Much before Danny Boyle sold India’s shit-soaked poverty to a global audience

Ratan Tata had already made an example out of the nation’s spirit of innovation – with the world’s cheapest car, no less! But can the Nano revive Tata Motors, which recently posted its first quarterly loss (of $58.5 million) in seven years? Pawan Chabra & Surbhi Chawla’s incisive analysis...

When mentor JRD Tata tapped Ratan Naval Tata in 1991 and asked him to take over the baton of the Tata Group, Ratan, then 54, gregariously went ahead and appointed himself Chairman of the group’s largest companies. The ageing old guard at these units sniggered and viewed the move as an ego trip by the younger Tata. But Ratan was thinking differently. The economy had just got deregulated and he realised that old, pedantic strategies would be insufficient for Indian businesses to deal with the unfolding era. His emphasis on flab-cutting and a new strategic direction for the group put Tata’s businesses on the fast track.

Almost fifteen years later, the word ‘ego’ has come back to haunt Ratan Tata. This time the scenario was spanning continents. What we do know is that he initially wagered 220 pence per share, but eventually paid almost triple that amount – 660 pence per share – for the Anglo-Dutch steel major, Corus. What we don’t know however, is whether he was prompted by the strategic implications of creating the world’s 5th largest steel producer or by the mere desire to pander to his ego, which refused to accept defeat in the face of a fierce takeover battle with Brazilian rival Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Tata Steel’s balance sheet has still not recovered from the Corus onslaught!

But it was with the Nano (the world’s cheapest car) that Ratan Tata’s ego applied for top honours. Combined with the $2.3 billion JLR acquisition, Tata Motors and Ratan indeed became top of the mind on the global automotive map. He announced the Nano launch for end-2008. Then Singur happened and Tata had to shift his Nano dream to Sanand in Gujarat. The Nano got delayed – anathema for the now global auto czar.

Simultaneously, the global recession began digging deeper holes into Tata Motors’ financials, input costs began going up and the Rs.1,00,000 price tag for the Nano was not looking conducive any more. Recalls Abhishek Jain, Exec. Director, Precision Pipes (a vendor for Nano), “There was a lot of pressure on cost through out the production process of the Nano!” But does that stop Ratan Tata? Hardly! The man is on a roll – he announced the launch of Nano for March 23, 2009 – at least the bookings are slated to start on that date! The ‘ego’ word is being bandied about yet again! “It’s all about ego for Ratan Tata. The date March 23 is strategically chosen as he wants to launch it in this fiscal, overshadowing his inability to launch it in the last calendar year,” concludes an industry insider on condition of anonymity.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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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IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

O.P. Bhatt & M.V. Nair are not alone.

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Most CMDs of state-run banks have taken a leaf out of Barack Obama’s ‘change’ mantra to send out fever-pitch messages to consumers. Stylish TV ads, chic logos and slick new launches are communicating their change. But just as Obama is discovering the difference between ‘campaigning’ and ‘implementation’, PSBs will need to wake up and smell the coffee, says Aditi Prasad. For now however life rocks for PSBs - as the global turmoil is boosting their credibility among the young and old alike

Sujeet Beura is the dapper, 33-year-old Accounts Director at a thriving ad agency in Mumbai. When he is not fighting the mad traffic to get to work, Beura concentrates his creative energies on ways to add value to client State Bank of India (SBI) – his agency is one of the eight empanelled with the bank. The fact that the global financial crisis has cast a shadow on SBI’s biggest competitor and private bank ICICI is simply a convenience that divine intervention has pushed his way. So convinced is Beura of SBI’s expertise that sitting in his plush office at Church Gate, all he can think about is shifting his personal savings account to the state-run bank, a move he wouldn’t have contemplated a year ago. After all, SBI then was for the old and doddering, while smarter and sexier private & foreign banks were for his generation.

But things have changed over the last few months. For one, ATMs of his ‘private bank’ are almost always ‘out of order’ – or at least when he needs urgent cash; and two, the global crisis has made him jittery and he wants his hard-earned money safe from the clutches of private and foreign banks. “SBI is more reliable. God forbid there’s some financial chaos here; then at least my money would be safe,” he avers. He swears that his preference for SBI is not dictated by the mere fact that the bank is a client but because of their long-standing credibility. “Besides, I’m 33 and planning to take my first home loan now and SBI is offering the most competitive interest rates,” he adds.

Beura’s musings are not unfounded. The findings of the exclusive 4Ps B&M and ICMR survey echo a similar sentiment. More than 51% respondents said that they trust state-run banks more when it comes to credibility and future security. Interestingly, the survey has been conducted in India’s five metro cities (across 836 respondents) – where till only some time ago private and foreign banks dominated both in actual market share and in consumer mind space. Welcome news for PSBs, many of whom are now vying to win back market share in these very metros. SBI for one, which hogs the chunkiest market share at an all-India level (42% of its branches are located in rural areas, with little competition from private banks), is planning its next ad campaign in a sleeker avatar to appeal to both retail and corporate consumers in these big cities. Explains Beura: “Currently SBI is reassuring people with the slogan The Banker for Every Indian. The next quarter, they are likely to launch a new positioning for SBI, targeted specifically at the metro audience.” Nationalised banks had lost the plot in metros and big cities when private banks came in. In aggregate deposits, the share of PSBs declined from 92% in FY 1991 to 73.9% in FY 2008; in advances, the share of PSBs fell from 92% to 72.5% in the same period, the losses mostly accruing from metros.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

TAX PLANNING? for 2009-10 Naah... It’s wealth creation!!!

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Noted chartered accountant G. D. Singla explains, “Early tax planning provides ample time to analyse the options, assess the risk and returns and above all, it allows greater bargaining power to the tax payers to an extent that in many cases, one need not even pay advance taxes!” If that sounded Hebrew, perish the painful thought, as this cover story is made with an atypical contrarian objective of putting penny to the foolish and pound to the wise. Revisiting the books, and at the cost of sounding back to the basics, we put forth the well respected S. Kumar of the leading chartered accounting firm Simon & Cailand, who explains, “In simple terms, tax planning means availing of the benefits of deductions, rebates, exemptions in taxation law to reduce the total tax burden of an assessee.” He further explains that tax planning does not merely imply putting money in some designated options; if envisaged properly it can be a great source of prudent wealth planning that could help to focus primarily on post tax yield taking into consideration the basic parameters of safety and liquidity. Ergo, if the philosophical Zeusian change has been implemented by thyself, you could test new waters with your second move.

And that is to make tax planning a monthly feature rather than an end of the year quarter feature beginning in January and calling it quits by March. The ‘instead’ approach sprains and strains one’s cash flow many a time; some even are forced to borrow to make these investments, certainly a double whack. Add to this the fact that the individuals suffer losses on account of compounding benefits (in case the investment avenue happens to be public provident Fund) and the rupee cost averaging (in case of investment in ELSS, Equity Linked Service Scheme). Change in government’s economic policies, closing of several attractive investment schemes, et al may further add on to the loss. Tax planning early on in the year can actually take care of all such losses. As the tax payer in such a case tends to spread his tax saving investments over 12 months rather than concentrating in three months.

And then we come to the third move. Apart from ‘when’, a tax payer also needs to know ‘where’ to invest. It is of prime importance that he is aware of the investment avenues so that he does not lose out on any opportunity. A host of investment avenues exist in the market: Mutual Funds, National Saving Certificates (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Monthly Income Scheme (MIS), Employee Provident Fund (EPF), Life Insurance, Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP), et al. The choice of these instruments rests on the individuals need for liquidity. The stock market benders could favour Equity Linked Saving Schemes, or ELSS, as the dividend income earned from units invested in ELSS are exempted from IT Act; and moreover, on redemption of the units the capital gain income is also tax exempted. And the otherwise bent could favour PPF, as the interest paid on it is on a compounded basis and tax free on withdrawal. Also, any amount lying in the PPF a/c cannot be attached by a court of law, thus providing maximum social security.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Pirates of the ‘Online’ Carribbean

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

2008 is done with. But have you done away with your fears of a possible cyber attack in the New Year? Clearly, the chances are – if you are an online surfer, you are still a likely target. Steven Philip warner & Arun Kumar Roy warn...

News like the fifth man pleads guilty over Citibank ATM hack scam, browsers fail password protection tests, German card leak delivered by microfilm, electronic votes mysteriously vanish in Ohio election et al have become too common to be surprised about. But just like surprises never end, shocks too don’t. And though it’s a brand new 2009 (and you’d want to enjoy a security threat-less year), there’s no guarantee of a threat-free year from anyone or anywhere! We discuss such threats here; threats that are not your ‘typical’ enterprise security issues but are more dangerous – mainly large-scale Internet threats that could well trickle down to your organisational mainframe. The good news/bad news is that your organisation is more likely to suffer a simple ‘Website hack’; but that doesn’t mean you can gleefully put your security officers to rest! And we are caught helpless many a time, as Kevin Prince, chief architect for Perimeter eSecurity avers, “These aren’t something IT administrators or everyday Joes can do [much of] anything about.” So before you turn out the office lights for the night, check out these lesser-known potential threats that security experts are watching out for in 2009.

1. An Internet “e-bomb”: The attacks of 2008 indeed were focused on applications as the network perimeter was more secure. But before we knew it, our faith was shaken by disclosure of some major vulnerabilities in the Internet’s TCP/IP architecture: the Domain Name Service (DNS) cache-poisoning flaw and a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). David Maynor, CTO, Errata Security, opines, “2009 could be the year when the first large-scale and widespread attack occurs on the Internet’s infrastructure.” He thinks that we’ll see the first wide-scale ‘e-bomb’ that will make large portions of the Internet unreachable.

2. Radical extremist hackers: iDefense predicts that 2009 will be the year that Middle-Eastern cybercartels expand into online fraud. According to the agency, a recent wave of fatwas issued by radical Islamic religious leaders in that region authorise these groups to use cyberattacks to defend Islam. This has opened the door for these groups to wage ‘open’ cyberattacks in the name of God and religion. “They will do it openly to fund the Islamic agenda,” avers Rick Howard, Intelligence Director, iDefense. iDefense also opines that US financial institutions would be the prime targets. The fact that Islamic extremists have already hacked into Israeli websites over the past few days with more than 300 sites defaced with anti-Israeli and anti-US messages might just be the start.

3. Attacks on online ad-revenues: Internet ads could be hit too, as enterprises and users increasingly begin to deploy technologies that block third-party content. ScanSafe says that the volume of Web-borne malware is growing at a considerable rate of 6% a month, and the rate that a user is exposed to this malware is increasing at a rate of 16% per month.There are many incidents where attackers target Google AdWords. We’ve seen them inject iFrames for SQL injection attacks or other things inside ads on websites also. Till date, users are mainly blocking pop-ups rather than legitimate ads, but now attackers could wreak havoc on online ads and their potential revenue by compromising the ad’s source. 2008 is over. But can you put your fears to rest? Not yet, dear netizens!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
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Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Business

1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers

The Sleepy Heads
Last Year ITC Bingo shook up the snack food industry with its peppy flavours and peppier advertising. But the newness has worn off and one can only just stifle a yawn at their ‘No Confusion-Great Combination’ lingo. Worse, competitor Frito Lay has caught up with their ‘Chala Change Ka Chakkar’ campaign. Time for another big idea?

And a Wake-Up Call...
Linking waking up with awakening one’s conscience was the big idea for Tata Tea. Their Jaago-Re slogan must have robbed many netas off their deep slumber. If not, blame it on their super thick hide ;-)

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!

Rashmi Bansal Publisher of JAMMAG magazine caught red-handed, for details click on the following links.

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG)
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)