Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Panel members the people who made the verdict!

A snapshot of the 30 leading executives who ranked India’s top 30 B-schools in the B&E B-School Survey 2012-13

Keertan Adyanthaya,
MD, Fox International Channels
Keertan is in charge of the Factual & Lifestyle portfolio of FOX International Channels in India including its strong existing brands like National Geographic Channel and FOX Traveller. With a career spanning over 17-years in allied fields of the media, he has earlier worked at O&M and Mindshare in media planning where he honed his analytical and strategic skills; followed by senior level assignments at Channel V, Star News, VH-1 and Star Plus.

Pradeep Kashyap,
founder & CEO, mart
Pradeep Kashyap is Founder & CEO of MART, a leading emerging market research and consultancy agency having a footprint in South Asia. MART has partnered with many Fortune 500 companies for identifying business opportunities in India, Bangladesh and Nepal using community co-creation approaches. He is a global thought leader widely known as the ‘Father of Rural Marketing’ and has authored the most definitive book on the subject used as standard text in leading B-schools.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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
ExecutiveMBA
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

“Maintaining Last Year’s Growth is A Challenge”

Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, ACMA

India’s automotive industry clocked heady growth of 30% in 2010, surprising both car makers and component manufacturers. Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, shares his views on the outlook and prospects for the auto component industry with Pawan Chabra.

B&E: The automobile industry grew by leaps and bounds in 2010 despite component manufacturers facing capacity constraints in the initial months. Do you expect automakers to ride out the problem this year?
Vinnie Mehta (VM): The growth of the auto components industry is directly linked to the unit sales of automobiles in India. Sales of automobiles have so far been great and the good showing is sure to rub off on the auto components industry as well. If vehicle sales keep growing, the auto components industry’s dream run is sure to continue as well. On the issue of shortages, substantial investments have already been made over the past 12 months and a large chunk of the money has gone into ramping up the production cycle, which has taken care of most of the problems. However, certain issues (cost structure, order size et al) between component makers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) need to be ironed out. Though these largely concern individual relationships, they remain mostly beyond our control. While some customers have been able to manage the problems well, others have not been as capable. But by and large, we have been able to manage the whole thing pretty well. Last year was a year of unprecedented growth, so the challenge this year is to be able to maintain that growth trajectory and keep moving ahead.

B&E: For India, Chinese component makers offer both competition and counterfeits. What is your take on the challenges that the industry is facing from China?
VM: Though I have not studied the Chinese market extensively, it is for sure that the intellectual property (IP) regime in China is not as strong as it is in India. The Indian market has very strong copyright laws in place. Given the fact that the Indian consumer is very price conscious, but hardly aware of the perils of counterfeits and its related issues of safety and efficiency, it is our responsibility to work closely with the government and make the consumer more aware. This needs to be done both at the business and consumer levels.

B&E: Now that the excise duty has been left untouched in the Budget, do you think it will help provide support for maintaining the growth momentum?
VM: It will help the sector to continue on the growth path. In fact, in all the past discussions that we have had with the government, there were hardly any signs of making changes to the excise and customs duty structure. Moreover, as there is now a definitive deadline for the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), it will help in solving various taxation issues as well. Our major recommendation to the government was implementation of GST. Now that it is happening, it is a good sign for the industry.


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

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Friday, January 11, 2013

The ‘welch’ of innovation

Bringing technology to the bedside of patients and ensuring that it fits the pocket size of the poor is bearing fruits for GE Healthcare in India

“You have just got to constantly focus on innovation. And more competitors. You’ve got to constantly produce more for less through intellectual capital. Shun the incremental, and look for the quantum leap.” These words of Jack Welch would still be resounding in the hearts and minds of GE employees long after he quit the hot seat. And the spirit is visible in the way GE Healthcare has developed a strong business model in India. “In India, for India” may sound a bit queer in the context of the $35 billion (expected to reach $75 billion by 2012 and $150 billion by 2017) Indian healthcare industry, which is struggling to make its offerings more accessible and affordable to the common man. But then, that’s where General Electric (GE) Healthcare India plans to make big money and as such, has been focusing upon “bringing technology to the bedside of the patient and to fit the pocket size of the poor.”

For the $17 billion global entity (GE Healthcare), the mission to take modern healthcare to semi-urban and rural India certainly seems to be an ambitious one. But, considering the 15-17% annual growth rate with which the $3 billion medical equipment and devices market in India is galloping ahead (expected to reach $4.97 billion by 2012), the imagination, to a certain extent looks like a healthy one. However, here lies the catch! Given the fact that the propensity to pay is much lower in India, the domestic market in all probability will offer lower profit margins. So, how can GE Healthcare India, which contributes to about 3% of the parent’s topline, remain competitive in the long run?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Friday, January 4, 2013

More than just incentives

Export driven industries need some basic changes to make the incentives work for them

Socialist economy has stifled the creation of wealth in India for more than four decades. Foreign trade never became the cynosure in the upper echelons of government till the advent of the era of economic liberalization in 1991. Since then, the removal of a plethora of barriers to trade not only led to wealth generation but creation of millions of skilled and semis-skilled jobs. But, then came the global recession and the tide turned. A continuous decline in the year-on-year (yoy) merchandise exports for last eight months with declining percentages hovering around 30% and above have cast a gloomy picture for the highest employment generating sector of the economy. The worst hit has been the labour intensive textile and handicrafts with demand plummeting by 30-40% over last year. The next worst hit has been the gems and jewellery exports resulting in a cumulative loss of around three hundred thousand jobs. A recent PHD Chamber survey covering 104 entities revealed that 80% of the export-oriented industries have registered a drop in order size and volume. Estimates show that around 5 million jobs have been lost.

The only saving grace in this tumultuous hour has been the reduction in the import bill though close scrutiny will reveal that this has been due to the reduction in oil prices more than anything else (oil import bill has dropped by more than 50% while the non-oil imports have risen). The recent spurt of excitement in the markets has sparked a new hope for all the sectors of the economy but for the millions of blue collar and semi-skilled workers in the export linked industries.

A new ray of hope can be shown only if certain policy initiatives are taken on war footing and a long term framework is made for the sustained growth of merchandise exports.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Monday, November 19, 2012

Yes, Dr. Singh! It’s a huge crisis that looms in front of us; yet, it’s an excellent opportunity to display great leadership and become a statesman!

 It seems that the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is all set to gift away a comfortable victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in the forthcoming Union elections, with the latter doing nothing much to earn it. Looking at the way things are happening, it is as if history is repeating itself. It was not very long ago that onions had taken away the sheen of whatever good work that the then National Democratic Alliance had done. The electorate had then ruthlessly stripped them of their power, showcasing the crude fact that the Indian electorate posses extremely short memories, particularly when it comes to elections. And this time, no one else is realising it more than the ruling UPA. They realise that gone is the euphoria they created by gifting the huge Rs.60,000 crore loan waiver for farmers in this year’s annual budget, and that too barely two months ago. And gone along with it is the positive sentiment that was created by the increase in the non-taxable income from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh. Also gone is the populist Sixth Pay Commission, which was clearly to woo the Indian middle class.

In less than a few weeks’ time, all that the UPA (and not just the Congress) had tried to prove – as being the representative of the aam aadmi – has been withered away by a phenomenon that is taking catastrophic proportions not just within the nation, but globally. The inflation figure, which is hovering at around 7.33%, has been giving sleepless nights to most governments across the world, including the UPA. In fact, UPA should remember quite well how, around a decade back, BJP had to pay dearly by getting routed in three state assembly elections, simply because the prices of onions had skyrocketed. And this time, it is not just onions; prices have shot up across each and every basic commodity, making things extremely difficult for the Congress. And out of nowhere, a disorganised opposition led by BJP, has found a major poll plank to avenge its earlier defeat. And if the UPA fails to reign in the prices, then it is needless to state that it would all be over for them, at least in the forthcoming elections.

It is a fact that other than certain climatic disruptions, most of this crisis has been primarily driven by the US, with their policy of diverting corn towards extraction of ethanol for bio-fuel being a major reason too! In addition to this, there has also been a sustained increase in the consumption of food in many of the developing countries, especially India and China! Moreover, China’s insatiable demand for steel and other basic commodities has anyways led to an increase in the general price index all across the world. But then, the simple fact that price rise is a global phenomenon, need not be excuse enough for not taking positive actions in India; on the contrary, this is an opportunity for India and its leaders to lead from the front and augment credibility not only for themselves, but for the nation as a whole. Not only that, if it were an Indian problem alone, one could still afford to be relatively complacent (as the world would always be there to help during a real crisis). But this time, it’s a global problem; and if we get into a crisis, there would be very less help coming our way, as all countries would be busy saving their own economies. So it becomes nothing less than imperative for the government to take urgent and proactive measures to solve this crisis.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

WHY DO THEY DISLIKE INDIA?

The governments of Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh reveal to akram hoque of B&E...

Nehru’s dreams started unraveling in 1947 itself when the founder of modern Burma, Aang San was assassinated and Indians were forced to leave everything and flee. By the winter of 1948, Nehru had got a first taste of jihad in Kashmir, a jihad that now threatens to debilitate India even as it destroys Pakistan. Two more shocks awaited Nehru and his vision of a peaceful and comradely South Asia in 1959. The leader of Sri Lanka, Solomon Bandarnaike was assassinated and the genie of anti-Tamil policies uncorked; the resultant civil war has just about reached a lull. And of course, China annexed Tibet, claiming it was always a part of China, forcing the Dalai Lama to flee and get exile in India. By 1962, when the Chinese military humiliated India, Nehru’s dreams of a ‘friendly’ neighbourhood were utterly and completely demolished. Since then, India has simply not been able to forge really close and friendly ties with the people and governments of its neighbours.

Let’s face it. No matter how many times Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh stand in front of the mirror and ask “who is the fairest of them all?”, the fact is that India is not very popular in the neighbourhood. Perhaps the only saving grace is that it is usually the governments of these neighbouring countries that are more hostile towards India than their citizens. For Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, India is the Big Brother and Bully that has a nasty habit of throwing tantrums and throwing its weight around. For Pakistan - or at least a large part of the ruling establishment in Pakistan - India is the Eternal Enemy that defines the existential rationale for the nation state. For China, India is a ‘hegemonistic’ upstart that needs to be taught a lesson every now and then. Why, even Bhutan has problems with India.

This is particularly galling for Indians and Indian policy makers. India is a unique country amongst major powers - including Japan, China, Russia, Germany, France, Britain and the United States - that has never invaded a neighbour. India is the only country amongst major powers that has actually ‘lost’ homeland territory in the last 100 years. India is known for its unique culture of tolerance, co-existence, respect for all religions and openness to new ideas and identities. And yet, why is it that people and governments in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh think that India is a Big Bully which threatens their very existence? Somewhere deep down, Indians are downright offended by the very notion that India can play the Big Bully against any country. And yet, the perceptions persist...


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Friday, August 17, 2012

Despite power being one of the critical focus areas for India

Despite power being one of the critical focus areas for India, increasing complexity in power regulation coupled with ambiguous interpretation of current laws is enhancing clashes between various stakeholders. by Anchal Gupta

Apart from locking horns with exchanges, the CERC’s is also taking on state governments in the backdrop of complexities in existing laws. Tata Power Company (TPC), one of the major suppliers of electricity in Mumbai, had gobbled up 30000 consumers of Anil Ambani owned Reliance Infra in the city. TPC has 1877 MW installed capacity as against R-Infra’s 500 MW. R-Infra sourced 500 MW from Tata but with no capacity addition by the latter and a measly 250 MW addition by the private sector in last 7 years in the region, TPC refused to supply power beyond May ’10 to R-Infra citing that its own cost of buying excess power from outside would jump by 79 paise per unit. When R-Infra took to political lobbying, the state government jumped in issuing orders to TPC to continue supply in excess of 350 MW to R-Infra citing Section 108 of the Electricity Act, 2003 under which it can issue directive to Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) to bring the 2 companies to the resolution table.

The state government order to TPC resulted in immediate intervention by CERC making a strong point about how the Section 11 in the Electricity Act 2003 prohibited government or even the regulator to intervene in matters like this one. Interestingly, Central Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, a former Maharashtra CM, had earlier this year emphatically told a conference of CMs to implement the open access policy rigorously and the same was stressed on in a letter to all states in March. Is it another case of populist action directed from Delhi or blatant disregard for the law of the land? Take your pick.

In countries like the United States, a consumer can shift between energy providers with ease – it seems it’ll be decades before CERC even understands what is meant by “connection portability,” an issue that many consumers are asking today in India, wanting to shift their electricity suppliers. The power regulator in the power centre of India is raging another battle with the Delhi distribution companies (discoms). BSES Yamuna, BSES Rajdhani and NDPL, the 3 Delhi discoms violated a directive issued by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) not to disclose tariff related issues to public till the subject remains sub-judice. But, the discoms publicly claim a total revenue gap of Rs. 26 billion if a revised tariff order comes into force based on much lower estimates of power purchase costs by DERC. The Delhi government stepped in and stalled the order. DERC hit back stating that the discoms own tariff petition filed earlier stated a huge profit instead of loss as claimed in the media declaration. Thus, with the power outages in Delhi compounding the effect of the simmering heat, the bout between DERC and the discoms is hotting up too. The Shiela Dikshit government had to bow to populist sentiment despite her stern stance on raising utility tariffs lately. Where DERC’s autonomy goes is anybody’s guess now.



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Friday, July 27, 2012

Onkar Pandey tries to find out where is HUL Going Wrong

From #22 in 2009 to #30 in 2010 and now #35 in B&E POwer 100 list. Onkar Pandey tries to find out where is HUL Going Wrong

Obviously it’s big base – HUL has grown from annual sales of Rs.113.92 billion in 2001 to a company with annual sales of over Rs.190 billion today – can be blamed for low growth rates, but that’s no excuse as the real problem is that most of the growth has been happening only in volume terms.

Nevertheless, satisfied with the company’s Q4 FY2011 performance (overall business grew by 14%, with personal care business growing by 16.2%, and homecare business by 13.6%), Harish Manwani, Chairman, HUL, said, “Our performance has been strong and consistent through the year. Input costs remain high, while the competitive environment has further intensified...” But then, the company has understood the very fact that there are challenges that it needs to take care of soon. And the as said by Manwani, the company has decided to focus on innovations and strong cost efficiency programmes to deliver long-term competitive, profitable and sustainable growth. However, the food business worries need to be addressed very diligently and immediately. The business that once contributed as much as 37% of the company sales (in 2001), after increased focus on home and personal care businesses lost sight and now contributes only 20%. Certainly ignoring the food division, considering that now the sector is growing at a faster clip now, really sounds like a bad strategy on HUL’s part. Anand Ramanathan, Manager, KPMG Advisory, says, “It’s definitely a cause for concern – the overall food market has out paced personal care and hence it is counter-intuitive for players such as HUL to not reflect this overall movement within the market.”

There is no doubt that after operating for so many years in India, HUL has the required bandwidth and management capability to come out of a slump like this. But for that, the company has to stabilise its top positions and of course, strategies. After all, neither can any CEO deliver overnight, nor can any strategy show sustainable developments in a jiffy; they both need time to fructify. At the same time, the company has to re-access its growth opportunities and focus on ongoing trends. The competition from hereon will only intensify to new degrees. So if HUL misses to build on the base that it has already created, then it might face the risk of losing the glorious India plot.



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