Digital dharma

Social media could influence more than 150 of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2014. Chandran Iyer examines the implications. 

Social Media is poised become the most potent weapon for political parties girdling their loins for the 2014 general elections. Apart from party propaganda work which appears to have already started in right earnest, there is the added promise of lampooning rivals, highlighting personal achievements and scoring brownie points in the fond hope that the voter will catch on.

To be sure, the days of dust-bowl election campaigns in India’s boondocks are not a thing of the past but the cutting edge to arguably the most explosive election campaign likely in 2014, is most certainly going to be provided by a proliferating social media.

Right on top of this list are two of India’s main candidates, Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and BJP strongman Narendra Modi whose recent Twitter monikers, ‘Pappu’ (naïve) and ‘Feku’ (boastful) respectively, have already acquired a life and logic of their own. As elections draw closer, many more such parallels may be thrown up, to the delight of the public, specially the social media-using public.

Political parties, quick to spot the potential of this newly-emerging bandwidth, are aware that an issue breaking out on Twitter or Facebook is more likely to catch eyeballs as compared to the mainstream media which is increasingly been seen as ‘compromised’ and ‘affiliated’ to one or the other political party. For the first time, social media is being seen as a direct connect with the people – without the well informed journalist and blue collared analyst coming in with his or her two penny bit.

Speaking at a debate on ‘Will Internet and social media be a game changer for the next general elections’, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari recently said, “Content agnostic new media platforms are definitely not something that any politician or political party can ignore. However, elections are a complex exercise where voting preferences depend more on local/regional variations. Therefore, one variable may not be a game changer.” May be.

Admits archrival, BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, “the power of social media cannot be denied and political leaders will be forced to take the demands of young India into consideration.’’ By the looks of it, they probably, already are.

Just how significant is the scale of this social media outreach? According to a recent study, it is set to play a very vital and decisive role in influencing the outcome of general elections in at least 160 Lok Sabha constituencies. In other words, a significant portion of the urban vote. In a tight contest, such as the type being predicted in 2014, it can become anyones game.

Says a study conducted by IRIS Knowledge Foundation and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), “There are 160 high impact constituencies out of the total of 543 constituencies, which are likely be influenced by social media during the next general elections.’’ In such a situation, a little tweet or a throwaway line on the net could lead to a frenzy of talk shows, high decibel comment and seemingly endless controversies, all stirred in one direction - impending elections.

In situations such as these, the mainline media, particularly the 24x7 news matrix, on the look out for little tit bits to start a talking heads chat show, can ideally feed on the social media. In turn, both can feed on each other.

India has about 60 million-plus social media users and the numbers are continually increasing. The study categorises high impact constituencies as those where “Facebook users account for over 10 per cent of total voters in a constituency.’’ Even though, the country’s internet penetration is relatively low; about 150 million people out of a total population of 1.2 billion go online. According to the IRIS-IMAI survey, these numbers are poised to go up as D-Day approaches.

Away from dreary and cliched election speeches, a whole new world is opening up – a world where an issue can snowball out of proportion - like the Anna agitation or Kejriwal anti-corruption stir - to be lapped up by an adoring public. Social media's first impact were felt in the now celebrated Twitter spat between former IPL head honcho Lalit Modi and the Congress minister Shashi  Tharoor in 2010 over the equity pattern in the former IPL Kochi team. The seemingly minor exchange ballooned out of proportion and cost Tharoor his job as the junior minister for external affairs. It also made Lalit Modi scamper for cover in London. And guess what Modi is doing from London? Tweeting against the present management of BCCI of course and grabbing headlines!

According to a study on social media usage by The Nielsen Company conducted in collaboration with analytic and research company AbsolutData, nearly 30 million Indians who are online are members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on the net on a daily basis.

More importantly, says the study, Indians spend more time on social media than they do using personal email. According to it, an equal number spend up to an hour on social networking and email. However, while just 8 percent spend between an hour and three hours on personal email, 20 percent spend the same time on social media sites.

The growth of social media has given rise to a new breed of entrepreneurs whose job it is to provide specialised election-related services to individual candidates or to political parties using the digital platform. In this, they are taking the help of software professionals. In some instances, political parties are outsourcing work to newly-cropped IT companies which provide niche information of the kind they require.

This novel experiment was witnessed during the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections, as well as the recently-concluded Karnataka assembly elections. Pune-based Xtech Infocom, an information technology-enabled service provider company, was given the task of managing Congress propaganda. Explains Riyaaz Sheikh, head business relations of Xtech Infocom, “We work for political campaigning through digital medium for individual politicians, regional and national parties. We have provided technological support for campaigning, propaganda, giving information to voters about the party’s policies through bulk SMS, Bulk Voice and cloud telephony”.

Sheikh’s company helped the Congress in Gujarat in the last assembly elections in implementing their election strategy. “We worked hand in hand with the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) in Ahmedabad.  Our boys worked with GPCC's IT cell. Our task was to reach out to maximum voters in the state through mobile telephony and internet and ensure that the party message reaches them. We helped the party in planning total electoral strategies”.

While this social networking may not have been enough to take Narendra Modi off his high pedestal, it certainly suggests the pattern of things to come. The methods employed by Sheikh’s company helped in deploying state-of -the art telephony system along with updated voting slip database and putting into place a call centre where voters phoned up for getting detailed voting slips on their mobile along with the name of their leader.

During the Karnataka assembly elections, political parties set up their own election cells with IT experts and professionals to propagate party agenda and to take liberal pot shots at the opposition.

In Karnataka, BJP became the first political party to set up a professional wing to take care of the social media, christened the Communication Cell. Points out Channamallikarjun B Patil, cell convener: “Our total campaign via the social media was designed by members of our Communication Cell. Our five-pronged strategy included letting the world know about the achievements of the first BJP government in south India through the social media. Second was the party manifesto and the party's future plans; third exposing UPA’s corruption - we released an online version of UPA 100 not out scams – a complete ready reconnoiter of the scam-infested of UPA in the last nine years. Fourth,was the voter awareness programmes via social media and the last, details of clean governance provided by Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar’s government.’’ To be candid, this is one case where even the social media could not help a beleaguered state government and party mired in graft but the general elections could throw up another picture.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
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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China does a mini-Kargil

The objectives are big

China has sent a complement of 50 troops 19 km into Indian territory in the DBO sector in the middle of the strategically-significant Depsang Bulge. The sector is at an altitude of 17,000 feet. Protracted discussions have just begun. China claims the territory as its own; India is busy finding ways to secure a retreat of Chinese troops. The development reflects poorly on Indi's so-called China experts.

China has been frantically developing its national power with economic acitivity, expansive military infrastructure and technology build-up. On the contrary, India has been a meek reactionary hobbled by  lack of foresight and diffidence in the name of caution.

A comprehensive study done by the Eastern Command two years back had brought out that China was ready to initiate its conspiracy against India. The report clearly enunciates the Chinese ‘External Calm and Internal Intensity’ strategy that will not be aimed at achieving any military gains but to  to humiliate India, undermine its rise and dent its position.

The present local position held by the Chinese troops is 30 km south of Daulet Beg Oldi. Daulat Beg Oldi and its airstrip are located just south of the great Karakoram pass; it offers India a means to snap the road route between China and Pakistan and guard the eastern gates to the Siachen glacier. Thus it can, if China holds on, be interdicted.

Zorawar Daulet Singh, an expert on China-India military relationship, says, “The Ladakh incident has been provoked by the Chinese to bring about a new operating environment on the border and draw Delhi’s attention to the tactical level.” It sounds plausible when one analyses China's demands.

On one side, China is setting conditions to stop construction activities at Daulat Beg Oldi and at Chumar where a helipad is being built, and for some tin sheds at Fukche to be dismantled. What has miffed China is the Indian steps to better its infrastructure. Infrastructure development has been in the media for decades. It’s not that we are doing it secretly. Now, once China has completed its infrastructure build up it aims to hinder Indian side of infrastructure buildup.

Border patrols have increased from both sides as China increased its number every year. This is an extension of what was being tested for years. It can be termed as a mini Kargil. Although it was not an off-season intrusion, it was well planned and caliberated. There are clear signs that the Chinese are gradually adding up to the symbolic escalation as they started with tents, increased their numbers, added flags and they will keep waiting for Indian reactions and then will accordingly keep adding to the provocation. No country will throw its soldiers in and this is least possible from a country like China which plans its moves with great care.

If we draw a parallel with the war zone campaign, then this move by China is quite clearly akin to  ‘External Calm and Internal Intensity’. The primary aim here is to lull the adversary into lethargy and inactivity, exactly like it happened before 1962. The slogan ‘Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai’ sums it up the best. As in 1992, the army had drawn a precise analysis of 10 years of the Chinese plan ahead. In Indian army relocation plan and dual tasking official document of Indian Government had led to ending the posture taken during Operation Chequerboard. This operation was launched during General K Sundarji’s time when China had tried to grab a post in Sumdorong Chu. Gen Sundarji had deployed troops in an offensive posture and which had resulted in China backing off. But after the Army’s relocation plan this posture was discontinued. It might have been a wise decision then as it was based on operational information that China was not ready to fight a war for the next 10 years as it was to focus on building its economy and infrastructure. But the analysis that no fight would take place till 2002 also meant that China would be ready for action after 2002. What was our response apart from changing the posture? Did we engage in improving infrastructure and operational capacity? India has not bought artillery guns for two decades, Our air defence has holes, helicopters are lacking, tanks are night blind. Our field formations do not have proper practice ammunitions. The list is long even if we do not talk of the approved strategic roads after the Kargil Committee Report. We have awakened late and started proper allocation in 2010 which will take another 10 years to develop. So, since 1992 poor appreciation and bad military management have hobbled India. TSI, through its sources, has learnt that almost 30  to 40 per cent of the army’s vehicles do not have fuel to run them. In August 2012, an executive order was issued that no new vehicle would be bought.

Ironically the defence Budget increases every year but does not take cost escalation and inflation into account. A senior officer informed TSI that for nine years the utilization of Capital expenditure has been the maximum 9 percent of the allocation. “The first half of the year is wasted in delaying the files and then executive orders are issued and the allocations are blocked,” he adds.

From August the weather will make any troop movement impossible. China had tried the same strategy with Japan but met with strong resistance. It also used pressure tactics with Vietnam and the Philippines and is now doing the same with India. India not only needs to discuss issues with China in clear terms but also focus its priorities and build its national power in a synergized manner. Otherwise, it will only have to capitulate to the smart moves of the adversary.

Dr Dibyesh Anand, associate professor, Westminster University and an expert on China, believes there is relative paucity of neutral and non-nationalist scholarship from the mainstream Indian media, which prevents a dispassionate analysis and gives space to hawks who fit this event into the older lens of bad China/good India/impotent Indian government.  He says: “The way out is to temper down the tension, and ensure serious conversation between Beijing and Delhi without the media baying for each other’s blood,” says Dr. Anand.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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From Neecha Nagar to Miss Lovely

Indian cinema’s association with the Cannes Film Festival goes back a long way. As the world’s largest film producing nation inches its way back into the reckoning on the Croisette, here is a historical overview of what has gone before

India’s association with the Cannes Film Festival goes back all the way to its first edition in 1946. That year, Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar, loosely adapted from Maxim Gorky’s The Lower Depths, won the Grand Prix along with ten other titles. Eleven films were given the top prize because Cannes was seeking to make up for the hiatus of the War years.

Legend has it that the Cannes event was originally supposed to kick off in 1939 because the Venice Film Festival awards were “rigged” – Jean Renoir’s superb Grand Illusion was passed over for two utterly undeserving films – one made by Goebbels’ propaganda ministry, the other by Benito Mussolini’s son. Politics has remained a constant factor for Cannes ever since.
 
In 1946, Neecha Nagar was in great company. Among the films that were awarded in Cannes’ inaugural edition were David Lean’s Brief Encounter, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend and Roberto Rossellini’s Rome Open City.

Until the mid 1990s, India was a constant presence on the Croisette and several films from the country competed for top honours at the festival. Then, the world’s largest film producing nation dropped off Cannes’ radar. It rankled because Cannes has always mattered. 

As the multi-talented French creator Jean Cocteau once said, “The Festival is an apolitical no-man’s land, a microcosm of what the world would be like if people could contact each other directly and speak the same language.” At the festival, everybody does indeed speak the same language – the language of cinema. For 11 days, Cannes turns into the movie capital of the world and no nation that fancies itself as a force on the global stage can afford to miss out on the action.

Since the curtains went up on the festival – the first Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) was handed out to Delbert Mann's Marty in 1955 – Cannes has recognised the best filmmakers of the world with its trophy.

Run your eyes through the list of filmmakers that have won the Grand Prix/Palme d’Or over the years: Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio de Sica, Orson Welles, Federico Fellini, Luis Bunuel, Luchino Visconti, , Michelangelo Antonioni, Lindsay Anderson, Robert Altman, Joseph Losey,  Martin Scorsese, Ermanno Olmi, Volker Schlondorff, Akira Kurosawa, Andrzej Wajda, Constantin Costa-Gavras, Wim Wenders, Shohei Imamura, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Soderbergh, Mike Leigh, Abbas Kiorastami, Emir Kusturica, Chen Kaige, Coen brothers,  Taviani brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke…

This list is by no means complete, but it’s a veritable who’s who of the men who have shaped the contours of modern cinema. Unfortunately, only a solitary woman director – Jane Campion for The Piano, 1993 – has ever won the Palme d’Or and that is one imbalance that the Cannes Film Festival would be keen to rectify.     

What separates Cannes from other festivals is its constant edginess. Even as it celebrates Hollywood glitz and glamour, it revels as much in showcasing the auteurs and the in-your-face upstarts, and in spotting and pushing new talents from around the world. You love some of the films, you hate others, but you can rarely ever completely ignore anything that the Cannes selectors pick.

The last Indian film to compete in Cannes was Shaji N. Karun’s Swaham in 1994. Another Malayalam film, Murali Nair’s Arimpara, made the Un Certain Regard cut in 2003, a year after Bhansali’s reworking of Devdas had a special red carpet screening at the Grand Lumiere.

But India was blanked out year after year by the globe’s premier film festival until it made a comeback with Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan breaking into  Un Certain Regard in 2010. Yet, Indian filmmakers, big and small, land in Cannes’ buyer-seller space with movies in a bid to access the growing Diaspora as well as tap new markets. .

But for those saddened by the dwindling global esteem for the quality of Indian films, it is a tad painful to see relatively small filmmaking nations that were once way behind India in terms of international exposure - South Korea, China, Iran, Thailand, Taiwan – being ‘officially’ celebrated in Cannes every year.

 In 1954, Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen bagged a Grand Prize, while Ray’s epochal Pather Panchali was adjudged the Best Human Document in 1956. As many as 17 Indian films were in Competition during the first two decades of Cannes. Besides Pather Panchali, these included Ray’s Paras Pathar and Devi, Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen, Biraj Bahu and Sujata, V. Shantaram’s Amar Bhoopali and Shevgyachya Shenga, Prakash Arora’s Boot Polish (for which Baby Naaz won a Special Mention in 1955), and Moni Bhattacharjee’s Mujhe Jeeno Do.


In the 1970s and 1980s, too, Indian cinema figured frequently in the Cannes Competition with films like Mrinal Sen’s Ek Din Pratidin (1980), the Jury Prize-winning Kharij (1983) and Genesis (1986), MS Sathyu’s Garam Hawa (1974), Shyam Benegal’s Nishant (1976), Ray’s Ghare Baire (1984).

Two Indian films came tantalizingly close to winning Cannes’ top prize. One, of course, was Pather Panchali, which is today listed on the festival’s official website at par with the 1956 Palme d’Or winner, the French documentary Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World), made by legendary oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle. It was felt the French film pipped Ray’s debut work for of its technical brilliance – it was one of the first films that used underwater cinematography to capture the depths of the ocean in colour.


The other was Mrinal Sen’s searing critique of urban middle class mores, Kharij, which, in 1983, was up against a film of the quality of Shohei Imamura’s The Ballad of Narayama. While the latter was given the Palme d’Or, the jury, headed by American writer William Styron, adjudged Kharij the second best by bestowing the Jury Prize on it. In 1983, Cannes had a particularly strong Competition line-up and the runners-up finish for Kharij was no mean achievement. Among the films that Sen’s entry upstaged were Robert Bresson’s L’Argent and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalgia.

In the late 1980s, two Indian films did the nation proud – Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay won the Camera d’Or (for the best debut film screened in the festival across all its sections) in 1988 and Shaji’s Piravi bagged the best film prize in Un Certain Regard in 1989. In 1999, Murali Nair’s Marana Simhasanam, screened in Un Certain Regard, won the Camera d’Or.  
   
But the last two decades have seen a complete washout, with no Indian name making it to the list of 20-odd films that compete each year for the Palme d’Or although a special screening of a documentary celebrating the popular strain of Hindi cinema, Rakesysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bollywood – The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, was hosted by the festival in 2011.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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

A Toxic Tale

Animal Planet is crawling with them. So is Nat Geo Wild. It’s snakes and the modern day snake charmers, herpetologists with a penchant for one way conversations – folks like Austin Stevens, Jeff Corwin, Brady Barr, the man who started it all, the late great Steve ‘Crikey’ Irwin, and of course, our  home grown sweet talking snake wrangler – Gerry Martin, who seem to have taken over all the prime time slots on animal tv.

They make for wonderfully exciting viewing, I will give you that. Most folks, even those that love dogs and cats and birds, and find monkeys cute and white mice adorable, shudder at the thought of a snake slithering along their arm.

Snakes inspire revulsion and reverence in equal measure. The scales, the forked tongue, the unblinking eyes and the possibility of a lethal liquid flowing through their switchblade fangs elevates them to the status of a god for a few and the very devil for the rest.

So I can understand why it is like standing barefoot on the very edge of reality tv to watch a man as mortal as you and me, literally kiss death as his lips touch the raised hood of a king cobra. These men catch mambas by their tails, taipans by the neck and play with rattling rattlers like they were a child’s toy. The tiniest scratch from any one of these snakes could lead to a painful and hideous end for these experts.  Even with antivenom, the recovery process is uncertain, slow and very painful. So those men are risking a whole lot for good television. Should you try this at home? Sure, go ahead. If you’re as incredibly lucky as I once was, you will survive both the encounter and the feeling of having been monumentally stupid when the realization of how close you were to a grisly death has washed over you. And if you are not, you will be in that privileged ringside seat to the spectacle of watching the limb that suffered the hemotoxic bite disintegrate in front of your very eyes as you writhe in the kind of agony that might make getting impaled on a stake feel like a vacation. Or you could try guessing which of your organs is shutting down first as the neurotoxins motor along your arteries. Whichever the nature of the venom, it is unlikely to be a quiet death, I promise.  

Here’s my story that I might have shared in bits and pieces on earlier occasions but this time I present it to you in its entirety as a prelude to ‘what to do when the naughty one from Eden comes calling’.

A few springs ago, I was walking out of my office which was then sitting pretty near the green glades of Sanjay Van near Qutab Institutional Area, when I spotted the guards crowding around a pair of flower pots. I peered over their shoulders and saw them poking at a long slim snake with sticks. More than two feet long, a deep dirty brown with bands running rings around it. Some wanted to kill it with sticks, some suggested burning it while a few where of the opinion that it should either be left alone or carried outside the premises and released.

One of the men said that he had often seen these snakes around the area. Now that got me thinking. If this snake was common in the area, it was important to know whether this snake was venomous or not and what should one do if one of these snakes just pops up around a corner. So I suggested that they put the snake, unharmed and whole, in a container so I could take it to the zoo and get it identified and find suggestions for a viable protocol if this kind of an encounter was to happen again (mobile phone cameras weren’t really de rigueur in those days and so physically carrying the snake was the only way out).

A plastic bottle was procured and the snake, still sluggish in the cool of the morning was poked and picked and placed inside the bottle. One of the guards thought the snake might find the confines of the bottle claustrophobic and punched a few holes into the cap. But now the holes seemed big enough for the snake to escape through them and so he stuck a few twigs to plug the holes. Equipped thus I stuck the bottle between the seat and the door to keep the bottle upright and drove off to the zoo. A speed breaker later, the bottle keeled over and a forked tongue flickered out of the port window in the bottle cap. If the snake got out, it would be impossible to find in the folds of the car’s insides. I had to pull over and set things right. Like I said, it was a monumentally stupid decision to transport a potentially dangerous reptile in this fasion and then to drive with this distraction through Delhi’s notoriously hostile traffic.

Anyway, we both survived the trip to the zoo where I explained my situation to the folks manning the gate and I was ushered in to reptile house. I held out the bottle with the gaping holes in the cap (the twigs had given in to gravity and had fallen through. The little snake had climbed along the length of the twigs and was now poking its head out of the bottle). The man at the reptile house shrank back in horror. “Krait! It’s a Krait”, he whispered. My hands must have started shaking involuntarily at the exclamation for the bottle vibrated in my hand and the snake dropped down again to the bottom.

A krait?! I had been cradling a krait all this while? t krait in Re first time I came across those five dreaded letters was in Rudyard Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, that unforgettable tale that pitted a pair of cobras against a brave and wily pet mongoose. In the story, Kipling’s krait was smaller but as venomous (as a matter of fact, ounce for ounce, krait venom is even more potent than cobra venom) and dangerous as those hooded emissaries of doom. “It is still a little chilly these days. This one got out a little too soon and that’s why you are still alive”, snapped the zoo ‘expert’. “Half an hour is all it will take for this little devil’s neurotoxins to take you to the brink of respiratory failure”, he added.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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

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PAUL BRACKEN: PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, YALE UNIVERSITY

China, too, is shifting its nuclear forces to mobile missiles and submarines. These weapons can be put on alert in a way that would be highly visible to US satellites and the global media. Thus, the Chinese can easily “nuclearise” a crisis with US or anyone else. They do not have to detonate a nuclear weapon, but only alert adversaries to the dramatic increase in the political stakes and dangers of a showdown.

Russia, not wanting to be left out of the act, has recently staged the largest nuclear exercises in decades to remind everyone that it remains a serious nuclear player, too. These individual developments are troubling. But they cannot be understood in isolation from the larger multipolar system of major powers that is forming. To a great extent, this is a nuclear multipolar system: possessing nuclear weapons contributes to a country’s global status as a major power.

To see this, consider the following question: When was the last time that the US or anyone else seriously proposed that India sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – that is, that India give up the Bomb. Given America’s economic problems and looming defense cuts, as well as growing Chinese power, there is no longer even a remote possibility that this demand will be made. India has become an accepted, legitimate member of the nuclear club, the fiction of the NPT notwithstanding. It is even less likely that China or Russia would disarm for the sake of a nuclear-free world.

But the most urgent problem stems from the breakdown of major countries’ one-time nuclear monopoly and the empowerment of smaller countries like North Korea, Pakistan, Israel, and, quite possibly, Iran. A new set of rules for diplomacy, military strategy, and arms control is needed to stabilize this emerging nuclear order. Pretending that it does not exist is not a strategy.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

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

Who let the street down?

As Yet another turbulent year draws to a close, it’s time to see who quashed investors’ hopes on the street. Though the second half of the year saw share prices of a number of top companies coming back on track, some stocks still remained painfully low. B&E finds out the top value destroyers for the year among the BSE 100 constituents

Slow demand hits all

IT giant Infosys topped the chart biggest wealth destroyers (in %). Affected by a slowdown in revenue from Western clients remained the biggest problem for the company. Between Jan 2, 2012 and December 15, 2012, it lost 15.91% of its m-cap. ONGC stood second with 15.66% reduction in its m-cap due to slow oil and natural gas discovery in the new fields and poor yield from existing assets. Two companies from Adani group made it to this not-to-be-proud list. Adani Enterprises suffered due to increasing international prices and a forced 7% promotor’s stake sale to meet compulsory share holding norms, while Adani Power faced issues due to low margins. GMR infrastructure suffered various bottlenecks including sectoral and its own internal issues.

Western disturbances hit Infy

In absolute terms, Infosys and ONGC lost market capitalization to the tune of Rs.178.94 billion and Rs.106.60 billion respectively between Jan 2, 2012 and December 15, 2012. Among others Bharti Airtel saw its m-cap coming down by Rs.39.42 billion due to lower user base and less than expected average revenue per user. However, it is expected that the capex made by the company may soon bring a change in its fortune in the next financial year and a good recovery is on cards for the telecom giant. Rising non-performing assets troubled Punjab National Bank to a great extent during the year. During the given period, the bank’s market capitalisation fell by Rs.3.38 billion.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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

Has Russia chosen the wrong guy once again?

With inflation cooling down to a post-Soviet record-low of 3.8% and real wage growth improving, some may wonder why is there an expectation of growing opposition to Putin during his upcoming Presidency? His reluctance to implement structural reforms coupled with his refusal to openly tackle rampant corruption in Russia could be contributing factors – but election fraud in the recent elections, surely not

Almost six months ago (on September 24, 2011), while addressing his party’s members at a congress, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, should stand for the presidency in 2012. Clearly, this wasn’t a bombshell by any quarters; in fact, the announcement was quite expected. But that day, post the announcement, two things were more or less certain – Putin would win the elections and the opposition would protest the results. The definiteness in the above certainties was not because Putin was expected to win the March 2012 Presidential elections through fraudulent practices, but ironically because he was expected to win despite such practices. In other words, Putin’s popularity had held strong at such high levels over the past few years and especially as of recent times, that even international observers had expected quite a reduced form of ballot fraud.

It isn’t that Putin himself wasn’t aware of his massive popularity. His decision to allow the installation of more than 182,000 web cameras at 91,000 odd polling stations and admittance of thousands of independent, international election observers during the March 2012 elections should have convinced even critics that the man was changing. This is not to say that irregularities did not occur – a Chechnya polling station even documented a 107% voter turnout – but Putin’s final overall vote tally of about 64% matches closely with exit polls conducted by multiple agencies (like Public Opinion Foundation and All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre) that forecasted that Putin would obtain around 58-59% of the polled votes. If at all Putin’s supporters abused the election process, to be fair, it couldn’t have mattered beyond a few handful of percentages in the final tally. And one really would be strongly given to believe that Putin would not have undertaken underhand election practices for such a puny advantage.

It’s abundantly clear that Russians en masse are supporting Putin’s candidature, more for the way he has stabilized the country from the pits it had reached in the 90s Yeltsin era, than for his dictatorial prances. Then why is there an expectation of growing angst in the upcoming Putin presidency? Like we said, election fraud surely can’t be the reason.

And even peddling Russia’s ‘impending economic downfall’ as the reason may, on the face of it, sound quite eccentric – while Russian real wage growth has returned to near double-digits (9% y-o-y in January 2012), inflationary pressures too have cooled down to a post-Soviet record-low of 3.8% in February. With 4.3% y-o-y increase in GDP in 2011, Russia’s economy has broadly even recovered from the global economic crisis. But a deeper look, and some questions around Russia’s remarkable growth, led clearly by ‘black gold’ (oil accounts for nearly 20% of Russia’s GDP, over 66% of its exports and 50% of its government revenues) surely start gaining locus standi.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

BBA Management Education

Bid adieu to these 10 WMDs!

The only thing that can perhaps be worse than hiring the wrong employee is hiring the wrong leader. In this incisive analysis, Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri, Honorary Director, IIPM Think Tank and Prof. A. Sandeep, Group Editorial Director, Planman Media, identify 10 CEO traits that are an agglomeration of bad news for the companies that they lead.

It’s the position that makes the most bucks. But then, it is also the position where the buck stops rolling. The CEO is answerable to every stakeholder imaginable for the success or failure of any operation/division; be it marketing, HR, operations or finance. He takes decisions, sets the direction and sets the organisation up to execute on his strategy; and can be the critical difference between a company that ups the ante and one that falls of the cliff.

The traits that define a good CEO have been the subject of scrutiny and debate over several years, but it remains largely unresolved. That’s certainly bad news for corporate boards, who would want to go to any extent to ensure that they have the right man. Based on exhaustive research and industry interface over the years, we present an expansive primer of 10 typical traits of unsuccessful CEOs, which should act as red flags for any company.

#1 the best one-trick pony you met

To be true, multi-tasking is a way of life today, but one really wonders if it is the trait that should be associated with CEOs. If you look at expert analysis, CEOs looking to specialise in one area, with the belief that it leads to better efficiency and performance, need a very urgent reality check. Dr. Louis Csoka published a benchmark report titled ‘International Communications Research in December 2006, which proved that multi-taskers were not only more educated in comparison (78% more) but were also better paid (200% more!). It is also affirmed in a research by Dr. Levenson (University of Southern California), Dr. Gibbs (Chicago Graduate School of Business) and Professor Zoghi (Bureau of Labour Statistics) titled, ‘Why Are Jobs Designed The Way They Are?’, that in world leading organisations, ‘multi-tasking’ “leads to greater productivity” as compared to specialisation. One case in point is highlighted in the NHS Report from Institute for Innovation and Improvement, which wrote of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, “Gates is the original multi-tasking man...” In fact, Gates’ belief in multi-tasking is so supreme that “once, Gates hung a map of Africa in his garage, so he could have something to occupy his mind for the precious seconds spent turning on the engine of his Porsche.” In other words, there is a significantly high probability that single/limited tasking CEOs would easily find their way into the ignominious list of worst performing CEOs.

#2 let’s be history together!

Does your organisation revolve heavily around one power figure, with his immediate deputies leading the rest in following his cue blindly on every occasion? If that be the case, you must delink from this organisation at the earliest opportunity. The right CEO is one who identifies potential insiders and grooms them relentlessly into leadership positions, and keeps a list of potential successors ready. The wrong CEO, simply put, is one who does not do that. Global HR consultancy Heidrick & Struggles reveals an interesting research finding, which states that “merely announcing who your next CEO will be, can move the market value of your company by 5% or more!” Centre for Economics & Business Research also proved in its benchmark research of 350 FTSE firms in 2005 that firms with unplanned succession planning for CEOs underperformed their counterparts, who had proper succession planning in place.
 

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

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

“I want Chhattisgarh to scale new heights”

He claims that Chhattisgarh has been witnessing an unprecedented growth ever since he took over its reins in 2003. In this exclusive interaction with B&E’s Sray Agarwal, Chief Minister Raman Singh defends his claim apart from discussing what all is he doing to make Chhattisgarh the most developed state in India

B&E: It’s been over eight years since you took charge as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. How would you rate your governance when it comes to the economic development of the state?

Raman Singh (RS): There are certain norms to scale the growth of the state. You will be happy to know that we have been maintaining a double-digit growth rate for the last seven years. A remarkable growth rate was registered in FY2009-10. In that year, the Gross State Domestic Product Growth (GSDP) rate was 11.49%, which was the highest among all states. Even the average GSDP rate of the past seven years was around 11%. In FY2010-11, Chhattisgarh has again proved the strength of its vision, policies, programmes and schemes. Sustainable environment of development has increased the state’s GSDP rate in FY2010-11 over FY2009-10. In fact, as per a recently issued report, Chhattisgarh was among the three fastest growing states in the country – Bihar (14.79%), Tamil Nadu (11.74%) and Chhattisgarh (11.57%).

B&E: How is Chhattisgarh tackling the fiscal deficit?

RS: Initially, when the state came into being we faced the problem of fiscal deficit. But the whole scenario changed when I took over as Chief Minister. There has been a remarkable improvement in major financial indicators of the state. Our revenue deficit turned into revenue surplus. In compliance with the 12th Finance Commission recommendation, the state’s fiscal deficit has been within 3% of GSDP since FY2005-06. While plan expenditure has increased by around seven times, non-plan expenditure has risen less than three times. All targets mentioned in the FRBM Act have been achieved. In fact, Chhattisgarh has never resorted to ways and means advances (WMA) from RBI due to better financial management.

B&E: Chhattisgarh has been at the forefront when it comes to agriculture. How has it been possible?

RS: Right from the beginning we were clear that for the all-round development of Chhattisgarh condition of the farmers needs to be improved. We therefore took various practical measures to reduce the production cost. Firstly, we reduced the interest rate on farmers’ loan from 14-15% to just 1%. This automatically encouraged farmers to take loans. Earlier, farmers in the state used to avail loan worth Rs.100 crore in all. Now, our target is to distribute loan to the tune of Rs.1,700 crore. For the last 60 years, there were only 72,000 irrigation pump connections. Today the number has gone up to 2,90,000. In fact, we provide free electricity supply of 6,000 and 7,500 units for pumps up to 3 and 5 horsepower respectively. Farmers using these pumps are exempted from fix charges, meter rental and other fees. The paddy procurement at support price is also going on at large scale. Last year, we procured almost 60 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, and stood second in paddy procurement behind Punjab in the country.

B&E: About a decade ago, Chhattisgarh lacked quality roads and highways which are essential to development of any state. Even the power scenario wasn’t that good. What has your government done to improve the situation?

RS: Chhattisgarh has been a backward state for various historical and geographical reasons. We had crisis in electricity, road, drinking water, housing and other sectors. Breaking the deadlock of over two decades in the power sector, we established two thermal power plants of 500 MW capacity. Simultaneously, we decided to make Chhattisgarh a power hub. At the time of the state’s formation, the total power generation capacity was 1,360 MW, which went up to 1,925 MW by the end of 11th Five Year Plan. In fact, a couple of new power plants, with a collective capacity of 1,500 MW, are nearing completion. Moreover, some more power plants, having total capacity of 30,000 MW, would be installed during the 12th Five Year Plan. We have targeted to contribute more than 30% of the country’s total power generation by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan. The infrastructure is being developed accordingly for the distribution and transmission of the expected capacity of power generation. Through such initiatives, we have already become one of the few states in the country to have 24-hour power supply. Our per consumer electricity consumption has also gone up from 354 units to 1,547 units, which is the highest in the country. As far as roads are concerned, the situation is far better than what it was a decade ago. When the state was formed, the density of roads was 17.5 Kilometer per 100 sq. km., which has now increased to 21.40 km through various efforts. Apart from the general schemes, we have also launched special schemes for villages, which includes Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana for human habitats. This scheme does not come under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. About 4,100 km long roads have been proposed under this scheme an outlay of Rs.2,000 crore. We wish to touch the national average very soon in the area of road construction.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

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

At the cusp of a great execution opportunity

The real estate sector in India has come off its peak two years ago and is currently being dragged down by a host of issues. For the sector to get back on the growth track, there’s much riding on how leading players such as DLF get their act together again.

For the last two years, the real estate sector in India – whose market size is expected to reach $90 billion by 2015 – has been witnessing slowing demand and inventory pile-up. The unsold inventory in residential real estate so far this year has been the highest in Delhi-NCR at 102,758 units, followed by the Mumbai metropolitan region at 90,512. Bangalore comes next with 46,596 units, and Pune follows with 40,734 units (PropEquity statistics). At the same time home loan interest rates have refused to come down and this has dampened sales even further. Growth in home-loans dropped to 12.1% for the year ended March 2012 from 16% in the last fiscal year.

Even the prospects of commercial property have dimmed severely. The drift is likely to continue for the next few quarters, with absorption of office space expected to drop by 10-15 % for 2012 due to lower demand from the IT/ITES sector. Demand from IT/ITES sector has dropped from 68% in 2005 to 35% at present due to increasing cost pressures faced by IT firms.

To make matters worse for the industry, most of its leading players are reeling under high debt. The cost of debt for most real estate companies is in the range of 12-15%, on the basis of which the combined interest burden itself on them is between Rs.40 billion and Rs. 50 billion. With home sales at abysmal lows, real estate companies are finding it difficult to deliver their projects or repay their growing debt on time.

Apparently, nearly half of the 930,000 under-construction residential units in the country, scheduled for delivery by 2013, are likely to be delayed by up to 18 months. Analysts say many of these delayed projects might be up for sale as developers will not be able to revive them due to shortage of funds and cost of debt servicing.

According to industry estimates, the combined debt of the country’s top 11 listed real estate companies stands at around Rs.350 billion. While many small and mid-sized Indian property developers face the risk of default, the big ones are trying to overcome the situation by delaying projects, discounting properties and even selling assets. Leading real estate player Unitech is selling land parcels to pare its debt, which stood at Rs.51.9 billion as of December 2011. It had a land bank of 605.4 million sq. ft. in

March 2008, but by December 2011, it had declined to about 304 million sq. ft. Another leading real estate firm, HDIL, which had a debt of Rs.41 billion as on December 31, 2011, recently sold a two-acre plot in Andheri, Mumbai, to the real estate arm of Adani Enterprises for Rs.9 billion.

Even the country’s largest real-estate company – DLF – which ranks #73 on this year’s B&E list of Most Profitable Companies, has been finding it extremely difficult to raise funds and reduce its mountainous debt of Rs.227.58 billion as of end of December 2011. Its debt burden rose to around Rs.200 billion on the back of a tenfold rise in its interest costs since 2008. The interest outgo in the fourth quarter of FY2012 increased to Rs.6.03 billion from Rs.4.55 billion in the year-ago period. The company, as a result of its huge costs, has not been able to post an increase in quarterly profits over the last two years, and its sales growth has also fallen over the last four quarters. For the quarter ended March 2012, DLF posted a 39% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs.2.11 billion. Similarly, consolidated total income dipped 4% to Rs.27.47 billion as against Rs.28.70 billion in January-March 2011. To ease the pressure on its books the company has set a target of raising Rs.60 billion to Rs.70 billion from divesting non-core assets such as hotels and IT parks by the end of financial year 2012-13.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

“Rajiv Gandhi was young, but a very dynamic person...”

Former Union Minister Mohan Dharia, who resigned from Indira Gandhi’s government in protest against her policies, speaks to B&E about Rajiv Gandhi

B&E: You were once a close confidante of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. You knew Rajiv well too. How do you judge him as a Prime Minister?
Mohan Dharia (MD): Rajiv Gandhi became the PM at a time when the when the country was passing through a gloomy period. People had sympathy for Rajiv who became the Prime Minister at a young age. His knowledge was limited. He was not aware of the problems of the people at the grassroots level. However he was a very dynamic person.

B&E: So would you say that Rajiv was a visionary leader who had imagined a modern India? Or is that description an overrating?
MD: He seriously wanted to modernise India. When US denied to give India the technology of supercomputing, it was he who encouraged the creation of the indigenous Param Supercomputer. That not only proved his vision but also his honest intent.

B&E: If you were to compare Rajiv with his mother Indira and grandfather Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, what would you say?
MD: All of them had totally different personalities. Nehru was the architect of our foreign policy even before independence. He always honoured our democracy. Indira Gandhi was a person with a strong determination and courage. She nationalised the commercial banks and also abolished the privileges of former rulers. Then, even A. B. Vajpayee had described her as Durga Mata. But somewhere down the line, she forgot the assurances given to her countrymen. On the other hand, though Rajiv was very young and ambitious, he was more humane than his mother.

B&E: Rajiv did ask you to become the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission. You refused. What did you tell him?
MD: When he asked me to become the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, I expressed my inability to do so, as there were basic differences in our approach. In my two hour-long meeting with Rajiv, he fairly conceded his ignorance and assured me to amend his approach on many issues like removal of illiteracy, training and skill development to increase the employability of individuals, development of vast wastelands through micro watershed management, water conservation and more. He however had an open mind and we became close friends in the Congress camp.

B&E: You had a view on Rajiv naming many schemes, buildings and institutions after his family members...
MD: It was wrong on the part of Rajiv to name programmes or big contributions after his family members. The reason being that if tomorrow an opposition party grows to power, it would not show interest in running schemes that are named after leaders of the opposition party/parties.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

Is the Corus diet finally showing on Tata Steel’s health?

The Indian steel giant Tata Steel reported an unexpected quarterly loss, its first in more than two years. While some blame it Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, and mention that the real price of the acquisition that Tata Steel made in January 2007 is coming to fore, the real reason could simply be rising input costs and dwindling demand in Europe...

Indeed, Ratan Tata is not given to hyperbole or grandstanding, notwithstanding his “you put a gun to my head and pull the trigger or take the gun away, I won’t move my head” comments. Thus, when he had described the Corus deal (Tata Steel acquired the Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for $12.04 billion or 680 pence a share in January 2007) as being a “bold visionary move”, many had praised the move as being the harbinger of India’s rise on the global top ranks.

Of course, that part has surely been true, but what hasn’t and cannot be ignored is that he also seems to have invited discomfiting analogies and criticism on the Corus deal from significant quarters. The sounding board of these critics has become more cacophonous with the current situation of Tata Steel – the company is struggling with weak demand and higher material costs and reported a consolidated net loss of Rs.6.03 billion for the third quarter ending December 31, 2011, against a net profit of Rs.10.03 billion during the same period a year earlier.

Critics forward the proposition that had Tata Steel not acquired the Anglo-Dutch giant, it could have been more resilient in the current economic scenario. While that may well be putting it too plainly, the fact is that the acquisition of Corus brought with itself a debt burden of $6.17 billion on Tata Steel’s balance sheet. The company’s total debt liability has only moved upwards since then and today stands at a whopping $9.52 billion (as on December 31, 2011), up from $8.79 billion at the end of March 2011. While the company maintains that the Q3 losses have surfaced due to the exercise of writing down the value of inventories of raw materials and finished goods at some of its subsidiaries, particularly at Tata Steel Europe, to recognise the fall in market price of these products (the write-down for Q3 FY2012 amounts to Rs.7.41 billion or around $143 million), there is more. Steel prices in Europe have risen by approximately 7% during 2012, while prices of coking coal have declined by over 20% in the past three quarters. Imagine what would have happened had the conditions been the other way round. In fact, Tata steel is not the only company which has suffered due to a wounded Europe.

The world’s largest steel producer, Luxemburg based ArcelorMittal, has also reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $1 billion against a loss of $780 million during the same quarter last year. With European Union’s projection for the economy to contract at a rate of 0.3% for calender year 2012, the chances for steel demand to pick up in the region remains bleak, at least in the near future. To add to the woes, the World Steel Association has projected Europe’s steel demand growth for the year 2012 to be a meagre 5.4% compared to 15.1% growth in the year 2010.

Apart from operational issues, Tata Steel Europe is also facing regulatory challenges. It has got the mandate to lower its carbon emissions by 2013 to meet standards set by the European Commission.
 

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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

Inflation & growth: Can the twain meet?

Persistent Hikes in key policy rates have failed to slay the monster of inflation. Instead, it has inflicted collateral damage: slowdown in India’s manufacturing growth. B&E was the first to identify that India was slipping into a definite slowdown (cover story; August 4, 2011). What can policymakers do to bring down prices without hurting growth?

It is the season of bad news. News of scams and scandals, protests and labour strikes, a wobbling Sensex, soaring food prices and policy paralysis in the government have been hitting the headlines with metronomic frequency. The depressing state of affairs in the global economy and the spreading debt crisis in Europe are an added aggravation. In the past, India weathered the global financial crisis with aplomb thanks to the timely intervention from the Centre, which understood the gravity of the situation and promptly reacted by releasing three stimulus packages in quick succession amounting to Rs.1.86 trillion during 2008-09. But after a brief sunshine, the storm clouds are back on the horizon.

The worst piece of news to have hit the Indian economy in recent days is that the country’s factory output has slowed to its lowest pace in the past 30 months. According to figures released in September this year, the manufacturing PMI, or Purchasing Managers’ Index, for India, slid more than two points to 50.4. This a shade above the 50 mark, which separates contraction of manufacturing activity from expansion.The September survey finding – based on data from more than 500 manufacturing firms – was the lowest since March 2009, when the Index had slipped below 50 owing to the global slowdown.

That India was inching towards economic slowdown was first indicated by numbers thrown by the Index of Industrial Production in July. The IIP figures showed factory output growth dipping to a 21-month low at 3.3% in July 2011 as compared to 9.9% in the corresponding period a year ago. To add to the cup of misery, the Wholesale Price Index based inflation stood at 9.22% in July, much above the 5.5% mark, which the RBI thinks to be the comfort zone. Such persistently high inflation above 9% has not been witnessed anywhere else in South Asia/South East Asia or even Latin America in recent times.

Both the PMI Survey and IIP raise certain questions and fears about the future course and direction of the Indian economy. As a result, fresh doubts are being voiced about the ability of the economy to sustain its present growth momentum. HSBC chief economist for India & Asean Leif Eskesen thinks that Indian manufacturing growth is clearly slowing in response to the tighter monetary policy, uncertainty created by high inflation and weak global economic environment. Economists of different hues concur that as the effects of a dozen interest rate hikes by the RBI over the past 18 months continue to reverberate across the economy and so long as global economic conditions don’t improve, growth in India’s manufacturing sector will remain subdued in the foreseeable future.

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

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
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