower than 400 on the list of over 700 top universities are -- University of Delhi, IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Guwahati, University of Mumbai, University of Kolkata, Banaras Hindu University, University of Pune. 

A total of 31 countries are represented in the top 200 in which the US is the dominant nation, with 51 institutions, ahead of the UK (29), Germany (13), the Netherlands (11), Canada (10), Japan (10) and Australia (8). 

The QS World University Rankings, regarded as the most rigorous of its type, place Imperial and Cambridge as second equal, behind only the MIT which topped the rankings for a third year in a row.

Harvard dropped from second to fourth overall. It was followed by Oxford and University College London in joint fifth place, with Stanford, Caltech, Princeton and Yale of the US filling out the rest of the top 10. 

Thought of The Day

Indian Economy Article

Finding Okun’s Law Amidst the Economic Data of India’s Economic Growth

Okun’s Law asserts that an increase in economic growth is directly proportional to an increase in the employment rate. Does this hold true for the Indian economy? The data procured from a FICCI survey when tallied against the data of demand for middle level managers says yes.

The Economic Growth Story So far and the Road Ahead

India's GDP will grow at 5.6 percent during 2014-15 and economic activity is expected to continue with this momentum in the second half of the current fiscal, FICCI said Sunday. "The new government guided by the objective of restoring growth and governance has given very positive policy signals in its first 100 days. We see the confidence amongst investors slowly returning and hope that going ahead, the momentum on implementation front will build up," said the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (FICCI) latest Economic Outlook Survey. While agricultural growth is expected to remain steady despite a delay in monsoon, the industrial sector is expected to grow by 4.7 percent in 2014-15 fiscal.

This is 1.6 percentage points more than the growth estimate in the previous survey round conducted in June 2014, the chamber said. Retail inflation is expected at 7.8 percent this fiscal, in sync with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) target indicated earlier this year. The economists who participated in the survey also felt that the RBI will consider a cut in policy rates only in the first quarter of the next calendar year. The RBI will wait and watch until there were definite signs of inflationary pressure abating, they said.

Thought of The Day

  

HR News

Pilots for Air France have begun a week-long strike.

The carrier will run less than 50% of normal flights, it said.

The pilots are protesting against a transfer of jobs by the airline to a low-cost carrier to keep up with competition. Air France is urging passengers around the world to change or postpone travel. Last week it said it would transfer much of its European operations to low-cost carrier Transavia.

The same difficult conditions are faced by large airlines across Europe, facing tough rivalry from budget airlines and Gulf state carriers, that are often backed by royal families.

Lufthansa strike

Chief Executive Frederic Gagey told France Inter radio that the strike would cost the airline 10m to 15m euros (£8m - £12m) a day.The airline said it would consider negotiation on benefits based on seniority for Air France pilots who agree to work for Transavia.

However, it said it would not agree to trade union demands that the contracts of Transavia pilots carry the same terms as those flying under Air France.Separately, the Vereinigung Cockpit union, which represents Lufthansa's pilots, says they will cease working from Frankfurt airport for eight hours on Tuesday, preventing departures by Germany's biggest airline from its busiest airport.

There have been several strikes in the past three weeks by Lufthansa pilots in Munich and pilots at Lufthansa's German wings business.

That strike is over early retirement terms.

HR News

Law on sexual harassment at work fosters new business

MUMBAI: Enterprising lawyers and gender equality experts have spotted a business opportunity in the new law against sexual harassment of women at work. With the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013 raising major concerns with respect to corporate liability and a potential threat to reputation on non-compliance, organizations are turning to the pros. This new breed of consultants helps companies with gender sensitization training, removal of unconscious biases among employees, and getting a clear understanding of the law—for a stiff fee, of course.

 "In-house legal teams and HR may not have the necessary training and understanding to handle cases. Also, these require a lot of time and effort," said Devika Singh, who founded Cohere which specializes in issues like sexual harassment and workplace discrimination. Cohere's client list includes leading banks, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers, insurance companies and multinationals.

Nirmala Menon, founder of Interweave, a Bangalore-based consultancy that helps corporates with diversity-inclusion solutions through policy formulation and workshops for employees, says she has been getting requests from corporates to help them do the right thing. Lack of awareness about what constitutes sexual harassment is the biggest hurdle, she says. "Gawking, leering, innuendos or dirty jokes are still not seen as harassment," says Menon. So, she helps employees understand the nuances. Managers are told to look out for behaviour that could spell trouble later. "If people cracking off-colour jokes in office, it is better to spot it early and warn them of the risks," says Menon.