IIPM- News Articles: November 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Technology has become the USP of many players in the banking sector

Today, electronic banking refers to the use of technology that allows customers access to banking services electronically – whether it is to pay bills, transfer funds, view accounts or to obtain information and advices. It refers to the electronic services that are made available to the customers through phone, personal computer, television and the Internet. Customers can perform banking transactions such as balance enquiries, bill payments, transaction histories, and transfer of money between accounts, obtain quotes and submit equity option and mutual fund offers without having to step into the office on the branch. Payments can be made in India in the form of cash, cheque, demand drafts, credit cards, debit cards and also by means of giving electronic instructions to the banker who will make such a payment on behalf of his customers.

Given all that, technology is actually helping the banks to reduce transaction costs and improve efficiency. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the central bank of the country has creditably been playing this developmental role and has taken several initiatives for a safe, secure, sound and efficient payment system under electronic banking, as these systems are used by individuals, banks, companies, governments, etc. to make payments to one another. In other words, anybody who has to make a payment to any one else can use one or the other form of payment system to make such a payment for which IT enabled channels create a platform.

Clearly, technology has become the Unique Selling Proposition of many players in the industry as it facilitates innovations in all functional management activities – accounting and finance, production and designing, marketing and customer management, research and development activities, and so on. All these innovations have helped the banks to provide seamless, cost effective and world class services to Indian consumers at the same time from Kargil to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kohima.

Prashant Singh, Vice President & Country Head – FOS & Agency, Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company

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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Monday, November 15, 2010

Haven’t we had enough of it?

It can’t be that Lalit Modi did not know what he was getting himself into when he wrote those historical tweets on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, on April 12, 2010, revealing the ownership pattern of Rendezvous Sports Group, the owner of the Kochi team. He also perhaps knowingly revealed the stake owned by Shashi Tharoor’s ‘close friend’ Sunanda Pushkar. After all the brouhaha created, the dagger is now hanging over Modi’s head. While Tharoor has already lost his ministerial post, the IT Department is now digging out the hidden skeletons in Modi’s closet. The BCCI too is orchestrating the ouster of Modi as the Chief of IPL. So after all the mud-slinging, what remains of brand IPL? The current season of IPL is scheduled to get over on April 25, with semi-finals starting from April 21. So, it is unlikely that the splash of the dirty linen wash will have any impact on the ongoing season. With consumer hysteria on a high, putting stakes on the winning teams, the TV viewership will gain firm grounds in the last four days of the series. And then again, the sponsors of Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Chennai Superkings & Royal Challengers (the semi-finalist teams) will under no circumstances withdraw their support. Therefore, to say that the current hullabaloo has, in anyway, impacted brand IPL in the eyes of cricket-lovers in this season is a fallacy. But what happens after the IPL season is over? Who helps us get over the post-IPL tamasha depression? Ladies, don’t worry, Indian Idol is just around the corner!

Monday, November 01, 2010

JUVENILE SMOKE? NO MORE!

A US law, brought into force after 15 years, has banned the display of tobacco advertising to non adults. But the tobacco companies are not going to give ground so easily.

The law is yet another attempt in the world’s biggest tobacco products market to curtail the easily avoidable deterioration in health of coming generations. In 1964, the Surgeon General of the United States released a famous report that linked tobacco use with cancer and other diseases. This report led to laws requiring warning labels on tobacco products and restrictions on tobacco advertisements. In April 1970, US Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banning advertising of cigarettes on television and radio. As such laws began to come into force, tobacco marketing became subtler, with sweets shaped like cigarettes put on the market, and a number of advertisements designed to appeal to children, resulting in increased exposure to and adoption of smoking among children. Then in 1998, the historic legal settlement between four major tobacco companies dubbed “Big Tobacco” and 46 US states, prohibited tobacco companies from selling tobacco products to children.

But, anti-smoking groups and public health organizations stand their ground and argue that tobacco companies, which spend $35 million on an average each day on marketing, have continued to direct advertising to teens and children in subtle ways. According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, about 20 percent of high school students smoke. Children are a critical target population for anti-smoking efforts, with studies showing that 90 percent of smokers hooked on to it before they reached 18.

In fact, the secretary of Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, recently stated in a press conference, “Every day, nearly 4,000 kids under 18 try their first cigarette and 1,000 kids under 18 become daily smokers”. The rules will “help our kids stay healthy by making it harder for tobacco companies to target them with harmful and addictive products”, says Sebelius. The retaliatory noises, however, have already begun.

In the first legal challenge to the new law, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco and Lorillard, the country’s second- and third-largest tobacco producers, argued that certain provisions violated their rights to free speech as per the First Amendment. The complaint was filed in Kentucky, the state with the highest number of adult smokers. The Kentucky court struck down a rule that would have limited advertising to black text sans graphics except in adult magazines or retail establishments open only to adults. The judge ruled that companies can use imagery and colors to communicate the purpose of the product and name of the producer. Such ruling allows, for example, Reynolds to continue use of a camel drawing in its advertising for Camel cigarettes.