Showing posts with label IIPM Gurgaon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Gurgaon. Show all posts

Monday, September 10, 2012

“Our strategy is to achieve sustainable high quality growth”

In a tête-à-tête with B&E’s Mona Mehta, P. R. Somasundaram, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) speaks about the growing importance of retail banking in the Country and the bank’s expansion plans to exploit the opportunities coming its way.

B&E: Lakshmi Vilas Bank outperformed all other South Indian banks in financial year 2009-10 by posting 52.71% growth in operating profit. What are your expectations from the current fiscal?
P. R. Somasundaram (PRS): In FY2010-11, LVB is planning to increase its total business (deposits and advances) by over 30%. And the bank is moving ahead strongly to achieve the objective. It has posted a strong 66% growth to increase its operating profit to Rs.537.30 million. In fact, we expect the current financial year to be significantly better than the last one (in terms of multiple parameters) as we are now leveraging the macro environmental opportunities available through internal transformational steps.

B&E: You just said that the bank is eyeing for a 30% growth in overall business this year. How are you planning to achieve the same?
PRS: Last year, while our deposits grew by 23.28%, advances increased by 19.88%. For us, the key is to achieve an absolute growth, and establish a sustainable trend, which will lay a platform for accelerated growth in future. Growth driven by process changes rather than purely opportunistic steps will determine our strategy.

B&E: You currently enjoy a high net interest margin (NIM) of 3.66%. But with deposit rates heading north under inflationary pressure, how are you planning to maintain the same?
PRS: This is a common challenge for all the banks. But our relationships are strong in the key markets allowing us to pass on the higher cost. Besides, our recent success in CASA (Current Account, Savings Account) build up has helped us to protect our margins. We are also looking forward to widen our funding sources by targeting new markets with shorter response times, and providing personalised services.

B&E: At 3.31% of net advances, Non Performing Assets (NPAs) are weighing high on LVB’s balance sheet. How are you planning to deal with the menace?
PRS: We have been working on it constantly. If you go through our Q1 results, as on June 30, LVB has managed to reduce both its gross and net NPAs to 4.27% and 3.31% respectively from 5.12% and 4.11% as on March 31, 2010. Our target is to bring down the net NPA level to below 1% within the next 18 months and we are on the right track. We are working on process changes and credit monitoring to improve our credit quality. Also, our credit monitoring and recovery efforts had been very reactive in the past, but we are now keen to make it highly pro-active.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 03, 2012

HOUSES IN ASIA...BUT NOT THE BIGGEST YET!

UTV IS NOW ONE OF THE LARGEST PRODUCTION HOUSES IN ASIA...BUT NOT THE BIGGEST YET! CAN RONNIE SCREWVALA AND HIS TEAM MAKE UTV THE FACE OF INDIA TO THE MEDIA WORLD? B&E’S SHEPHALI BHATT PROVIDES A DEEP INVESTIGATION FROM RIGHT INSIDE UTV WITH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS FROM UTV’S TOP MANAGEMENT

While Ronnie was in the media business purely due to his passion for working in the industry, Chandra had a completely different agenda; he was a thorough-cut businessman looking for profits (“I wanted to see a business opportunity ahead of its time and back it up passionately,” Chandra shared with B&E). So while Chandra followed up each and every innovative business idea with investments into a wide array of businesses to form a behemoth group (that today has interests in the realm of media, technology, entertainment, infrastructure, education, cricket and precious metals; Essel is even the world’s largest packaging company today), Ronnie was trying to convince others (like Chandra’s competitor Murdoch and Warberg Pincus) to invest into UTV – Star TV’s investment in UTV became the first ever foreign investment in media in India’s corporate history. Over time, Ronnie bought Vijay TV, sold it off again to Murdoch, then started Hungama, sold even that to Disney, and somewhere along the line, crossed over from being a ‘media professional’ to being a passionate businessman – just like Chandra. Ergo, today, though their business histories have inevitably diverged, comparisons have as inevitably come together. Subhash Chandra started it all, attempting to make India the face of Asia to the global media world. Ronnie seems to have taken up the initiative from a parallel end. But can Ronnie go the whole hog and finish what Subhash Chandra started? That’s the cutting edge question facing the media world today.

While Chandra’s ascent was largely credited to satellite TV, Screwvala’s most unputdownable claim to media glory is obviously movie production, marketing and distribution, wherein his company now is remarkably the largest production studio in South Asia, having produced widely acclaimed movies like Jodha Akbar, Rang De Basanti, Rajneeti, DevD, A Wednesday, Wake Up Sid and Kameeney. UTV has gone a step further to become the first Indian production house to co-produce a Hollywood movie with 20th Century Fox – M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening (which grossed $170 million at the global box office). It co-produced two Hollywood movies with Fox Searchlight in 2007 – The Namesake directed by Mira Nair and I Think I Love My Wife directed by Chris Rock. The company also managed notable co-production agreements with Sony Pictures Entertainment and actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment. In addition to that, Walt Disney has been an integral investor in UTV and holds more than 50% of its shares.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
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Saturday, September 01, 2012

Why isn’t India banning National Geographic?

In Jan 2010, NatGeo was warned by the I&B ministry for deliberately exhibiting wrong maps of India and was threatened with stringent action if non-compliance was continued. Let off then, NatGeo continues its misrepresentation! What does the government plan to do now?

If the government is so serious about ensuring that the national viewpoint of Indian geography does not get distorted, then the government should immediately enforce the maximal allowable punishment on the entities that continue to knowingly publicise clearly illegal maps and images representing flawed Indian boundaries. The NatGeo example is just one part of the story; CNN, BBC, Lonely Planet, CIA, US State Department and Wikipedia make up the other ignominious bunch that have no qualms about distorting Indian boundaries in maps that are freely available in India.

If the government is really serious about putting an end to this long continuing issue, we say ban the perpetrators and take the maximum allowable action for such clear and deliberate misrepresentation. The Indian government doesn’t need to look far to understand which Indian act these agencies are violating. Well, that’s India’s Independence Act, passed on July 1, 1947, that defined the sovereign and indisputable boundaries of India!

Yes, India has had wars with Pakistan and China. And yes, we have won some and lost some, in the matter of speaking. Irrespective of that, India has never forsaken its sovereign – and one should mention perfectly legitimate – rights over territories that are illegally occupied by Pakistan and China. Ironically, the Pakistani Constitution even today doesn’t recognize the PoK as part of Pakistan while India symbolically has 25 assembly seats reserved in the J&K assembly representing PoK legislators. Expectably, these 25 seats have remained vacant for a long time. And with respect to our border dispute with China, even in 1954 when the then Indian Prime Minister Nehru clarified the distinct Indian border to China, the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai had emphatically stated that China had no claims over Indian controlled territory (although official Chinese maps even at that time showed 120,000 square kilometres of Indian territory as Chinese; later China claimed even the Aksai Chin range post the 1962 Sino-Indo war).

In other words, as per law, no map representing India should show the Indian boundaries any different from what is represented by the official Indian government map through the Survey of India (which shows the complete north-east areas and the state of J&K as parts of India, resulting in India even sharing a border with Afghanistan, at least on paper).

Apparently those rules don’t apply to NatGeo, even post the strictest of warnings by the Indian government. In January 2010, after NatGeo had aired a wrong Indian map in a programme covering population density of rhinos, the I&B Ministry passed an official covenant mentioning, “National Geographic Channel has violated Rule 6 (1)(h) of the Programme Code. Strict compliance to this direction has to be ensured by the National Geographic Channel. Any further violation may entail stringent action.” The July 2010 issue of National Geographic, in a story titled Pakistan’s Heartland Under Threat carries a map of India that clearly misrepresents Indian boundaries. The August 2010 National Geographic issue repeats the mistake, this time in a story called Grassland Kingdom, covering the Kaziranga National Park (see maps, previous page). Both these issues are being freely sold within Indian boundaries.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Mankind Pharma founder Ramesh C. Juneja speaks with B&E's Steven Philip Warner & Jayant Mundhra

B&E: What is the current outlook at Mankind Pharma?
RCJ: In a highly competitive industry like pharmaceuticals it is necessary that you have a highly motivated sales force. For that we ensure that our medical representatives get variable incentives that are best in the industry. What really drives us is that our sales force visits doctors on a regular basis. They are trained not just to sell the product but to establish a relationship built on trust. In today's competitive market you need to give incentives to the retailers to promote your product and to make your product available because of the competition being throat cutting and massive. My people even visits the doctor's to maintain a good relation with them as well as it works one or the other way. We already have eight plants and as part of our expansion plans we have a ninth plant coming up which is under construction. It would probably be ready by 2011. A total of Rs.100 crore has been invested in this plant. We are also coming up with an R&D center in Manesar, Gurgaon which would be functional by January 2011.

B&E: What plans do you have in the export domain?
RCJ: Our export targets have been very minute. In fact we have just forayed into the export domain. With respect to exports we are only present in Sri Lanka, Philippines and Vietnam. India is a huge country and we believe that there is a lot that is left to be done on our home soil. Once we achieve our Indian aspirations, we would target SAARC and CIS Countries.

B&E: You have projected a revenue of `3000 crore for the year 2015 and given your growth story till now, it looks easily achievable. When do you plan to become the number 1 pharmaceutical company in India?
RCJ: We are trying our level best and focusing on becoming the number 1 company in India. We basically like to move forward with the market trend. Throughout the world, global pharma companies are finding it difficult to sustain their growth as patents are expiring. To make things even worse their pipelines have almost dried up and the cost of coming up with a new molecule is exorbitantly high. In such a scenario they are looking up to India to acquire companies here. We believe that by working hard, we can definitely achieve the number 1 position.

B&E: What kind of opportunities does Mankind Pharma see in India?
RCJ: India is a huge country and the per capita consumption is only `400 per annum per person. From all the metro cities we are expecting sales of around `45000 crores this year. If we were to categorise, then 25% of the medicines are being consumed by big towns while 72% of the medicines are consumed by 1/3rd of India's population and the rest 28% by 2/3rd of the population. As per our calculations, 72% of the pharma medicines are consumed by the 67% of the population whereas the rest only consume near about 28%. Pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest growing markets in India and this is precisely the reason why global pharma companies are willing to pay a premium to acquire Indian companies. Amidst all this, we believe that we can perform better because we have what it takes to succeed.



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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

INDIA: WATER SCARCITY

India’s water problem will continue to grow to mammoth and daunting proportions unless an integrated approach is taken. PPP is a great model, provided profiteering is curbed successively.

Though 60% of the population in urban areas depends on the surface water sources, availability and quality are unpredictable. Moreover, population growth is leading to drastic decline in the per capita availability of fresh water. It has gone down to around 2,200m3 in 2000 from 5,150m3 of 1947, and is expected to go down by 2017 to 1600m3 .

In states like Gujarat, the water table is dropping by as high as 6 metres per year. Four decades ago, the water table was at around 30 metres; now it has increased to around 152 meters. The scenario is pretty much the same in Agra. In 1996, groundwater level was 34 metres. Ten years down the line, that dropped to 42 metres. The total cost of environmental damage in India amounts to $9.7 billion annually, as per the World Bank estimate in 1995; of which 59% results from health impacts of water pollution. Also the poor often end up paying 5-10 times more per litre than wealthy people in the same city.

Tackling the situation requires an integrated approach to multiple facets of the water problem. They include tackling the menace of water pollution, ensuring recycling of water through techniques like rainwater harvesting, engaging with the affected population to ensure that their specific needs are well understood, discouraging excesses in terms of water usage and even tackling the class divide that marginalises certain members of the community from access to this invaluable resource. Public private partnerships are the best way out. But a strong regulatory mechanism must also be instituted to ensure greater transparency and discourage profiteering.


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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Ssssmooch!

Mallika Sherawat is back in Cannes, and this time she has brought a python with her! Hissss is her next film after all, and in order to promote the film Mallika posed and kissed the python before the shutterbugs! Love, Barack is another film she’s starring in and it promises some naughty action, at least as per its poster, which was unveiled at the Festival. Maybe she feels that if her 17 kisses in Khwahish brought her fame in India, a similar trick (with serpents or men) should work in Hollywood too?!


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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Jennifer Green

Looks Jennifer Aniston needs to be reminded about the age-old adage ‘grass is always greener on the other side’. Rachael Green of Friends, Jen wants a career like Drew Barrymore or Demi Moore’s, as they have been experimenting with their work. She wants a quiet relaxed life away from the paparazzi, but then also wants to live a life in the limelight like Johnny Depp! A case of chronic dissatisfaction?


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Monday, August 13, 2012

“We are re-structuring our sports biz”

After fixing up the group’s GEC, Punit is now focussing on expanding the regional and sports channel portfolio

B&E: Over the last few years your involvement with Zee has increased a lot. What is the kind of change, in responsibility, that has come to you in the last 2-3 years and what change do you see coming in the near future?
PG: The change in responsibility has been basically in the sense that I was handling the entire programming about three years ago. But slowly I was also involved in the news business and was given the responsibility as the MD of Zee Entertainment. So, my role has increased a lot from being just a programming head.

B&E: Do you have any plans to explore other businesses?
PG: No, I want to stick to the media business. Our focus in the coming times is to grow the new media space where we have been only experimenting in the last 18 months. We will be a lot more active in those segments. We will also be strongly focussing on creating niche content.

B&E: We have got some information that ZEEL is restructuring its sports business under the Ten brand. Can you share the details?
PG: Yes your information is right. We have bought the additional 45% stake in Taj TV. Now we are in the process of re-structuring the entire sports business under the Ten brand. The sports bouquet of Zee will be made a separate entity and will function as a subsidiary of ZEEL. While Zee Sports will be renamed as Ten Action (proposed name), a new golf channel will be added to the sports bouquet.

B&E: But why are you rebranding Zee Sports as Ten Action?
PG: We believe that Ten Sports is a formidable brand within sports genre in the country with garnering highest viewerships in the genre on any non-cricket day. And since Ten Sports and Zee Sports functioned as separate entities, we could not club the two channels and offer it to the advertisers. Therefore, Zee Sports was not able to ride over the popularity of Ten Sports whether it was on the distribution front or from the ad sales perspective.






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Saturday, August 11, 2012

If the romance is long over and you’re struggling to decide how to break-up, here’s someone who’ll do the dirty work for you!

It might be interesting to know that two-thirds of my clients are women. Most people are between the age group of 18 to 30s. The common reaction from the ex-partner is of astonishment and that they don’t want to believe this. I always ask my clients to give me three reasons for breaking up. I give these reasons to the ex-partner and most often they agree to the reasons and the problems that are mentioned. I do not console them as the separation agency is only a ‘talking letterman’. My job ends when I bring the message to the ex-partner,” adds Dressler.

Well, there are lot of other (read cheaper) ways to break-up, such as by sending e-cards or by sending poems on break-up. People in unhappy relationships can also seek out free break-up advice online, or peruse through various reasons to break-up!

Considering that shows like “Emotional Attyachaar” on UTV Bindass are already showing how Indian relationships are getting messier, we think the day is not far when this kind of service will find a market among the Indians too. Plenty of soft-hearted Indians would be glad to have someone else do the dirty work. So, don’t be surprised if you hear of a break-up.in in the near future!


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