Thought for the day

Only the educated are free

- Epictetus

Bank News

Sebi outlines grievance redressal mechanism

Market regulator Sebi on Friday released a fresh set of information for new investors on redressal mechanism for complaints related to price manipulation, insider trading and other issues.

According to the fresh set of information, if an investor has grievances against a listed company or intermediary registered with Sebi, he/she should first approach the concerned company or intermediary against whom he has complaints.

In case the person is not satisfied with their response, he may approach Sebi.

The information is part of the revised instruction form book issued by Depository Participants to investors.

Depository is an organisation where the securities of a shareholder are held in the electronic form and Depository Participant is an investor's representative in the depository system who maintains securities account balances.

Besides, investors can also approach Sebi about compalints related to KYC Registration Agency (KRA)- that conduct Know Your Client (KYC) related functions on behalf of various market entities - and Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), which are funds incorporated in India for the purpose of pooling in of capital from Indian and foreign investors for investing as per a pre-decided policy.

Company Profile

BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS LIMITED

An integrated power plant equipment manufacturer and one of the largest engineering and manufacturing companies in India in terms of turnover. We were established in 1964, ushering in the indigenous Heavy Electrical Equipment industry in India - a dream that has been more than realized with a well-recognized track record of performance. The company has been earning profits continuously since 1971-72 and paying dividends since 1976-77.

We are engaged in the design, engineering, manufacture, construction, testing, commissioning and servicing of a wide range of products and services for the core sectors of the economy, viz. Power, Transmission, Industry, Transportation (Railway), Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas and Defence. We have 15 manufacturing divisions, two repair units, four regional offices, eight service centres and 15 regional centres and currently operate at more than 150 project sites across India and abroad. We place strong emphasis on innovation and creative development of new technologies. Our research and development (R&D) efforts are aimed not only at improving the performance and efficiency of our existing products, but also at using state-of-the-art technologies and processes to develop new products. This enables us to have a strong customer orientation, to be sensitive to their needs and respond quickly to the changes in the market.

The high level of quality & reliability of our products is due to adherence to international standards by acquiring and adapting some of the best technologies from leading companies in the world including General Electric Company, Alstom SA, Siemens AG and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., together with technologies developed in our own R&D centres.

Most of our manufacturing units and other entities have been accredited to Quality Management Systems (ISO 9001:2008), Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004) and Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems (OHSAS 18001:2007).

We have a share of 59% in India’s total installed generating capacity contributing 69% (approx.) to the total power generated from utility sets (excluding non-conventional capacity) as of March 31, 2012.

We have been exporting our power and industry segment products and services for over 40 years. BHEL’s global references are spread across 75 countries. The cumulative overseas installed capacity of BHEL manufactured power plants exceeds 9,000 MW across 21 countries including Malaysia, Oman, Iraq, the UAE, Bhutan, Egypt and New Zealand. Our physical exports range from turnkey projects to after sales services.

We work with a vision of becoming a global engineering enterprise providing solutions for a better tomorrow. 

Our greatest strength is our highly skilled and committed workforce of 49,390 employees. Every employee is given an equal opportunity to develop himself/herself and grow in his/her career. Continuous training and retraining, career planning, a positive work culture and participative style of management - all these have engendered development of a committed and motivated workforce setting new benchmarks in terms of productivity, quality and responsiveness

Mr. B. Prasada Rao, CMD, BHEL addressing shareholders at BHELs 48th AGM in New Delhi

BHEL maintains growth trajectory under difficult market conditions Records Highest-ever Turnover& Profit; Dividend enhanced to all-time high 320%; Highest ever Utility sets commissioned in a year;New Strategic Roadmap unveiled to steer future growth

 In fiscal 2011-12, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) maintained the growth momentum achieved in the year before, with a top line growth of 20% and an all-time high Turnover of Rs.495100 Million. The company also recorded a quantum jump of 24% in its Profit After Tax (PAT) which was also the highest-ever at Rs.70400 Million. Significantly, with this BHEL has become eligible for ‘Maharatna’ status.

Addressing shareholders, Mr. Rao said that BHEL recorded a 26% surge in Net Worth, which went up to Rs.25373 Crore from Rs.20154 Crore in the year before. Earnings Per Share (EPS) on the post split number of shares basis went up by 24% to Rs.28.76. Consequently, a total dividend of Rs.15660 Million – the highest ever, has been declared for 2011-12, which is 320% of the paid-up capital (including an interim dividend of 136%).

HR Article

The Inverted-U Model
Balancing Pressure and Performance
(Also known as Yerkes-Dodson Law)

Have you ever worked on a project that had a tight-but-achievable deadline, and that needed your unique, expert knowledge for it to be completed successfully? Even though you found it challenging, you may have delivered some of your best work.

Or, think back to a project you worked on where there was little pressure to deliver. The deadline was flexible and the work wasn't challenging. You may have done an average job, at best.

Get the pressure right.

There's a subtle relationship between pressure and performance. When your people experience the right amount of pressure, they do their best work. However, if there's too much or too little pressure, then performance can suffer.

This relationship is explained by the Inverted-U Model, which we'll look at in this article. This helps you get the best from your people, at the same time that you keep them happy and engaged.

Marketing Glossary

Advertising  Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotionof ideas, goods and services through mass media such as newspapers,magazines, television or radio by an identified sponsor.

Advertising budget  The total amount of money that a marketer allocates for advertisingover a period of time

After-sales service  The services received after the original goods or services have been paidfor. Often this service is provided as part of a warranty or guaranteescheme.

Agent  Part of the distribution channel. An agent is effectively a wholesalerwho represents buyers and sellers on a relatively permanent basis,performs only a few functions and does not take title to goods

HR Article

Strategic Learning Contracts - Maximizing Training & Learning Results

Tom Peters once spoke of a sausage company in the U.S. that determined pay scales, in part by the amount of new things that staff learned. So, when a sausage assembly line worker  learned something about accounting, that was five bucks an hour more on the paycheque. It's  great to be able to have the luxury to do things like that. However, the closest we in  government are going to get to such schemes is to eat the sausage made by the person who  got the extra five bucks. 

If you follow the trends (and fads) in the organization development field, you are probably  aware of one of the newest: the learning organization, popularized by Senge. Time will tell  whether this perspective "takes root" (it won't), but there is no question that learning is an  important process in any organization that wants to sustain success. So putting aside the  sometimes abstract philosophy of  "the learning organization", what can individual managers  do to encourage and support learning on the part of staff? 

One way is to put in place a simple, straightforward process to plan and support learning  experiences. Strategic learning contracts (and their companion learning experience contracts)  can be helpful in this respect. 

 

The Strategic Learning Contract: What Is It? 

 

We know that a good deal of learning (eg. from training) is wasted because the goals are ill-  defined, and the workplace supports to apply the learning are missing or absent. Stories  abound about people who attend computer training, only to return to work and not have the  hardware or software arrive until months after training. By that time, almost any benefits are  lost. Stories also abound about being "sent" to training...people who have been asked by their  managers to attend something, but not told why, or what they are expected to gain and  contribute from the experience. 

 

Learning contracts are designed to help develop shared expectations about the purpose,  process and results that are to come from any learning experiences. They are also used to  plan learning for the upcoming year for each staff member.

Business News

IS ALLOWING WALMART IN INDIA REALLY A GOOD IDEA?

Research on Wal-Martisation reveals that the price of any product from a retail outlet like Wal-Mart is invariably 10% more than what is available on the streets

"Are we knowledge-proof?" asked the late Prof Raj Krishna. As memorable as his other coinage, the Hindu rate of growth, this question is relevant, given our current growth strategy.

The SME sector is a vibrant part of the economy, accounting for 40% of manufacturing and generating jobson a scale second only to agriculture.

The figures are similarly significant for handicrafts and handlooms. According to the Tenth Plan, GDP from handicrafts contributed about 25% of GDP of unregistered manufacturing sector in the country, and about 7.5% of the total manufacturing sector. However, the number of craftspeople and SSI producers has been coming down, due to the sector's marginalisation and lack of investment.

Strengthening this supply chain in the manufacturing sector would make an enormous contribution to the revitalisation of the Indian economy, generate growth and jobs and insulate India from global crises.

Yet, when we see the kind of generous financial benefits given to the high end of the manufacturing sector - concessions for the 'big', for example, the big space and interest in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor - one wonders if Raj Krishna's argument is not proving right even now.

Company Profile

Google India Pvt. Limited

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Our company has packed a lot into a relatively young life. Since Google was founded in 1998, we’ve grown to serve hundreds of thousands of users and customers around the world. Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met at Stanford University in 1995. By 1996, they had built a search engine (initially called BackRub) that used links to determine the importance of individual webpages.

When Larry Met Sergey

• Founded
  1998
• Founders

  Larry Page and Sergey Brin
• Incorporation 
  September 4, 1998
• Initial public offering (NASDAQ) 
  August 19, 2004
• Headquarters 
  1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
  Mountain View
  CA 94043

Larry and Sergey named the search engine they built “Google,” a play on the word “googol,” the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google Inc. was born in 1998, when Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a check for $100,000 to that entity—which until then didn’t exist.

The first “Google doodle” in 1998 was intended to let visitors to the homepage know that Google’s minders were offline at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada. There’s now a team of “doodlers” and we’ve posted more than 1,000 different doodles on homepages worldwide.

In 2000, Google introduced AdWords, a self-service program for creating online ad campaigns. Today our advertising solutions, which include display, mobile and video ads as well as the simple text ads we introduced more than a decade ago, help thousands of businesses grow and be successful.

Business News

'Maruti Will Not End Contract-Worker System'
Violence at Manesar was a criminal act: Osamu Suzuki

Simmering unrest among contract workers at the Manesar (Haryana) plant of Maruti Suzuki exploded in violence and arson on July 18; one HR executive died, and 96 employees were injured. Suzuki Motor Corp Chairman Osamu Suzuki made a point of visiting Manesar and meeting every injured worker during a week-long trip just after the locked-out plant reopened on August 21.

Labour unrest is just one of the problems India's No. 1 carmaker faces. In April-July this year, Maruti's share of the domestic passenger vehicle market fell to 38.6 per cent, the lowest in a decade. In 2000, the figure stood at 55.5 per cent. Maruti's finances are not looking good: operating profit margin has fallen from 12.74 per cent in 2009/10 to 8.05 per cent. Return on capital employed has halved from nearly 28 per cent to 13.5 per cent. Return on net worth has similarly declined from more than 21 per cent to under 11 per cent.

The 82-year-old Suzuki, looking calm and relaxed in shirt-sleeves, showed a surprising grasp of numbers and detail when he sat down with Editor in Chief Aroon Purie and Editor Chaitanya Kalbag for an exclusive interview in a New Delhi hotel room.

On the Manesar unrest

Osamu Suzuki, Chairman of Suzuki Motor Corp

This trouble has led to the tarnishing of Suzuki Motor Corp worldwide, and pulled down the image of Maruti Suzuki in India. This incident happened on July 18; today is August 29. More than one month has passed. Many people have been arrested, but I cannot believe that the reason for the incident is not yet clear. The rumours are that these people (the attackers) would be put in jail for a week or 10 days and then be released and then they would be heroes or stars. That was what they were thinking. Already, all those who indulged in this violence - there were 546 people - have been identified and they have been terminated. They must have wanted to extract money from Maruti Suzuki, but we have decided that we will not give them a single penny.

I think the way the (Maruti) union has taken up its dispute with the management is not at all correct. I don't consider this a union-management labour issue; I term it as a criminal act, and, of course, it shocked me.

From 1945, when Japan lost in World War II, until 1960, we also had labour troubles. So I have also experienced labour problems (in Japan). The timing may be different but each country goes through labour trouble in its own time.

Marketing Glossary

Decline stage

The last stage of a product's life cycle, during which sales fall rapidly

Demographic segmentation

Demographic segmentation consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality

Depth interview

A lengthy, one-to-one structured interview, examining in detail a consumer's views about a product

Differentiation

A marketing strategy aimed at ensuring that products and services have a unique element to allow them to stand out from the rest

Direct mail

The delivery of an advertising or promotional message to customers or potential customers by mail.

Direct marketing

The planned recording, analysis and tracking of customer behaviour to develop a relational marketing strategies