Break-ups hurt. But who?

The Star-Balaji affair has ended. Ekta Kapoor will have to rejig her plans

Till some time ago, the mirror on the Indian teletube wall always said that Ekta Kapoor’s K-recipe was the fairest of them all. But times have changed. Falling TRPs of her ace serials are leading many to conclude that the charm of Balaji’s kitchen-politics was wearing off. So now when we hear that Star Network and Balaji Telefilms Ltd. have broken their 2007 JV to launch regional channels together, the development demands attention. What’s more, Star has also announced an exit for its 25.99% stake in Ekta Kapoor’s production house, valued at Rs.1.23 billion. Clearly, something is brewing.

Says R. Karthik, CEO, Balaji Telefilms: “It was an investment which has been called off. It was a strategic move which had to be realigned.” But this tragic love story would certainly hurt Balaji, at least in the short run. For one, a majority of Balaji’s revenues were coming from Star, thanks in part to the prime time exclusivity agreement that the two shared. Balaji currently airs six shows on STAR Plus and derives around 65-70% of its revenues from the channel.

On its part, Star has nothing to lose from this break-up. “There are multiple content providers in the country, from which content can be sourced anyway. Moreover on the competition front, while Star faces intense competition in the GEC domain, it continues to maintain its strong market leadership with GRPs in excess of 300,” asserts Salil Pitale, Head-Media & Telecom, Enam Securities.

And although Star CEO Uday Shankar says that the “relationship between Star and Balaji as broadcaster and content provider will not be affected,” fact is that the end of their contract allows Star to re-negotiate the premium rates it pays to Balaji. Given that Ekta’s soaps are no longer ruling the charts – Bidayi, Star’s highest TRP grosser in recent times is not a Balaji production – the respite for Star will come in the form of not shelling out premium rates to the under-performing production house. In fact, 2009 may turn out to be an immensely challenging year for Balaji, as the production company has also launched a very high production cost shows - Mahabharata - and in the absence of premium revenues from cash cow Star, its margins are likely to be impacted.

However, all is not so bleak as it sounds. There are some positives for Balaji too. As per Angel Broking, Balaji will post a CAGR of 12.5% and 10.35% in consolidated top line and earnings driven largely by volume growth. Counting on such numbers even Jagat Dave, Director- corporate finance of Ambit Corporate Finance (exclusive financial advisor to Balaji) asserts, “Balaji Telefilms is a cash-rich company having around Rs.2.2 bn of cash reserves, as on March 31, ‘08, and it continues to evaluate various strategic opportunities in the Indian Media & Entertainment industry.” In the current scenario, wherein all broadcasters are vying with each other for premium content, Balaji Telefilms, with its track record is uniquely positioned to cater to this demand. Rumour has it that Anil Ambani’s ADAG may be up there in the race to net Star’s abandoned equity. Confirms a source in ADAG: “Yes, we are definitely looking out for production houses to add synergy to our channels and Balaji’s stake would definitely provide an edge to us.” And why not! This step by the company will provide aid to ADAG, as it plans to launch 20 channels to supplement its DTH venture (Big TV) and this deal will provide them an exclusivity of content to their channels.

If Anil Ambani’s ADAG hops on board, Balaji will certainly be able to tide over this unique quagmire that it finds itself in. And not to forget, the leading lady of Hindi soaps may still be able to make good on her dream to rule the regional content space.

Neha Saraiya

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Rise till they drop!

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Price hike isn’t a way out for durables industry

Cash registers kept ringing in for them until last year. The flourishing optimism not only had a positive impact on their earnings but also prompted the consumer durables sector to crave more. In fact, according to a survey conducted by FICCI in 2007 the consumer durables market in India was projected to grow at about 12% this year.

However, with inflation touching a 13-year high of 11.42% coupled with an expected downturn in the economy & exchange rates, this seems to be almost like an unfulfilled wish for durable biggies. Forget the growth, the Rs.250 billion consumer durable industry is now finding it hard to pull back from the 20% fall in the sales that it witnessed during the first quarter of this year (FY 2008). All thanks to the rise in input costs! While the price of steel has gone up by 40%, copper and aluminum too boast a 20% increase. Even the price of oil (the basic material for all plastics) has shot to the roof ($144 a barrel). In fact, the average bill of materials (BOM) of an appliance has increased by about 15-25% across categories. This has left the durable biggies including LG, Godrej, Mirc electronics et al with no option but to hike the prices of their products by about 5-7%. Certainly an age old strategy to pass on some burden to consumers as George Menezes, COO, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. puts it, “What has been passed to the market is just about 3-5% increase which is a minuscule part of the overall cost impact.” But here comes the million dollar question. Will this increase in prices would be of any help to shrinking margins of manufactures (considering the segment sales are already on the verge of sinking)? “The price increase always comes with some objectives as you cannot do business at a loss and this slowdown is a temporary jiff which will soon fade away,” a top Electrolux official has been quoted as saying.

However, analysts believe that the major reason for the slowdown in this segment is the Euro’s meteoric rise against dollar. This in the last three months has alone taken up the cost of imported material by about 5-8%. “With interest rates likely to go up soon, further increase in product prices will adversely affect consumers,” avers Kalyanmoy Chatterjee, CEO, Consumer Research, GSK Mode. And this is not all! What seems as a solution for the companies - the price rise - is actually a curse in disguise! After registering negative sales in the quarter even big banks and finance companies have stopped funding aam admi for the purchase of such products.

But, remaining on a positive side, manufacturers still hope to tap the market amid rising prices. They plan to do it by creating a unique differentiation in the value proposition of their products “I believe manufacturers will try the age old practice of launching promos and schemes to cash in on whatever they can,” adds Chatterjee. But, what when everyone starts following the same? So, considering the current macroeconomic scenario, the only respite one can expect is from the government, else we can only hope that the durables prices don’t end the fate of fuel prices!

Neha Saraiya

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Hitachi CP-RX70

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Technical Specification

Lumens: 2000 ANSI; Contrast: 400:1;Technology: Triple LCD technology
PRICE: N.A.
WARRANTY: 2 Years

The impressive facts about Hitachi CP-RX70 include – an uncomplicated unit giving you the options between an Easy and Advanced users, the triple LCD technology presenting alluring pictures with visually pleasing colours and the price being quite a bargain. The product’s look is slim and silver which is rather critical but these by no means lead to a ‘wow’ factor. The remote is quite bland, stout and hence, lacks luster. The noise level of 35dB in Normal mode is sometimes invasive, but you can be tension-free as you can turn to the Whisper mode a considerably quieter and better mode for conference rooms. Not the best pick but a great value for money!

Marketers’ delight: It’s a zero complexity product.

Tester’s note: Pros – User-friendly. The mono 1-Watt speaker seems completely sufficient with no distortion.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Lenovo Thinkpad T61 Wide Screen

IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS

Technical Specification

Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Business; Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo T7700; RAM: 2 GB; Screen Size: 14.1 inches; Storage Capacity: 100 GB.
PRICE: Rs.85,000
WARRANTY: 3 years

With Intel’s fastest Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, storage capacity of 100 GB and discrete graphics from the available nVidia Quadro NVS 140M , the 5.4 pound Thinkpad T61 is impressive. It has the distinct ThinkPad features of built-in fingerprint reader. Key features of T61 include ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery™ that helps keep software crashes or virus attacks from slowing down the system and a host of options like WWAN, IEEE 1394a and 4-in-1 Media Card readers which boost versatility.

Marketers’ delight: Performance is the key with dual-core processing and a faster Intel architecture.

Tester’s note: Pros – Apt for spreadsheet applications. Wonderful battery. Cons – Standard colours to choose from. Looks too bulky.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Bedazzled @online

IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

To put in simpler words, the whole idea was to operate at a loss and just focus on garnering maximum market share in the initial phase in the hope that profits would follow soon. However, due to this flawed strategy, profits never followed and eventually, when the companies had burned most of their capital, they started falling like a house of cards.

A report published by Forrester Research in early 2000 predicted the demise of most dot-com retailers by 2001. The report’s major prediction was that the brick-and-mortar spin-offs will regain their footing. It also outlined that online retail will actually become a losing game for the traditional merchants, based on the assets like customer history, product selection, fulfillment and manufacturer relationships, which are a given in the case of brick & mortar retailers.

Casualties of the dot com bust were most new Internet start-ups, which boasted of a unique business model. Companies like online grocer Webvan became the poster children of the dot com burst. Webvan had a unique idea of selling groceries online and wanted to grow very fast. Indeed, it became a $1.2 billion company before low grocery margins took a toll on its flawed business model. Similar was the case of Pets.com, a company that sold pet supplies online. Problem with Pets.com was that when it came to the shipping cost, it undercharged its customers, which resulted in a high pressure on its margins, leading to a collapse, nine months after it raised $85 million through its IPO.

Interestingly, according to analyst Sebastian Rupley, “Even the dot-com sites that survived often came perilously close to severe setbacks and have had to retool their businesses quickly. During 2000, hundreds of dot-com companies, such as drkoop.com, received notice from the NASDAQ stock exchange that their stocks could be delisted, because their share prices had dipped below $1!”

If one considers all the above examples and the trends that led to their debacle, the global Internet economy looks to be heading towards yet another dotcom burst. “Today, everything from YouTube to the local church has a social-networking angle. And this doesn’t even consider the actual social-networking sites, from MySpace to LinkedIn to Facebook to even ‘Second Life’. This scene is totally out of control and will contribute to the collapse for sure,” says Dvorak.

Well, shouldn’t the Internet economy take lessons from the 2000 bubble burst and see that the Internet giants are not moving in a similar direction? If they do not undertake well informed strategic decisions, they are going down the same road. Well, its too hard to predict the next bust and its severity, but people are no longer denying the possibility. As Dvorak adds, “Each succeeding bubble has been worse than its predecessor. Thus nobody is actually able to spot the cycle... I can assure you that after this next collapse, nobody will think of the dot-com bubble as anything other than a prelude.” So, in essence, we could perhaps safely conclude that not much has changed.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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MOHAMMED BIN AL ALABBAR - Building new india

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MOHAMMED BIN AL ALABBAR
Building new india

Kolkata property market has grown by leaps and bounds over the years bygone and is today one of the most lucrative investment destinations in the country. The city has allured around Rs.250 billion in real estate investments over the past two years. As compared to other Indian metros, the capital of West Bengal offers cheap cost of living which serves as its biggest attraction to residential properties.

Kolkata has seen the entry of many foreign players in the market during the past few years. Leading Middle East firms have joined the list of global companies, targeting investments in India in hotels, malls, healthcare, housing, IT Parks and integrated townships. Several leading UAE real estate companies such as Al Ghurair Group’s ETA Star, Al Rostamani Enterprises’ KM Properties, Nakheel and Dubai Properties have announced gigantic developmental plans in the country. Of these, the name of Emaar stands tallest when it comes closest to contributing to what India achieves in this field during this century.

Emmar has reached the pinnacle of its success under the aegis of its current Chairman Mohammed Bin Al Alabbar. Emaar, which not surprisingly is also the largest property developer in the Middle East, has announced a joint venture in India with MGF for developmental projects in the states of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. It is also coming up with a lucrative real estate project on the EM Bypass of Kolkata.

The entry of a company like Emaar shows the strength of the Indian Economy & also the scope of Indian real estate industry. A report by Jones Lang LaSalle estimates that $10 billion foreign direct investment will be injected into the Indian real estate sector in the next 12-18 months. Now this is huge and precisely where the entry of such big-ticket foreign players comes in. Entry of such players definitely brightens up the real estate scenario in the country and for the country, but is accompanied with a simultaneous challenge for them too – either shape-up or ship out. The benchmark of quality production, marketing, and every possible aspects of a business has automatically risen with the entry of Alabbar into the country. And where we talk about infrastructure defining what this century holds for India, the message is clear – the entry will definitely affect the real estate scenario in our country, whatever the predictions be; and Alabbar will be the key man defining the moments.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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75 ARCHITECTS OF THE INDIAN CENTURY

IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

Purists are encouraged to be outraged after going through this list of 75 individuals who are expected to contribute a great deal in make the 21st Century an Indian one. What? No Rahul Gandhi? No Ambani brothers and Kumarmangalam Birla? No Ratan Tata? No Barack Obama? No Hu Jintao? No Salmaan Rushdie? No Malvinder Singh? Not even Shahrukh Khan or Abhishek Bachchan?

Well: after you have cursed us roundly for this seemingly wildly compiled list, please draw your breath, take a glass of water and try and listen to this simple and short explanation we have for selecting the individuals the way we did for the list. There is no esoteric science involved here. We took a conscious decision to let go of the very obvious names, who are going to play a pivotal role in the future of India. They are widely talked about and even more widely covered by the media in this regard. So it was decided by our edit team to concentrate on people who may not necessarily be as famous as the people mentioned above; but are nevertheless going to play a defining role in India’s future. And then again, lest you lose your temper again, we decided as an afterthought to include some famous names after all! Happy speculating!

RICHARD BRANSON
India can fly!
Richard Branson is a man known for his flamboyance & his daredevil approach to life. He has the ability to convert any given business opportunity into a success. However, much as he has the capacity to make the next century an Indian one, he will have to wait for sometime as current Indian regulations prohibit foreign airlines from holding a stake in Indian carriers, which in turn means that India’s dream of being the super-force in the aviation business will have to wait as the government has indicated that this will not happen until the industry has returned to a viable state. Optimistically, we’re looking at a scenario where it is very unlikely that a Virgin airline will operate in India until after 2010.

People are also confused about the most recent investments in the mobile business by Branson. Yes, this would increase the brand value in the country and of course there are synergies between different Virgin products, the investment in the mobile sector would in all probability have been made on its own rights, without an eye on any future aviation presence. Virgin’s aviation business has operated various different models – the full service Virgin Atlantic, low cost Virgin Express and hybrid Virgin Blue. The group will take a call on the positioning of Virgin Airlines in India based on its assessment of the market at the time of entry. Moreover, Virgin will also have the advantage of the second-mover and can avoid ‘early bird’ mistakes.

Also, talking about his challenge to the Indian carriers, his presence would also not kill the growth prospects of budding Indian airlines – perfect ingredients to make a spanking ‘Indian’ century! Talking about his closest threat, it is also clear that neither Richard Branson nor Vijay Mallya operate solely in the aviation sector. Hence, their areas of interest are wide enough to ensure that there is no issue of one overshadowing the other. While we say that Branson will catalyse the process of India shining in this century, it becomes very important to add that India already has its own broad base of accomplished entrepreneurs and it is the home-grown businesses that will make this century an Indian one. However, welcoming Branson early would wonderfully accelerate the process

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Beijing deflated by Inflation

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Chinese inflationary trends may hit the domestic and global consumer hard

In a democracy when the people are unable to bear the burden of ever increasing living costs, they retaliate by voting out the government and throwing out the politicians who fail to manage the economy on their behalf. But what do people in a dictatorial set-up like China do to give vent to their thoughts on the government’s apathy? In a totalitarian regime people keep accumulating their anger and burst out one day bringing about a revolution.

And now, when the annual inflation rate has more than tripled since last year to 4.8% and is expected to touch 6.8% in the current year, experts feel that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Chinese Political bureau to strike a right balance between protecting the economic growth and ensuring public support to metamorphose completely from communist to capitalist modes of production. The big challenge is to make the process inclusive and not to alienate the common man. And the fear stems from the fact the growing burden of rising prices of essential commodities could destabilise the political set-up. “It’s better to nip inflation in the bud, but politicians’ concern is that if they take it seriously, it shows they haven’t managed the economy well. It might open them to criticism from political opposition within the party,” says Albert Keidel a former Beijing-based senior economist for the World Bank. It is not that the Chinese government has not taken steps to curb inflationary pressures. Premier Wen Jiabao has promised to keep keep this year’s consumer price index (CPI) increase at around 4.8%.

But the global economic situation coupled with high transportation costs is just not helping them to mitigate inflation. Furthermore, growing prosperity is creating consumers, eating humongous amounts to push up the demand.

The Chinese President Hu Jintao’s dream of constructing a “harmonious society” through higher wages and better health care system may prove to be an ineffective political risk management strategy, if inflation continues to spiral. Global economists too are worried about the Chinese inflation, as higher living costs in China will eventually lead to much higher costs of products being exported from China.

B&E edit bureau: Atul Bharadwaj

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Show me the money!

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Fashion means business for WLIFW’s patron Gautam Rakha

“T o have a fashion week of its own is a matter of pride for a country. In fact, our fashion industry is not only taken seriously in India but also at several places across the world. Our fashion industry is definitely progressing in the right direction. But on any given day, when I think of the two fashion weeks in India, I consider the Delhi based Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW) as a more serious affair than the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW). This is because WLIFW is not only more global in terms of the buyers who come from across the world, but also in terms of the models, press and media coverage. However, LIFW is mainly for Mumbai based designers. While I prefer WLIFW over LIFW, I have a reason to back it up with. It is because every designer who is pursuing fashion seriously and is considering international parameters is a part of this fashion week. All those who participate in WLIFW are taken seriously by the media as well. For instance, people like Manish Arora and many other famous designers participate along with me.

I don’t know about LIFW but WLIFW is continuously evolving. In fact, it is evolving as a ‘buyers’ first’ kind of market place. After considering feedback from the buyers, ‘affordable lines’ are the focus of most of the collections these days. We create designs as per their requirements. On several occasions, these requirements can be stated overtly by the buyer and many a times, I keep certain inherent requirements of their culture and climate in mind too. WLIFW is moving ahead and will reach greater heights sooner than we can imagine. Not that it hasn’t already!”

Swati Hora and Gauri Pratap Singh

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Show me the money!

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Fashion means business for WLIFW’s patron Gautam Rakha

“T o have a fashion week of its own is a matter of pride for a country. In fact, our fashion industry is not only taken seriously in India but also at several places across the world. Our fashion industry is definitely progressing in the right direction. But on any given day, when I think of the two fashion weeks in India, I consider the Delhi based Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW) as a more serious affair than the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW). This is because WLIFW is not only more global in terms of the buyers who come from across the world, but also in terms of the models, press and media coverage. However, LIFW is mainly for Mumbai based designers. While I prefer WLIFW over LIFW, I have a reason to back it up with. It is because every designer who is pursuing fashion seriously and is considering international parameters is a part of this fashion week. All those who participate in WLIFW are taken seriously by the media as well. For instance, people like Manish Arora and many other famous designers participate along with me.

I don’t know about LIFW but WLIFW is continuously evolving. In fact, it is evolving as a ‘buyers’ first’ kind of market place. After considering feedback from the buyers, ‘affordable lines’ are the focus of most of the collections these days. We create designs as per their requirements. On several occasions, these requirements can be stated overtly by the buyer and many a times, I keep certain inherent requirements of their culture and climate in mind too. WLIFW is moving ahead and will reach greater heights sooner than we can imagine. Not that it hasn’t already!”

Swati Hora and Gauri Pratap Singh

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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He Likes to Rethink Afresh

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Rather than letting policy tangles halt its growth progress, RIL ‘quit India’ and eyed the world as the market for its refinery products, writes NARESH MINOCHA

This is the case of a conglomerate that was initially not allowed to sell some of its products directly in the domestic market. This is also the case of India’s most influential business house that was later allowed to sell its products without receiving any subsidies from the government, but had to compete with government-subsidised products that were sold by the state-owned units. In normal circumstances, what would a promoter in such circumstances have done? Close down the particular manufacturing base, or register it as a sick company with Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

Most entrepreneurs would have opted for either of these solutions, both in the global and domestic arena. But then, one can’t expect the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries to behave like any other company. After all, it has influenced policy-making in this country for decades. Faced with such hostile policies and regulatory environment, RIL decided to ‘secede from India’ and look at the world as its market. It decided to export the products manufactured at its 33 million tonnes per year refinery at Jamnagar, Gujarat. After over six years of lobbying, RIL did the unthinkable in April 2007. It transformed its refinery & the adjacent petrochemicals plants into an export oriented unit (EOU). Although EOU policy allows companies to sell half their produce in the domestic market, RIL exported 60% of its refinery products valued at $6.99 billion in the first half of 2007-08. The changeover to an EOU, along with its export focus through SEZs, constitute an interesting study of an entrepreneur, who turned policy discrimination at home into a global business opportunity.

For years, both policy makers and experts contended that an EOU refinery was not viable as it was impossible to do the 20% value-addition to imported inputs as was mandatory under the rules. In fact, the government had rejected applications in the 1990s on the grounds that these projects lacked capability to attain the minimum value addition. But it approved eight EOU refineries that showed the capabilities to do so. Till today, none of them have seen the light of the day, or are seriously talked about.


Now look at what RIL did. Prior to transforming the Jamnagar refinery-cum-petrochemicals complex as an EOU, it floated Reliance Petroleum (RPL) to set up a 27 million tonnes per year refinery, along with a 90,0000 tonnes per year polypropylene (PP) plastic plant at the same site as an SEZ. Although the current SEZ scheme does not stipulate any value-addition norms, setting it up binds the promoter to export commitments, at least to maintain foreign exchange neutrality. For RPL, it meant higher exports of refinery products & petrochemicals.

In October 2007, RIL unveiled a proposal to set up a refinery-linked-petrochemicals complex to produce 2 million tonnes of olefins annually, including daily-use plastics. It also announced a proposal to set up the world’s largest integrated combined-cycle coke gasification complex within the SEZ to produce power and petrochemicals. The plan was to invest Rs.600 billion on the SEZ. According to a recent project report, the proposed SEZ complex has the potential to earn a net foreign exchange of $23-26 billion over a 10-year period. The figure does not include export earnings of the Jamnagar EOU in the past seven years. It clocked Rs.64.10 billion in exports in the first year of its operations in 2000-01. And today, it has emerged as India’s largest manufacturer-exporter. All this leads us to a few basic questions: would RIL have achieved this feat if it had the freedom to market its refinery products in the domestic market? Would it have amplified its global vision for exports subsequently?

The answers to the questions can be traced to policies for dismantling controls in the oil & gas sector notified on November 21, 1997. Under them, controls were to be phased out by March 31, 2002. On February 26, 1999, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas took note of refinery projects proposed by Reliance & Essar Oil Limited (EOL). The ministry stated that “RPL/EOL would be treated at par with other PSU/JV refineries… in the matter of off take of their controlled products during the transition period.”

Surprisingly, the ministry changed its assurance the next month. In a communication to the two companies on March 19, 1999, it stated that RPL/EOL would solely be responsible for the sale, including exports of surplus quantity, of the refinery products. “Any under-recovery/loss in such exports will be borne by RPL/EOL itself,” it added. The ministry also facilitated an agreement between RPL & IOC for domestic marketing of price-controlled products during the transition period as well as after that.

Under the marketing agreement, the ministry decided that Reliance’s production of five price-controlled products would be uplifted by IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum in the ratio of 50%, 25% and 25%, respectively, during the transition period. In reality, the latter two state-owned firms never signed any formal agreements. Thus, Reliance was at the mercy of public sector marketing firms. The ministry made Reliance wait for three years to grant it marketing rights for sale of petrol & diesel.

This increased pressure on Reliance to step up efforts on the exports front. In addition, Mukesh decided to set up his own chain of retail outlets. Reliance currently has 1,423 outlets, but they are finding it difficult to survive as they have to sell at prices higher than the subsidised prices of state-owned marketing entities. Reliance keeps referring to the lack of a level-playing field, but, for once, has been unable to convince the policy makers. Reliance managers admit to have been making “representations for compensation at par with PSUs to offset retail losses.” But it seems to be in vain.

So now, RIL plans to acquire retail assets abroad to add muscle to its export efforts. It made its first acquisition in September 2007 with Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation. Ironically, , it seems that failed reforms in the oil sector have helped an Indian firm think globally.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Bimal, bonds & books

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Imparting good-governance techniques

Dr. Bimal Jalan, the former Governor of the RBI may not be directly involved in doing the number crunching at the apex bank but he is certainly a part of the decision making circles as member of Rajya Sabha. He continues to guide policy makers on governance. His two recent books: “The Future of India: Politics, Economics and Governance” and its sequel released in 2007- “India’s Politics: A View from the Backbench,” prescribe new programmes to the parliamentary system – to enhance its stability & accountability.

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

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Mutual aid...

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...to be the only priority to live

On 8th November, New Delhi hosted a meeting of Asian nations on Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction, Early Warning & Preparedness, which had participation of 36 Asian countries. Just few days later, a whammy cyclone destroyed large part of Bangladesh, rendering millions without shelter and taking 3,000 lives. Sadly, very few of those who attended the meeting came forward to help that country, in dire strait. It was only India among the biggies who not only gave aid but also forewarned Bangladesh about the early warning system. Asia unfortunately always had to bear more than its fair share of natural calamities, be it the 2004 Tsunami which took away about 300,000 lives or the Orissa cyclone which claimed 7,000 lives. Sadly there is a visible lack of cohesion among Asian countries, when disaster strikes any one. The Western First World, on the contrary, has been more at the forefront in doling out aid. This time too the US pledged with $2.1 million, Britain with $5 million while France and Germany with $730,000 each, in order to see the misery of Bangladesh mitigated to some extent. It was rather unfortunate to see its immediate neighbours, barring India, remaining mute spectators to the camaraderie. Lack of effective technology to deal with such mayhem can always be substituted to a great extent with the right kind of attitude to help each other. Unfortunately for Asia, not only it, as a whole, is lagging in terms of technology to contain the effect of such calamities, in terms of cohesion too, it is far behind the First World countries. That has, unfortunately made all the difference.

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

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Spot spotting a spot

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NSEL will create a win-win situation for both farmers and end-users

Amid inflationary pressures and a turbulent capital market, corporates engaged in agri-commodities and industrial commodities have something to cheer about. The canvass of commodity trading is all set to be complete as India will soon see its first ever spot market available on electronic platform with national reach. Not only corporates; farmers, traders, processors, importers et al are also destined to benefit from the nationwide electronic market venture for spot trading in agricultural commodities.

It is apparent that the World Development Report, 2008, which categorically mentions - for the poorest people, GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four times more effective in raising incomes of extremely poor people than GDP growth originating outside the sector - has been the inspiration behind the private public partnership to come up with National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). The high growth trajectory that India has witnessed over the last couple of years has not been of much help in bridging the rural-urban divide. The income disparity can be primarily attributed to market and state failures characterised by insufficient and unequal access to information (information asymmetry), imperfect competition, high transaction and supply chain costs et al. Now NSEL with a healthy cocktail of financial and market inclusion is all set to bridge the divide leading the accelerated growth process to reach to the bottom of the pyramid.

The nationwide electronic market venture for spot trading in agri-commodities will be operational in few months time. The best part of the spot exchange story is that now farmers and importers can sell their produce at the best possible price to the end users based anywhere across the country. “It is a revolution in itself as it will help in creating awareness and also in the development of a common and parallel market,” says Shankerlal Guru, Chairman, NSEL. Also this will maintain competitive market rates removing the middlemen who actually fiddle around with prices. As a complementary market to derivative traders, NSEL also has a lot to offer to the corporates, traders and farmers alike in terms of delivery based transaction (which is expected to be a lot lower than the existing 2-3% brokerage in the physical market), efficient warehousing and logistic support, trade guarantee etc. For traders, NSEL can provide a bigger and liquid market to sell huge quantities and get better realisation.

Future market operators might be thinking, will the spot exchange act as a shot in the arm for them? Anjani Sinha, MD & CEO, NSEL clarifies, “a healthy growth of futures market will be ensured through the development of a structured spot market.” He further adds, “NSEL is not a speculative platform,” thereby putting an end to all speculations around the speculations to take place in the spot exchange. However, the success NSEL is dependent on integration; both backward (farmers) and forward (buyers).

Gyanendra Kashyap

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Nikhil Rao (35), Lowe Lintas

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Nikhil Rao (35), Lowe Lintas. His inspiration is his fat pay packet and according to him advertising is a field, where sometimes an idea clicks and at others, it does not. Soon after graduation, he joined Asian Paints as a salesman. Predictably, he soon became bored with what he was doing and his routine. Had he not quit the company, he’s sure that they would have anyway thrown him out. After spending nine long years at Lowe Lintas, he now calls the place his second home. In fact, he admits that joining Lowe was like a home coming for him, for he has practically worked on almost all accounts of Lowe – Idea Cellular, Balbir Pasha and Wheel. At a time when the advertising industry is famous for its game of musical chairs, with creative talent moving from agency to agency, it’s a miracle that Nikhil has lasted in his seat (read: Lowe) for this long. “I had too many reasons to stick around. I was getting the work that I wanted to do. Money was important, but never a reason for me to change my job. At Lowe, I have always enjoyed and hence, never thought of a change,” he asserts. After such a long time in Lowe, there is little doubt in his or our mind that he looks up to his mentor Balki for guidance.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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