Tuesday, November 16, 2010

WHY HDFC STD’S BET MIGHT JUST PAY OFF

4Ps B&M cuts across the honchos within HDFC Standard Life, as well as the whiz kids of Leo Burnett, the creators of their campaign, to understand why a simple, staid, standard message may actually get the numbers running along for the financial behemoth

Given that the earlier campaigns overdosed themselves on older people, the latest campaigns certainly make the company look a lot younger. A significant majority of metro youngsters (a test group of whom 4Ps B&M met to test aided and unaided props of the ads) might find the recent campaigns more in line with their lives, as they are more contemporary.

But Tripathi says there could be another reason for that (apart from the youthful touch, that is), “The right selection of media along with the quality of our communications that have stronger connect with our target audience has helped us reach out to a greater population base. While TV helps us to reach the national audience, the localized media presence has been prioritised on the basis of business targets and potential.” The company has therefore simultaneously focused on some select Out-of-Home (OOH) media to engage potential customers and has also tied up with multiplex chains and focused on experiential marketing. In essence, a broad mix of TV, radio and outdoor advertising has been used by the company to maximise the impact of its campaigns, even the Internet (although a quick analysis on and of Google search shows that HDFC Standard Life’s ads and links are not visible through AdWords, or search; Bajaj Allianz, ICICI Pru, Aviva, Reliance, Kotak, MaxNY, all come up faster even in the search listings – an area surely to work upon). The initial responses seem to be positive but the real impact would be visible through the number of customers that eventually buy insurance products from the company.

In the financial year 2007-08, HDFC Standard Life was sixth across India amongst all life insurers with a 2.88% market share. As on January 2010, aggregating the past ten months premium collection figures, HDFC Standard Life’s market share had grown to 3%. That might seem small in numbers, but it’s a big leap considering the competition. The big test is that with the IPL season ending, HDFC Standard Life will have to find a new jig to keep up the target market’s attention. Will they? Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Gyanendra Kumar Kashyap


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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Friday, August 27, 2010

IIPM Creative Views - 4P’s Best Marketing Plan Competition- IIPM Indore

On 14th July’10, the 4P’s club of IIPM Indore organized ‘the best marketing plan competition' for the first years, second years and the BBA students.

The objective behind the entire exercise was to actually test the students and get to know how much they are able to use what they have learnt in the class to actual marketing of a product.

5 teams of 6-7 members participated in the event. 3 out of these 4 teams were combined teams with students of 1st yr, 2nd yr and BBA all working together on the product. The other 2 teams were ISBE-B and BBA students.

Each team was given a specific product to launch highlighting its USP. The products were a watch, soap, torch, lipstick, a deodorant.

The students were given an hour to prepare a questionnaire, conduct a survey, conduct a primary research and on the basis of the research make a marketing plan including a TVC. The students were given the freedom to refer to any of the marketing books in the library but if any group was caught asking help from any of the faculty would be disqualified.

Each team was given a time 4-5 mins to give their presentation. The judge for the event was Prof. Jayanta Chakraborti.

The winning team was the team that marketed the lipstick.

IIPM Media - Nutrivita PRESENTS 100 MARKETING BRAINS THAT MOVE AND SHAKE INDIA

VINEET KANAUJIA

General Manager – Marketing, Safexpress Pvt. Ltd.

Having worked with top brands like Samsung, HCL and ConAgra, about three years back I was seeking a challenging assignment for creating a brand from scratch. I got this opportunity in the form of Safexpress and in a very short time-span I succeeded in establishing it as one of the foremost brands in the country. My best ever marketing moment came about recently when Brand Safexpress was rated as ‘India’s Most Promising Brand’ in a study involving over 40,000 brands in India. Personally speaking, one of the most thrilling moments of my career came about when I was recently conferred with ‘CMO of the Year Award’ by the CMO Council, USA.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.


An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

“We will change your outlook” – The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read…

The Sunday Indian:-

B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!


For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here


Outlook Magazine’s B School Ranking Scam Exposed

Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor

Don’t trust the Indian Media!


IIPM enters into media education

IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years

TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Thursday, August 26, 2010

IIPM 4Ps Business & Marketing - Nutrivita PRESENTS 100 MARKETING BRAINS THAT MOVE AND SHAKE INDIA

Anish Srikrishna

CMO, SpiceJet

I’ve worked with many companies in the past, and as far as marketing and branding experiences go, each one was extremely unique. I have worked with brands like Samsung, Coca-Cola, Oberoi Hotels Chain and now I am at SpiceJet. At Samsung, the whole manner in which we convinced the Korean top management to focus on India and the manner in which we became official sponsors of a game like cricket was a great experience. Then at Oberoi, it was the unique package we launched which was called ‘India in luxury’, which was marketed in geographies like US and Europe. We got great responses for that too. At SpiceJet, we have worked towards giving a new direction to the brand and we have done that quite successfully. For the first time, you would have seen TV commercials from SpiceJet. Today, we are on billboards and radio, something which just began in the past 10 months, and the results are there to be seen.


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Monday, July 26, 2010

Great power needs great responsibility

From a regime of long term power purchase agreements (PPAs) and predetermined pricing, private players are quite excited about merchant power; as they have the opportunity to negotiate prices bilaterally or via an exchange. But merchant power is also inherently risky, since it is not backed by the kind of guarantees that long term PPAs provide. That is why banks are also more confident of funding projects with at least 60-70% of long term PPAs. In the short term, power demand can fluctuate menacingly, so private players may be exposed to significant risks (prices, demand shortfalls & payment defaults) before the market matures as a whole; on the lines of developed markets like UK, where 2 years is considered long term. Finally, considering the cost of producing power and its environmental impact, we would risk playing devil’s advocates and mention that the price of power has to be carefully calibrated to curb excesses. Kameswara Rao agrees, “It’s not just revising tariffs to reflect costs but to look at allocative efficiency as well; i.e. the type of consumption (time of day, seasonal, et al) and the size of the user (slabs, categories) to encourage conservation and economic use of electricity. Even a simple indexation to inflation would have helped, but unfortunately in many states the tariffs have not been revised for several years.” This provides India with a miserable record of one of the lowest energy intensities in the world. Yes, the private sector may achieve the goal of ‘Power for All’ ultimately and light the ‘bulb’, but Indian consumers would do well to keep its true cost in mind every time they switch it on.



B&E: How has the policy landscape changed for the renewable energy in the last few years?
MT: In India, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy introduced the concept of generation based incentives to promote grid-connected solar power plants for the first time in January 2008. However, this policy had an extremely small target of 50 MW with payment guarantees of only 10 years compared to the global practice of 20 – 25 years. Because of these and other reasons, the policy did not result into any actual projects. The solar mission (announced in June 2008) has laid out an extremely ambitious target of generating 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022. This is set to transform not just the solar industry in India but also the energy map.

B&E: How are tariffs of power from renewable energy getting set?
MT: The generic tariff for the renewable power is set by following an established procedure involving a public hearing of interested parties by the CERC. CERC looks at what should be fixed as the normative capital cost for one MW of a renewable energy project. Then it looks at all other costs including the cost of finance and O&M costs etc. It then fixes the levellised tariff for the next 20-25 years as the case may be so that the investor can get a pre-fixed rate of return on his equity investment. For solar this normative return on equity has been fixed at 19% pre-tax for the first 10 years and 24% for the years 11 to 25.







For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
The Sunday Indian:-
B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!

For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM enters into media education
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here
Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Strike: loss is in the air

Air India strike shows a highly unprofessional attitude

A beautiful nation is not a gift; it is a result of good vision, continuous effort, strong political will and many more. But beyond this, perhaps small but more important factors are good governance, efficient bureaucracy and less corruption. Many of these are the factors which made Singapore, a tiny island nation an Asian country to qualify as the 'First world nation'. On my recent visit to Singapore (as a part of the IIPM GOTA programme), while in a conversation with a taxi driver, I came to know about Singapore efficient and corruption free culture. He told me numerous incidents where one was not allowed to contest election since he had committed a crime, perhaps a decade before.

But the worse was yet to come. On May 26, 2010, we (I along with 17 of my students) were running exhaustively at the airport after knowing that Air India employees are on a strike.There was news that the strike was pre-decided, if that is so, then Air India should not have issued tickets for those particular days and even if they have issued the tickets, the management should have some efficient mechanism to ensure that passengers would have alternative flights to reach respective destinations without hassle and harassment on time. Well, no such arrangement was on place. In fact, there was hardly any Air India employee to provide any kind of information and guide hundreds of clueless passengers at the airport. And more interestingly, this one or two days strike also gave another reason to show why the government undertaking entity is struggling to make profit. Each passengers paid to Air India about Rs.20,000, on an average for their journey. And Air India spent approximately Rs.81050 (about Rs.24,150 on accommodation and food, Rs.6900 on transport and about Rs.50,000 for alternative flights via Bangkok) on each of these passenger — who were in a few hundreds in number. Meanwhile, the Aviation ministry releases press brief that it’s not going to interfere over the issue, it will back the management’s decision completely. What was even more interesting was that our stay at Bangkok airport, for over six hours, never made us realise that we are in the same nation which is being torn apart through riots since years. The arrangement and flight procedures inside the airport was perfectly in place and it was made sure that the internal disturbance don't harm the business of airlines.

In a casual conversation I asked a receptionist of Hotel Mandarin Oriental Singapore, where we were staying as we were waiting for an alternative flight arrangement, that can employees of Asia’s one of the most successful airlines, Singapore Airlines, go on strike on similar context? He confidently said no though it doesn’t mean that their demands can’t be heard and met by respective authorities. Strike is illegal while employees have all the rights to raise their demands.

It’s high time for us to wake up, at least, for the sake of the nation. This small incident exemplifies the uncivilised manner we deal with issues. There is no logical reason harassing hundreds of commuters who have nothing to do with the strike's agendas (whether they are selfish or greedy in nature). Similarly, there is no point that Aviation Ministry should be so careless on such issues especially when no airlines, even public run airlines are making big money.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

A different act

No one can match Salman Khan when it comes to attitude and the right one at that. Salman was to be interviewed recently for an award function, which was completely scripted. The organisers were putting up an act where Salman was to be questioned on Katrina Kaif upon which he was to get offended and walk away. This was to be used by them as a part of television promotions. But Salman didn’t want to stoop to this level for publicity and refused to abide by the script. For Salman, not every publicity is good publicity!

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Legacy on its last leg?

Will the Shehnai have to reconcile to the fact that there may not be another Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan? The son who was his successor is dead; the others are struggling, and there’s little other than memorial concerts to keep the tradition going. Puja Awasthi reminisces of the time when there was hope…

Ustad Nayyar Hussain Khan “Bismillah” passed away following respiratory problems at a Varanasi hospital on December 17, 2009. To me, he had begun to fade away in July of that year itself, when, as I got up to leave that baithak plastered with photographs and awards (including the Bharat Ratna) of his father the late Bismillah Khan, he thrust a couple of brochures (titled Music Represents Soul) and visiting cards in my hand and said, “Kaam dilwao. Koi bhi kaam chalega. Shaadi aur party mein bhi bajayenge.” (Get me work. Any work will do. I will play at weddings and parties.) I did not fail to notice that the Ustad’s name was bolder than Nayyar’s on the card. And that here was a man aged 70, the second son of a legend who had put a simple wind instrument to his lips and coaxed such sweetness from it that it ceased to remain an accompaniment to flashier ones, begging for work. The Ustad would neither have understood nor approved.

But when like Nayyar Khan, you live with four brothers, one sister and 30 children and grandchildren, in a lane that’s named after your father in a narrow, white house with 10 rooms, you have responsibilities you cannot shrug. And Nayyar Khan, being the successor to his father had to bear them all.

Such is Varanasi’s association with the Ustad that when he had passed away in August 2006, there were many who lamented “Bharat Ratna chala gaya” (The Bharat Ratna has gone). To his own family it was as though life had been sucked out of all those who had been left behind.

“My Abba had a generous heart but a sharp tongue. Nobody who came to our home would leave without a meal. After a concert, the cooks would work overtime to cater to those who came to congratulate him. Some had even named our home Bismillah hotel. But after him, the staunchest of his well-wishers have disappeared. There is just the occasional phone call. Yes, there are problems,” Nayyar had said going on to detail how he even had to haggle about the number of musicians he could take in his group for a performance. No one would of course have dared to make such talk to the Ustad. Yet, Nayyar was looking forward to a tour of the USA this year. “Before every performance, I tell the audience that they should listen to me as Ustad Bismillah Khan’s son, not as the Ustad himself and grant me some grace,” he had said.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Wednesday, June 09, 2010

IN THE COLONEL’S DEN

A change in counter-insurgency tactics has helped Pakistan smoke out Taliban from FATA, but the real challenge will be to consolidate the gains.

Imageries are beautiful. But they tend to stick. Time flies by, but the imageries remain ensconced in the human mind. They start affecting judgement. Imageries are dangerous. Much of what we visualise about the Tribal Areas in Pakistan comes from the imageries drawn by Rudyard Kipling and Orientalists like Robert Wilkinson-Latham. Their writings on these areas are vivid and enriching. But there is a problem there. These writings are a century old and the Tribal Areas have moved ahead. We and our imageries are yet to.

So as our Mil MI 17 hovered above Bajaur agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas, popularly called FATA, we were in for a shock. The area is not a “muddy mountainous hamlet of aboriginal tribes” as some western analysts would have us believe. With metalled roads, stone-brick houses and schools, the place can give an average village from the Bimaru states in India a run for its money. In fact, the entire brouhaha over it being inaccessible is just that: brouhaha. So what is it that has fed the insurgency? Of course, the terrain. Modern insurgencies have been terrain-based. Here and everywhere.

So, first the geography. Nestled at 2800 feet above sea level, Bajaur is one of seven—and the northernmost—agencies of FATA. Spread over 1290 sq km, the agency has more than a fair share of rugged frontier hills. While it shares its east, south and north boundaries with other agencies, on its west is the unruly and ungoverned Afghan province of Kunar. A perfect stage for insurgency. At least that is what Colonel Muhammad Nauman Saeed thinks.

In the traditional attire of Bajaur Scouts—the paramilitary that he spearheaded in the battle against Taliban—Colonel Nauman Saeed looks every bit the no-nonsense man that he is. For him, the battle has been up close and personal. In fact too close. On September 9 last year, when the convoy of Major General Tariq Khan—who was also serving as Inspector General of Frontier Corps—was ambushed near Nissarabad, Colonel Nauman himself mounted a tank and led a Quick Response Force to extricate the crew. His tank received multiple hits by RPG-7s, but the Colonel stopped only after Khan was extricated. He makes it a point to lead all the operations himself. The confidence shows when he talks.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, June 07, 2010

Time to move on...

Bollywood’s dusky girl, Lara Dutta feels that her 30s have given her “a sense of liberation” from the “angst and confusion” of the 20s. Though films like "No Entry" and "Partner" have got her noticed, her screen presence in "Blue" reminds one of her beachwear charm that earned her the highest points at the swimsuit round way back in 2000 at the Miss Universe contest. While she's tasted real success with comedy, the sexy lass seems ready for a shift and plans to move to some new genre of films other than comedy.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Holidays from Hell!

When the Alps call you not, nor the allures of the Parisian markets enchant you, but the abandoned buildings in Pripyat intrigue you and horrifying tales of heinous crimes get your pulse racing, then you are in for a vacation that could change you forever… Anu Gulmohar throws light on dark tourism.

“We have not had any tours to the eruption site at Eyjafjallajökull as the surrounding area has been closed. We did, however, take almost 700 persons in different tours to see the eruption in Fimmvorduhals, a few weeks before the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull. One tour was a coach tour that drove into a valley next to the eruption so passengers could view from a safe distance. Another tour of ours drove the passengers up to Myrdalsjokull glacier and from there they went on snowmobiles to see the eruption up close. The third one was a super jeep tour driving in as close as one km from the eruption site. Our customers were from all over the world… UK, USA, Scandinavia. Many Icelanders went there as well. To see a volcanic eruption is once in a lifetime experience for most people. You get to see the forces of nature in action which is just indescribable,” said Gudrun Thorisdottir, Sales Manager, Iceland Excursions – Gray Line Iceland (www.grayline.is). The disastrous impact of the volcano eruption – from forcing Icelanders to flee their homes at 2am to travellers stranded for days at various airports – has captured the world’s attention. In addition to voicing their outrage, the multitudes were also seen struggling to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull (AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh). Iceland has been grappling with a severe financial crunch and the foreign money brought in by the tourist eruption following the eruption of the volcano gave some welcome relief to the country’s government. It also posed a challenge of handling visitors 24x7 and rescuing several of those getting too close to the zone and not taking sufficient precautions.

Cut to Gopinatham, a small village in Karnataka, which is (in)famous for being home to Veerappan, the forest brigand, responsible for the reign of terror. He murdered 184 people, smuggled sandalwood worth Rs 103 crore and poached about 200 elephants for twenty long years on 6,000 sq km of forests. While the forests have finally been freed of this bandit, his exploits still arouse much interest among the people. The government has come up with a plan to launch tours based on the life and trails of the notorious smuggler/poacher. This would include a trekking scheme called Mystery Trails, which would include legends and myths around Veerappan and re-trace his hideouts and escape routes. K Viswanatha Reddy, Tourism Director, does not take kindly to the ‘terror tourism’ tag though. “It (the tour) will definitely have universal attention though not universal appeal. It will be successful because it is in a negative note,” said Reddy. When presented with the concept of the tour, Sue St Clair, a Canadian, said, “Yes, I would be interested in undertaking such a tour.” Sue is a self-confessed dark tourist. What is a dark tourist you ask? Dark tourism is ‘the act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering and the seemingly macabre’ [Stone, P.R (2006) ‘A Dark Tourism Spectrum’, 146], for people who travel not just for the sun, sand and shopping, but for a chance to glimpse at the macabre and gulp down each and every horrifying detail. While German extermination camp at Auschwitz, Poland, is perhaps the best known site for dark tourism, Sue listed her favourite dark spots to us, “The Tower of London (grisly history), Jack The Ripper walking tours (London, England), Underground Catacombs (Paris, France), Dracula Tours in Romania, all have a very dark history, and are enjoyable.” The volcano in Iceland isn’t her idea of Ibiza though. “I would not want to be breathing in that ash nor risking being too close to it, and possibly being injured or worse. I prefer dark history,” she reiterated.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Rakesh Roshan shares stories about the father-son duo

Cinema has changed a lot from the time when you were an actor. Is there anything that you feel was better back then?

It was much better back then. Instead of improving cinema, I think, we are deteriorating. If you see the films these days, it has the same song and dance, girls dancing in bikinis, coming out of the sea, dancing in the sand, we’re just not moving forward in any way. In those days there was Bimal Roy making good films, Mehmood making good films. Then there was Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and there are many other names. They made films which we sat and thought about. It led us to wonder how did they make such films; how did Raj Kapoor make films? But today we just don’t find any filmmaker of that caliber. There’s no one thinking out of the box. People feel that 'yeh chal raha hai to yehi do audience ko'. That’s why they are not succeeding because the audience does not want that. We actually end up underestimating the audience. After long, there was a new film and a new concept like “3 Idiots”.

Any thoughts of returning to acting?

Oh no. I’m involved in my projects now. I have bigger responsibilities on my shoulder.

Between directing and acting, what did you enjoy more?

As far as enjoyment is concerned, there’s nothing like being an actor because you go to the sets, act and you know, the preparation is up to a limit. But as a director, you have to think for 24 hours. You have to be in the sun, preparing the shot, whereas, as an actor you get the benefit of staying in the van till your shot is ready. So an actor’s life is more comfortable as compared to a director.

Anurag said that he was left to do the film on his own. Being a director yourself, were there times when you felt the need to chip in?

It’s nothing like that. I was involved with him while making the script. I was there with him at the locations and was there to fulfill his requirements. Throughout I knew what was happening. Nothing went without my notice. I gave all my experience to the film and all that he needed. He wanted a chopper; I provided that for the film for 10 days. That’s how I work. And Anurag has done a very good job with the film.

As a director, what is your idea behind making a film?

Entertainment, that’s my idea.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

House blues for CM

Chouhan upset as Cong boycotts special Assembly session

Afour-day special session of Madhya Pradesh Assembly (May 11-14) generated a heated debate in the state. The session that was held to build a political consensus on development issues actually divided political parties with the main opposition party Congress boycotting it. Besides, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) also criticised the whole procedure as wastage of time and energy.

Also, deputy Speaker Harvansh Singh of the Congress didn’t participate in the session. While the BSP legislators protested outside the House, the Congress organised a parallel session at Iqbal ground in Bhopal. Calling it unconstitutional, the Congress claimed that it will not serve the purpose of raising people-oriented issues in the House. They also staged a sit-in in the Assembly building to the chagrin of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

This was for the first time in the state’s history that the opposition boycotted the special session. The CM tried his best to convince the Congress legislators to attend the session and discuss ways to address the problems. He even wrote a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to ask her party legislators to participate in the special session aimed at seeking suggestions on development.

But there was no positive response from the Congressmen in the state. In response the Congress sent a letter to BJP national president Nitin Gadkari. They requested him to direct his party colleagues and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to hold discussions on issues related to people rather than organising a special session of the Assembly. However, no positive steps were taken from both the sides.

They stuck to their own stand. The Congress and BSP lambasted the state government. They said that the government has lost its moral right to hold such a session at a time when six of its ministers were facing investigation from Lokayukta and Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

Besides, both the parties lashed out at the CM for the power shortage in the state. They said that the state government first needs to address the problem of malnutrition in the state as some 600,000 children have died of it. President Pratibha Patil was earlier supposed to address the special session but her visit to Bhopal was called off due to “unavoidable reasons.” However, on the final day of the session, the CM said: “After discussing the issues with all legislators we have decided to work for the development of the state. We want to achieve our goals by 2013.”

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, May 03, 2010

Spill threatens Olive ridleys

Locals accused of burying dead turtles to avoid media glare

Oil spill from an Indonesian ship at the Gopalpur port located on the Orissa coast has endangered the lives of Olive Ridley turtles. Besides, it has contaminated the sea water, threatening lakhs of these rare species and more than 1.5 crore hatchlings that are yet to start their seaward journey from the sea beach near Rushikulya River mouth. Thousands of turtles converge on the coast for nesting and laying of eggs.

The spill was spotted by the locals, who informed the authorities. More than 7,000 litres of diesel have been immersed into the sea from the Essar-owned vessel MV Malavika on April 12. Sources say it was carrying some 32,000 tonnes of coal from Indonesia. Rabindra Sahu of the Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee is deeply concerned with the development. He said many turtles died from the oil spill. However, the officials, including Forest department and Pollution Control Board, have rubbished it. Moreover, people in the Gopalpur port are burying the dead turtles in order to hide the fact and not to attract media attention, alleged Rabindra.

Notably, the rare species of turtles prefer this river mouth along the beach instead of the famous site Gahirmatha due to the tidal wave, beach erosion and activities by the defense establishment at the ‘wheeler island’. Since 1994, the rare species of turtles had been sighted nesting here at the sea and laying lakhs of eggs along the beach near Rushikulya River mouth in Ganjam. Suratha Pahan, the chairman of Ganjam, said the oil spill is jeopardising the livelihood of thousands of fishermen living along the coast as they have been asked not to venture for fishing. Ashish Fernandes of the Green Peace said: “We are playing with fire by permitting ports in such eco-critical areas.” This has led to the gradual disappearance of these amazing creatures from the Orissa coast, added Ashish.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Reforms in coal sector, on which India’s power generation is heavily dependent

The starting blip is that mining lease, i.e. access to land for mining is the state’s prerogative, while mining rights, i.e. access to the mineral below the land is the Centre’s call. The process of getting a lease and a license takes half a generation. AreclorMittal and Posco are some outsider victims in this lease-rights-land-acquisition jigsaw. However, thanks to a ‘gentleman’ named Madhu Koda, centre may have got a wake up call, albeit 2-3 decades late. With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announcing the leasing of coal blocks for captive mining through open auctions and allowing captive miners to hold just 26% in FDI for any coal block, competition might just bring the black gold up a little faster. But the second and critical issue remains stuck. The Coal Reform Bill introduced in the Parliament in 2001 hasn’t even stayed on the table for long while its counterpart the Electricity Act 2003 has changed India’s power sector landscape. The bill, in essence, would open up coal mining for non-captive users and thus coal can be sold and bought in the open market. But the tentative script of the bill seems to be buried much deeper than its black protagonist.

Interestingly though, the talk of the town has been the cess of Rs.50 per tonne of coal mined. A first step towards incentivising the renewable energy sector in the country, it is at present just a needle in a haystack. “The cess levied on the coal mined will result in an increase in the power tariff for the companies who are in the regulatory business model (cost plus) as all the cost increase is a pass through for these companies. Those selling power on merchant basis would have to take a hit to that extent as the pricing is based on market forces,” says Solanki. However some experts estimate that the cess will lead to revenue, on a national basis, to the tune of Rs.30 billion per year, and will contribute massively to the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) proposed in this budget.

The third and not the least significant factor is the urgent need for an autonomous coal sector regulator on the lines of energy regulators in the US and UK, which again found mention in the FM’s budget speech this year. In fact, in the words of RV Shahi, Former Power Secretary, Government of India, “Gradual opening up of the coal sector will definitely require regulatory oversight. Even otherwise, in a monopoly situation with government control, companies occupy almost the entire space. Consumer’s interests can only be protected by a suitably structured regulatory mechanism. When such a mechanism is put in place, issues concerning pricing would automatically get addressed in a transparent manner, as is already happening in the power sector.”

Thus, there might still be time for redemption for our successive governments at the centre as well as states to unleash the power of the black rock to ‘power India,’ if only the state can remain awake and avoid sliding into a near perpetual slumber, something which lasted nearly 60 years.

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Monday, April 12, 2010

Living with a flawed destiny

Investments in defence at the cost of social good are unpardonable

Global annual military expenditure stood at around $1.46 trillion, as per a report in 2009. The top 15 countries with the highest military expenditure spent around 81.4% of the total. It is estimated that the world needs only about $260 billion annually for the next 10 years to eradicate all the basic malaise; be it poverty, insufficient healthcare, lack of shelter and clean water, illiteracy and sustainable energy. Given that kind of a comparison, there’s a clear paradox that countries are facing; are the investments towards defence supposed to only protect the ‘advantaged’ well earning masses?

US alone has spent over $5.5 trillion on nuclear arms till date, and has a current stock of over 10,000 nuclear weapons. US spends $35 billion a year on defence (or $96 million a day). Similarly, France has spent not less than $1.5 trillion on nuclear arms. USSR has spent $3.5 trillion on nuclear arms. Even as recently as the last decade, when countries were ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention, Albania, Libya, Russia, US and India have declared over 71,000 mt of chemical weapon stockpiles. The developing nations are no less in their over eager attempts to defend their borders. $32 billion is the 2010 investment for India in defence. Pakistan is $8 billion. China is $78 billion.

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

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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Thursday, April 08, 2010

Lost in the jungle....

Explore the many facets of nature in Karnataka. You will return home rejuvenated
The only biodiversity reserve in the Western Ghats, Dandeli forest, on a clear day, can be a sight for the Gods. Both vegetation and wildlife are abundant here, and the mountain range presents a truly impressive sight. Enveloped by a dense jungle, Dandeli, located in Uttara Kannada district, is a small town with many delights.

The multifaceted landscape and the heavy rainfall have made certain areas unreachable. Just as well. This has helped the area retain its remarkable eco-diversity.

The Western Ghats have an average elevation of 1200 metres here. However, in certain places the range rises abruptly to a height of over 2440 metres. In the forest, river Kali flows unhindered. The gorgeous Kali is great for white water rafting. Check into the Kali Wilderness Camp and put your endurance to the test.

The resort jeep drives up to Ganeshgudi, around 29 km away. Once you get started and as you battle the foam, oars in hand, you can feel the spray on your face and excitement coursing through your veins.

The Nilgiri hills are home to two of the highest peaks of the Western Ghats, Dodabetta, which has a height of 2637 metres, and Makurti, with a height of 2554 metres. To the south of the Nilgiri hills is the 24-km wide Palghat gap, extending from east to west.

Though located in the heart of a forest, Dandeli is not difficult to access. The nearest railhead from Goa to Dandeli is Londa, 45 km away. Hubli, 85 km from Dandeli, is one of the bigger junctions for those travelling from Bangalore/Mumbai. A lot of people prefer to take a bus from Bangalore or Goa to Dandeli.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!