Maya cocks a snook

In a deft, low key move, UP introduces Dalit quota in private sector through state Cabinet

You could call it job reservations through the backdoor. While much debate has been generated in the media and the public on the subject of introducing job reservations in the private sector after the UPA Government made noises to that affect after coming to power in 2004, the verdict on the proposal has largely been unclear. There are a set of effective speakers on both sides who have held the debating floor in television studios – but nothing more serious than that.

Now UP Chief Minister Mayawati threatens to upset the applecart. In keeping with her style, last week the UP Cabinet cleared a proposal that could have far-reaching ramifications as far as job reservations go in the private sector go. In the process, it has given a new meaning to the concept of public-private-partnership (PPP). Under this important partnership programme – which is increasingly becoming part of the official-business lexicon – the UP Cabinet declared job reservations for Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the private sector. As ever, Mayawati is not the one to get too involved in polemics and debate or get cowed down by an impasse.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Just a tax cut by the MoF and India Inc. would take care of our existing socio-economic ills!!!

This New Year brings some outstanding news for the Ministry of Finance, as direct tax collections have gone up by a staggering 40% for the period from April 1, 2007 to December 15, 2007. Though year on year the direct tax collections have been growing, but that has been nothing like the manner it has grown this year. In fact, the net tax collections stood at a whopping Rs.164,407 crore, up from Rs.115,377 crore during the same period last year (a growth of almost 42.5%; achieving almost 62% of the budgeted direct tax revenue for the current fiscal). And the bigger news is – of this overall collection, corporate tax alone has registered a growth of 42.37% with respect to last year.

So, as the coffers of the Ministry of Finance are jingling, the old debate of reduction of corporate tax rate has again come to the forefront. And speculations are ripe that the Ministry might bring down corporate tax rates from the existing 30% (in fact 33.99%, if one takes surcharge & cess into account) to 26% in the forthcoming Union Budget. No doubt, there is definite merit if the Ministry finally decides for the cut. Since some time now, there has been a considerable debate in terms of lowering the rates in order to provide a level playing field for all, which is not the case right now, as the effective tax rate for a domestic company currently is higher than what a foreign company operating in India pays (if one takes dividend distribution tax into account). Other than this, it has been noted that though India, off-late, has been receiving considerable foreign investments, this could further grow if the Ministry could rationalise the corporate tax rates in the global context. According to a KPMG report, the average corporate tax rate in the European Union stands at 25.04%, whereas for the Latin American region, it is around 28.25%, and for the Asia Pacific region, it is around 30% (with China at 25%, Singapore at 18%-20%). In addition to all these reasons, cutting down the tax rates would also help in enhancing compliance and at the same time help in expansion of revenues for the Ministry. In fact, all the rationalities overtly indicate that such a step would not only reap huge dividends for the government but would also boost India Inc. and the nation as a whole.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

B&E’s Steven Philip Warner analyses...

Stupendously sarcastic to competition & a saintly saviour to the sector – that’s Kingfisher…B&E’s Steven Philip Warner analyses... 

Tactic #2: Outside-flight customer experience!

Though most of the airlines have ignored this factor (assuming it to be non-critical), Kingfisher has very intelligently used this to its positioning advantage. In which other airline have you had a visibly excited valet greeting you on your arrival at the airport? Well, Kingfisher’s valet even lugs your luggage (many a time courteously refusing the tip you might have had up your sleeve), and would walk you right through getting a boarding pass till you enter the boarding area. But it is not just about the valet, but about almost every other aspect. Customers waste minimal time waiting at the classy Kingfisher check-in counters; and if it is a question about tele check-in (a facility that other airlines give only to frequent flyer card holders), at Kingfisher, any passenger across the country can use their toll-free telephone service to check-in! Not to forget that Kingfisher now has India’s best record of an airline being on-time, and that too with minimum flight cancellations, As due credit, Kingfisher has won the ET Avaya 2006 Award for “Customer Responsiveness”, India’s Favourite Airline Award and The Best Airline Award by The Times of India, the most coveted PATWA’s Best New Airline Award for Excellent Services and Cuisine, and innumerable other awards in quality benchmarks.

Tactic #3: Defying industry dynamics & bringing in a unique pricing method

Well, where on one hand there were launches after launches of low-cost champions dreaming to rule the Indian skies by slowly climbing the stairs to the skies, this mercurial liquor baron actually decided to take the elevator. And lucky for him, his plan seems to be working! Kingfisher realized that the Indian aviation market was too small and thin (footfalls being just an annual 14.3 million when Kingfisher was launched; and this figure too was high only because of LCCs in the market selling tickets for irrational prices) for the LCC concept to profitably work, even over the forthcoming decade! By focusing on the ‘profit giving’ high-end customer over the ‘favour-expecting’ masses, Mallya has adopted an innovative model of rational pricing. Not only has Mallya slowly increased the price of the economy class tickets (charging a visible premium for the quality differentiation), but has also ensured that if any one wishes to fly business class, as their branding goes, Kingfisher is first! As Binit Somaia, Regional Director, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) asserts, “The airline, along with its superior service, has adopted a very effective branding and public relations strategy and has become increasingly focused on the corporate market. Kingfisher has achieved a very positive reputation in the market place and can easily win recognition as the ‘radical’ element in the airline industry.”

Noted airline analyst, Madeline Cross, Elan Corp., remarked, “Kingfisher can be called a disruptive force, and a necessary one at that. The manner in which it has baptized the sector through better pricing policies and improved services gives the domestic aviation giants some reason to cheer about.” And what has been the critical wedge on which Mallya is betting? That’s brings us to the next tactic!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BEAUTIFUL BOUNTIFUL LOFOTEN

Situated 123 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the Lofoten islands, are a 118-mile-long archipelago of small fishing communities. The area is characterised by a narrow coastline, steep mountain formations and strong tidal currents. Breathe in pure air and take in infinite shades of green and yellow at this steep island. The skies are filled with cuckoos, curlews and eagles while the ground bursts forth with wild flowers and berries and the water churns with migrating cod and salmon. The sun shines over the beaches of white sand, cosy rorbus and crystal-clear waters.

Known for excellent fishing, picturesque villages and whale safaris, Lofoten is better explored on foot. Watch out for the killer whales as you go rafting in the Trollfjord. Once in Lofoten, witness one of the most spectacular light constellations – The Northern lights or get transported back to the Viking age at the Lofotr Viking Museum. Experience midnight golf at the Lofoten Golf Links course; with its proximity to the ocean and rugged mountain terrain, it promises a great golfing experience. Enjoy mountaineering with panoramic views or play fisherman for a day. At Lofoten, the sun never sets!

The seven principal islands of Lofoten are Austvagoy, Gimsøy, Vestvagoy, Flakstadoy, Moskenesoy, Vaeroy and Røst. Spend a day bird watching at Rost. Situated at the tip of Lofoten, the island of Røst, is home to the largest number of nesting birds in Norway. Climb up to the Skomvaer lighthouse, which is the final outpost overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Hop on a boat and tour through Moskstrommen, for a date with the natural elements. Don’t forget to visit Refsvikhula cave, a gigantic and awe-inspiring coastal cavern which has about 3000-year-old cave paintings sketched on its walls.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

‘Sunder’-ban?!?

The ongoing plight of fishermen

Kultali village in Sunderban is no different than any other village in that area whose economy has been destroyed by the all conquering Aila that blew over southern Bengal on May 25 this year. The hapless fishermen of this region are at the mercy of moneylenders from whom they had borrowed money for their business. For the last 25 years, Kanu Bose had been maintaining his 4 acre fishing lake to earn enough to sustain his family of eight. But for the last three months, he is absconding, being hounded by moneylenders. Because of Aila, the levees are broken and embankments have collapsed, causing sea water to flood the delta. This has raised the alkaline level of water killing fish, thus destroying the source of livelihood of fishermen there. Dakshin Goranghati area of Kultali is almost deserted with 60 families having fled from there. In certain villages, the entire population has relocated to unknown places being unable to pay back the money they had once borrowed.

Even the environmentalists are not giving much hope either. The effort required is to flush out the water from the lakes and dredge out the top soil. This needs the kind of money, which is far beyond the reach of the poor fishermen.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Banks are facing a similar predicament today – the lying mirror!

Both public and private banks are facing a similar predicament today – the lying mirror! manish k. pandey discusses the dangers ahead, and how strong numbers during the past quarter were simply, just numbers...

A small data crunching allows us to easily figure out that the net repo volumes (funds kept by banks in aggregate with RBI at a paltry rate of 3.25%), at present stand at a staggering Rs.1.68 trillion. In fact, the situation seems to be touching alarming proportions when one considers how the amount parked under this window is more than double the new incremental deposits (about Rs.620 billion) brought in by the banking system during the year. “Banks fear a rise in non-performing assets (NPAs), so much that they are willing to sacrifice the [negative] differential in deposit rates offered to customers and the interest earned from RBI at reverse repo rates,” says Ashok Jainani, VP, Khandwala Securities. The average rate offered on one-year fixed deposits is about 7.25% currently, while the reverse repo rate is 3.25%! It clearly shows that banks are suffering a killing margin loss of almost 4% for every rupee being kept with RBI; a trend which, if it continues into the next quarter, has the potential to wipe out clean the past year’s profits of many banks within one quarter.

Even if one looks at the broader picture, one can easily figure out that NIMs have been on a declining mode for the last three quarters now. Amit Saxena, CEO, Planman Financial says that there’s worse in the banquet hall – the Incremental LDR (Loan-Deposit Ratio) has already fallen to an eight-year low of 14%. Evidently, the outstanding credit-deposit (CD) ratio of scheduled commercial banks has dropped below 70% for the first time in almost three years (The CD ratio currently stands at 69.01%, the lowest since May 2006 when it stood at 69.89%). Add to this the fact that the credit off-take growth too has come down to 16% – as compared to 25% a year back – and you start wondering whether the house that actually collapsed was insured or not.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Can CMD R.s. sharma save india’s most profitable company?

For decades, ONGC was a virtual monopoly when it came to oil and gas in India. Now, CMD R.S Sharma finds that players like Reliance and Cairn can outsmart and outrun it. ratan lal bhagat analyses his dilemma.

As the car virtually hurtled away from the Ahmedabad airport after an uneventful flight, my flight of fancy took over in an almost childish manner. Here I was, all set to see what so many had passionately described as Black Gold. The jolts that I encountered as the driver played footsie with the accelerator was bliss compared to the torture that the corporate communications guy had put me through; before he even made my office pay for the trip! My seniors had consoled me and persuaded me to persist badgering the PR guy. Their logic was: since he is a de facto government employee and since you are not Barkha Dutt, you have to persist. After months of frustration, I was finally headed towards an oil well being drilled by ONGC, India’s most profitable company. I was excited because I had heard many professionals and even journalists talk about the ‘high’ you get when you can see oil literally gushing out of a field. And I was silently thankful to R.S. Sharma, the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC who personally facilitated this trip despite the incredible inertia displayed by his corporate communications people. It wasn’t exactly the same, but I couldn’t help recalling the first time I hired a cab to go on a date.

It was virtually an anti-climax when we reached the ONGC drilling site about 40 kilometres away from Ahmedabad. There was no gushing oil that I could see. Nor could I see men throwing their hard hats and cheering and cursing in a manner that resembles a confirmed bachelor suddenly discovering that he does want something! But, after the first bout of disappointment at not having seen what I had fantasised about, I began to see the complex web of pipes, equipment, hats, sucker rod pumps, et al, in a more sober and realistic light. And within a few hours, I got to actually first see oil definetly not gushing out as we see in movies-but quietly gurgling away in separators at the ONGC facility in Kalol near Ahmedabad.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face