News

Personal care drives FMCG business on rural push

If you are stuck in a remote village in India, dusty and hungry, chances are you will find more options to wash your hair than fill your stomach. 

For decades, food items have been the most widely distributed FMCG products in the country. But that rule of thumb is changing. Indians are more likely to find more personal care products than food in a shop these days—a result of consumer goods players pushing the distribution of an entire range of their products in the face of wary consumer spending.

Latest data from market research firm Nielsen reveals that on the list of the top five FMCG product categories, only one food product—biscuits— finds place. The category with the maximum reach, or penetration as it's called in market parlance, is shampoos at 79 per cent, followed closely by biscuits at 78 per cent. 

Distribution of categories has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last 15 years. FMCG is available in 8.8 million outlets and shampoo is available in 80 per cent of those outlets, says D Shivakumar, chairman and CEO, PepsiCo India. 

News

PM Modi Asks Bank Chiefs to Travel in Bus for Retreat With Him

At Prime Minister Narendra Modi's behest, top bankers will travel together in a Volvo bus from Mumbai to Pune, where the PM will meet them at a retreat to brainstorm and prepare a blueprint for an action plan to reform the banking sector.

Sources said among those on the bus is likely to be State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, and top officials of the Finance Ministry will also attend the off-site next weekend, being called a "Gyan Sangam" or knowledge meeting.

The PM, said the sources, has asked the bankers - the chiefs of public sector banks or PSBs, insurance companies and organisations like NABARD - to make presentations to him at the retreat, the venue for which he reportedly asked to be shifted from Delhi to Pune.

All the bankers have been asked to stay at the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) campus in Pune, sources said.

News

Patel Logistics Wants to Triple e-Commerce Revenue

Most domestic logistics players have been struggling over the last four years because of tepid growth in the manufacturing sector. But the e-commerce boom in India has boosted local logistic companies too.

Patel Logistics, an integrated logistics player that focuses on express delivery, e-commerce and warehousing, told NDTV that it expects to triple its revenue from the e-commerce segment in the near future.

"The company is looking to increase its revenue from e-commerce to 15-20 per cent of total revenue from 4-7 per cent now," said Areef Patel, vice-chairman at Patel Integrated Logistics. 

Patel Logistics, which had reported a net profit of Rs 2.34 crore for fiscal year 2013-14, is looking to increase its profit to over Rs 3 crore in 2014-15 fiscal year, said Mr Patel.The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1.03 crore in the quarter ending September 30, 2014, a year-on-year growth of nearly 300 per cent.

Article

How Tourism Supports EU Economy

The EU is a major tourist destination with five member states among the world's top ten destinations for holidaymakers. According to the well-evaluated data submitted in front of global researchers, the tourism simply holds a major share in EU's economic development, since it holds the potential to contribute towards employment and economic growth.The growth in turn drives the development in rural, peripheral or less-developed areas. These characteristics are driving the demand for reliable and harmonized statistics within this field as well as within the wider context of regional policy and sustainable development policy areas.

Seasonal predictions in tourism

The tourism is growing dramatically in the past two decades since it is seen as a tool in promoting the global business. Especially the tourism demand in Europe is growing among the residents as well as the international visitors. The study on tourism reported a 2.4 times higher trips than the trips made on the previous decade. When taking into account the duration of the trips made by the international visitors, the seasonal pattern plays a major role in deciding thetraffic. For long trips, the seasonal pattern was more pronounced than for short breaks and the EU residents made more than 89 million long trips of at least four overnight stays.

News

Investor consortium led by Indigo Partners to invest Rs 1400 crore in SpiceJet

Sources with direct knowledge share that US based private equity firm Indigo Partners, which specialises in operating airlines globally, is the anchor investor in Ajay Singh-led consortium to buy SpiceJet. TPG Capital and JPMorgan Infrastructure Fund are the other two funds in the consortium. Sources indicate that the consortium could be investing a total amount of Rs 1400 crore.

Indigo Partners' involvement is key to the deal, said a source, as it has investments in global airlines and understands the operations. Other funds will go ahead with the deal if Indigo Partners signs up for it, a source shared. The US based equity funds are currently conducting due diligence on SpiceJet. ET Now also learns that Indigo Partners may back Ajay Singh to own 26 per cent in SpiceJetBSE 4.78 % to have considerable authority in the company.

News

Amazon joins India startup story, backs gift cards company

E-commerce giant Amazon has led a $10-million (over Rs 60-crore) funding round in QwikCilver Solutions for a stake believed to be just under 15%. The investment marks Amazon's maiden investment in India's startup ecosystem, having invested in over two dozen companies globally over the past decade.

Existing investors Helion Venture Partners and Accel Partners also participated in the fund raise of Bengaluru-based QwikCilver, which provides end-to-end gift card solutions for retailers and corporate customers.

In June, TOI had reported how the Seattle-based Amazon had begun identifying startups in the tech and internet space in India.

Confirming the fund raise, Kumar Sudarsan, founder and director of QwikCilver said: "The motivation to get Amazon on board was that they will be able to bring in best practices and global strategies to help us scale the sector to the next level." He, however, declined to comment on the quantum of funds raised and the stake that Amazon has picked up in the company.

Article

Is It The Beginning of a Success Streak Called “Make in India” for Modi?

It is not Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping or Shinzo Abe or Angela Merkel - leaders of the five most powerful countries of the world - who are most sought after at the East Asia and G-20Summits. Instead it is Narendra Modi, elected to the high office only six months back, who has received maximum requests for bilateral meetings from his counterparts and heads of state on the sidelines of East Asia, ASEAN and G-20 Summits in Myanmar and Australia later this week. South Block officials told ET that several slots have been reserved for Modi's bilateral interactions on the sidelines of the Summits in both Nay Pyi Taw and Brisbane following requests from several leaders who have expressed interest to meet the Indian PM. "As some of the leaders are common in East Asia Summit and G20, the schedule for Modi's meetings are being worked out depending on the itinerary of his counterparts," an official informed. This is Modi's first outing in both East Asia and G20 Summit and understandably there's interest among other leaders to interact with him, sources claimed. "The interest is also due to the fact that these countries want to step up economic engagement with India and they sense an opportunity under the Modi government to increase trade and investments," an official indicated. 

Article

Selling the Chinese Dream the Xi Jinping Way at APEC Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping emerged stronger after the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which was known to have been dominated by the United States in the recent past. APEC accepted two important proposals that were pushed by China to widen its own sphere of influence. 

India, which did not attend despite being invited to join as an observer, may have to consider the implications of China's achievements at the summit. Pakistan and Bangladesh attended as observers, according to diplomats based in Beijing. Xi had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend during their meeting in September. 

Xi clearly stole the show at the summit, with US President Barack Obama talking about accommodating China, observers said. Leaders of Asia-Pacific countries agreed to move towards a new free-trade zone strongly backed by China. The Beijing-supported Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) is regarded as a challenge to the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), the US trade pact that excludes China and Russia. Though Obama said the US-backed TPP was not meant to contain China's influence, it was clear China had created a powerful rival to it in the form of the FTAAP. "Currently, the global economic recovery still faces many unstable and uncertain factors," Xi said."Facing the new situation, we should further promote regional economic integration and create a pattern of opening up that is conducive to long-term development." 

News

Odecee, Now a Cognizant Firm Post Acquisition

In yet another acquisition, Cognizant on Wednesday said that it will acquire Odecee, a provider of digital solutions to enterprises in Australia and New Zealand region. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Significantly, this is the second acquisition made by Cognizant in the digital space, after Cognizant last month bought Cadient Group, a digital marketing agency. 

Founded in 2007, Odecee delivers enterprise mobility, web and cloud solutions to clients in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, logistics, and communications industries. "This acquisition further strengthens Cognizant's digital business transformation expertise and expands its portfolio of tools and services to help clients create digital enterprises that capitalize on new business models, drive innovative products and services, enhance workforce productivity, and improve customer expands its portfolio of tools and services to help clients create digital enterprises that capitalize on new business models, drive innovative products and services, enhance workforce productivity, and improve customer experience," Cognizant's press statement said. As part of this acquisition, approximately 150 digital specialists with expertise across enterprise mobile, web and cloud services will join Cognizant. "This acquisition also brings to Cognizant intellectual property such as Velocedee, a platform that helps centralize highly secure mobile applications and enables rapid implementation of core business processes across a wide range of mobile devices," the statement added.

News

Slowdown in Inflation Makes Case for Rate Cut before Christmas

Rapidly cooling inflation is building the case for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates as soon as its next monetary policy meeting on December 2, say economists. Consumer prices rose a slower-than-expected 5.5 percent on year in October, following a 6.5 percent increase in the previous month, led by a fall in local food prices. This was the slowest pace since the index was launched in January 2012. Inflation is now well below the central bank’s target of 8 percent for January 2015 and even dropped below the 6 percent target for January 2016. The data indicates "interest rate cuts are likely to come onto the agenda sooner than most currently seem to expect, perhaps even as early as the RBI’s next meeting in December," Shilan Shah, India economist at research firm Capital Economics wrote in a note. Consensus expectations are for the first rate cut to come in the second quarter of next year, according to Capital Economics. India’s benchmark repo rate has been unchanged since January, when the central bank increased it by a quarter percent point to 8 percent. Shah is not alone in his rate outlook. "The data is in line with our view that the RBI will cut rates in December," Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist, Asia ex. Japan, Crédit Agricole said in a note published after the inflation figures were released. 

Article

Infosys CEO Makes the Pitch for Moving Up From Cost Based to a Value Based Model for Indian IT Firms

More than 100 days as the chief executive of India’s second-largest information technology (IT) services company Infosys, Vishal Sikka on Wednesday said he was upset at the sector. He added there was a “better direction” the industry must look to take. Sikka, who comes from a software product background and was the chief technology officer at Germany-based SAP, said he found the IT services sector a “tale of two cities”. On the one hand there were several opportunities, but on the other there was a “depressing reality” of focus on cost arbitrage and lowering costs. “I was not deeply familiar with the services industry till recently,” Sikka said in his pre-recorded video keynote address at the CeBIT India conference in Bengaluru on Wednesday. “I find all of us in the industry in a downward spiral. It’s like a treadmill of increasingly lower cost, hiring people faster and faster, from more and more mediocre places, training people less and less, putting them into job faster and faster. I think that is a wrong direction.” Sikka added the sector should not look at “doing old things cheaper” and instead look at doing “new things”. Infosys on Wednesday said its revenue an employee would go up in two years. Though the company has said it wanted to increase revenue an employee, this is the first time it has set a horizon. Sikka made the comment while addressing the Axis Capital investors’ meet on Wednesday. “Our revenue per employee will go up from here in the next two years. If we are not able to do this, then we have a problem,” he said. At present, the revenue per employee at Infosys is around $50,000. 

Sikka also said this should be possible with several of the initiatives that the company has put in place. One of them is increasing automation and use of technologies such as artificial intelligence. He also added that the company is already working on at least 40 projects that were signed in the last 60 days in the predictive maintaince and Big Data space.

Advertising Article

Cut short the long-format ads, understand your responsibility towards the viewers

3.33. 3.53. 4.40. 7.16. Before you shut this paper and run a mile, we will have you know that this isn't a complicated math problem coming your way, but the durations of some of the ads you've been seeing of late. With our daily dose of listicles masquerading as news for our seriously short attention spans, one would think quick and easy fixes are the way to go.

The world of advertising begs to differ, though, offering a paradox. A spate of really long ads are the not-so-new kids on the block, where brands are taking the liberty to take as long as seven minutes to narrate their mostly heartwarming stories, The year is seeing a lot of the films that take their time to tell the tale, both internationally and back home.

Most recently, KitKat and Pepsi jumped on the Diwali bandwagon, and two much talked about long-format films were born. They are usually released online, making it an inexpensive medium to tell powerful stories. But with such ads clearly becoming a regular trend, we have to ask; are brands really justifying the length of their communication with stories that are compelling enough? And do they work?

Piyush Pandey executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy & Mather India and South Asia, the man behind Fortune Oil's emotive four-minute 'Ghar ka khaana' ad, believes, "With long-format, your single responsibility is to the viewer. It's like people who make movies. A viewer of a long-format ad has made the effort to click on your film. It's not like he was sitting around watching something else and the ad came on. It's your responsibility to make sure he feels rewarded after the time spent and says 'I must share this with my friends.' I am assuming as professionals we know that we have a responsibility to the brand." 

Marketing Article

Brands go social to enhance capabilities, woo customers

It was a simple brief from the Swissheadquartered Nestle when it asked its digital agency to help build a digital culture in the organisation. The outcome has been the DAT (Digital Acceleration Team), established by Maxus at the multinational's corporate office in Gurgaon.

Reckitt Benckiser, to step up the focus on digital in India for it's key brands like Dettol and Durex, has set up a hub recently backed by sharp analytic tools to monitor conversations real-time and evaluate the sentiments around the brand on a daily basis, to feed into its content and communication pipeline.

Mindshare has The Loop; a data infused 'war room', first introduced in the US around the Super Bowl, followed up by its India launch this year. The USP of the Loop is to enable clients to take real time decisions using real time insights.

According to Ravi Rao, leader - South Asia, Mindshare, "Loop is an enabler to make individuals and teams actually scan what consumers are talking or commenting upon and consciously come out with some breakthroughs in either solving an issue, overcoming a barrier, creating an idea, developing a content strategy or real-time optimisation."

News

Fiscal Consolidation on the Radar: Jaitley Eyes 79 Sick PSUs

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Wednesday statement that the government is open to privatizing sick public-sector undertakings seems to offer hope on 79 state-run companies that had an accumulated loss of Rs 55,656 crore in 2012-13, according to the latest available numbers. By the government’s definition, a central public-sector enterprise (CPSE) is considered sick if its accumulated loss in a financial year is equal to or more than 50 per cent of its average net worth in the four immediately preceding years, and/or if it can be termed sick by the meaning in the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985.

The public-sector enterprises survey for 2012-13 shows that the number of sick CPSEs, 90 in 2004-05, came down to 66 in March 2012 but again climbed to 79 in March 2013. The result for the 2013-14 survey is not yet out. The survey also shows that the number of operating CPSEs registered with the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) was stable in 2012-13, at 44. The good part was that their accumulated loss fell from Rs 65,642 crore the previous year. The number of sick CPSEs fell, albeit marginally, during this period — from 64 to 63. According to the survey for 2011-12, the 64 sick CPSEs as of that year had a combined employee strength of 226,188.

Article

Will Raghuram End The Self-Imposed Exile on Hiking Interest Rates?

The chorus for a rate cut is unlikely to prompt Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor to take any action at the bi-monthly review of its monetary policy on December 2. "The pressure from all quarters is huge but Rajan is unlikely to respond," a senior financial-sector player said. Markets have the habit of front-loading rate cuts, and it is no exception this time. Since October 13, when the retail inflation data for September were release, yields on the 10-year benchmark bond have softened by 23 basis points to a 14-month low.

The expectation of a rate cut has also gained momentum due to softening of crude oil prices, which has fallen 14 per cent since the previous policy review on September 30. Economists say a 25-basis-point cut in interest rate at this juncture, which has already been factored in, will not boost investments all of a sudden, given the structural bottlenecks. And Rajan, who has a penchant for surprising the market, might rather go for deep rate cuts when he has inflation firmly under his control. But market players say a closer look at the numbers shows why Rajan would refuse to budge on the rate front this time. The rate of Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation has fallen 330 bps since last September. Of this decline, 185 bps has been due to softening of food prices and another 100 bps on account of falling oil prices. So, of the 330-bp fall, 285 bps is accounted for by commodity prices, which could move either way in the coming months. The decline in inflation has not been due to a demand compression.

Thought of The Day

Thought of The Day

Thought of The Day

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.