Indian Business Headlines for March 6, 2010

QIBs will have to pay 100% for IPO application

As per a recent Sebi decision, Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) will have to pay up 100% for application of primary issuances as against the current 10%. The decision was taken in order to bring parity between institutional and retail investors.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 7:26 am

Janalakshmi to focus on financial inclusion of urban poor

Narayan Ramachandran, ExCountry Head and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley India has decided to focus on financial inclusion of the urban poor. He has been now appointed as the Director on the board of Janalakshmi Financial Services.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 6:01 am

BSNL scraps $10 bln GSM tender

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has decided to scrap its tender for 93 million GSM lines worth USD 10 billion and invite fresh bids, newspapers reported on Saturday.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 5:54 am

\'Entrepreneurs should not manage business handson\'

Puneet Dalmias early experience with setting up and running a new economy business has helped him redefine his familys role in Dalmia Cement
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 5:54 am

DQ Entertainment allots shares to anchor investors

Animation and gaming firm DQ Entertainment (International) Ltd said on Friday it has allocated 2.8 million shares at Rs 80 each for its initial public offer to raise up to Rs 1.28 billion.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 4:46 am

NMDC to invest upto $3.9 bn in second steel plant

India\'s top iron ore miner NMDC is planning to set up a 2million tonne steel plant in the Southern Karnataka state with an estimated investment of Rs 160180 billion (USD 3.5 billion USD 3.9 billion), a senior company official said.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 4:46 am

Market regulator says buyers to pay 100 pct of primary issue - Sify

Market regulator says buyers to pay 100 pct of primary issue
Sify
The stock market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Saturday qualified institutional buyers will have to pay 100 percent of the primary issue on subscription, effective May 1. Besides, it has made some recommendations for ...
QIBs will have to pay 100% for IPO application: SebiMoneycontrol.com
India Investors to Pay for All New Stock, Bhave SaysBusinessWeek
SEBI Bhave: Institutional Buyers To Pay 100% Upfront In IPOsNASDAQ

all 11 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 6 Mar 2010 | 3:06 am

Bank of India in distribution pact with Reliance Mutual Fund

The public sector lender will use its pan-India network of over 3,000 branches to sell the products of the leading private fund house, a release said here today.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 2:41 am

Sebi allows physical delivery in derivatives segment

Sebi will discuss with the stock-exchanges and institute an appropriate mechanism for physical delivery in derivatives market, he said.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 2:36 am

Greeks divided over latest austerity measures - poll

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greeks are divided over the austerity measures unveiled this week, a poll showed on Saturday, signalling waning support for the government's deficit-cutting efforts.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 1:53 am

US regulators close banks in four states; deteriorating loans continue to take toll

Regulators also closed Centennial Bank of Odgen, Utah, Waterfield Bank of Germantown, Maryland, and Bank of Illinois of Normal, Illinois.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 1:08 am

Hyundai to recall 47 000 sedans in US and SKorea

South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor announced on Saturday it would recall 47,300 of its latest-model Sonata sedans in the United States and the domestic market due to a door lock problem.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:56 am

China Unicom to slow overall investment, focus on 3G

BEIJING (Reuters) - China Unicom, China's No. 2 mobile carrier, said on Saturday its total investments will decrease this year as it scales back spending on areas like broadband and focuses on its new 3G wireless network.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:52 am

Sensex rides high after budget gains 3 44 per cent

Buying interest returned to Indian stock markets this week, with a benchmark index rising 3.44 per cent from its previous weekly close and foreign investors pumping in almost $1 billion during the truncated four-day trading week.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:51 am

Govt committed to women’s empowerment: PM

New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women’s empowerment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday the government is moving towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures.

Inaugurating the women’s leadership summit here, he said government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.

The Women’s Reservation Bill providing for 33% reservation of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies is expected to come up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has revolutionized governance at the grass-roots level, he said, “We hope to give this movement of political participation of women further fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in panchayats and city and town governments to 50%.

“More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures,” the Prime Minister said.

He decried the low female literacy rate as well as the maternal mortality rate besides the exceptionally low sex ratio.

“The gender disparity on the economic front is reflected in the low female work participation rate of 25.7% as compared to 51.0% for males,” he said.

“While we have shown improvement in these indicators over the years, the progress has been much slower than what we would have liked,” he said at the summit attended by eminent women personalities and representatives from different walks of life.

Singh said violence against women was another issue which needed to be addressed urgently.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by women and child development minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to avail of many opportunities.

“Our sisters in rural India also need to enjoy such opportunities,” she said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practice is reversed in society.

“Women are solely responsible for all household chores and their contribution to GDP is also not taken into consideration.”

She said there was a need to take a re-look at the present educational system as the problem of dowry even exists in educated societies.

Observing that the ratio of women in the work force is not according to their ratio in the population, Kumar said, special efforts are on to earmark one-third of funds in panchayats for development of women. The Speaker favoured a legislation to prevent violence against women.

The three-day summit being held as part of women’s day celebrations would be attended by women achievers from all fields.

As part of the celebrations, Tirath felicitated women who have made a name for themselves in their field.

Those honoured included actress Sharmila Tagore, politician and social worker Mohsina Kidwai, former NCW chairperson Mohini Giri, danseuse Yamini Krishnamoorthy, mountaineer Santosh Yadav and media baron Indu Jain.

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:47 am

China Unicom to slow overall investment, focus on 3G

The industry spent a collective $21 billion on 3G technology last year, with 3G subscribers reaching more than 10 million by the end of the year, according to government data.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:45 am

China fears trade protectionism may hit exports

Faced with increasing cases of anti-dumping duties against a host of Chinese goods, China fears that its exports may be hit this year due to rising trade protectionism.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:32 am

China opposes political interference in yuan policy

China said it was opposed to political interference in its exchange rate mechanism, amid growing international pressure for policymakers to let the yuan appreciate.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:13 am

Google takes aim at Microsoft with acquisition

Google said on its company blog on Friday that it has acquired San Francisco-based DocVerse. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:03 am

PM assures action on price front, says no need for panic

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Friday said in the Lok Sabha that the Government has been alive to the problem of rising prices and has taken all possible measures, while reassuring the members that “if any practical methods could
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Mahindra Satyam resolves 2 acquisition related rows

Mahindra Satyam seems to have amicably resolved two of the three acquisition-related disputes that had surfaced after the sensational disclosures made by former Chairman Mr Ramalinga Raju last
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Fund raising is from wide range of sectors now

A diverse bunch of companies is waiting to tap the capital markets this year; this is in contrast to last year when most of the companies issuing IPOs were from the infrastructure and IT
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

STel ordered to shut down mobile services in 3 circles

Just two months after it launched mobile services, Sivasankaran-backed STel has been asked by the Department of Telecom to shut down the network in all the three regions where it is currently
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Banks race to get customer details as KYC deadline looms

The countdown has started. Post March 31, you may find it difficult to operate your bank account for merely ignoring the notice (in the print media) seeking customer
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Anand Mahindra among 4 new directors of Air India

The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Mahindra Group, Mr Anand G. Mahindra, and the Chairman of Ambuja Realty Development, Mr Harsh Neotia, are among the four new faces on the board of the National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) which
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Banks get 3 months more to switch to base-rate regime

The Reserve Bank of India has given banks a three-month breather on moving to the new base-rate-linked lending
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Tata Comm makes a play for Europe, US

Tata Communications has recently been focusing much of its efforts in Asia and Africa – partly a reflection of the economic woes that plagued Europe and the US over the past
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Sulzer to delist, offers Rs 870/share

Switzerland-based Sulzer, an industrial machinery and equipment manufacturer, has decided to delist its Indian subsidiary from the Bombay Stock Exchange by acquiring the floating stock through an open offer at Rs 870 a
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

NAL plans civilian 90-seater

After Hansa (two-seater) and Saras (14-seater), Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is all set to build a 90-seater, regional transport aircraft
Source: Business Line - Home Page | 6 Mar 2010 | 12:00 am

Dollar still reigns supreme - China c.bank governor

BEIJING (Reuters) - The dollar is an extremely important currency and China is concerned about its value, the Chinese central bank governor said on Saturday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:58 pm

Cigarette price rise inevitable: ITC

ITC Ltd has said that hike in cigarette prices was inevitable due to imposition of excise duty on tobacco in the Union Budget for 2010-11.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:55 pm

Midcap, smallcap indices outperform Sensex - Business Standard

SamayLive

Midcap, smallcap indices outperform Sensex
Business Standard
The BSE midcap and the smallcap indices outperform the Sensex. The midcap and the small cap indices both gained 5% each while the benchmark BSE index was up 5%. The Midcap soared 5% to 6735 as compared to the previous close of 6735. ...
Sensex rides high after budget, gains 3.44 per centHindustan Times
Sensex settles a tad below 17000, breadth strongNDTV.com
Budget buzz dominates bourses; Sensex hits 17k, gains 565 ptsmydigitalfc.com
Economic Times -Moneycontrol.com -Financial Express
all 49 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:34 pm

BSNL scraps $1 billion GSM tender: Report

The tender, first issued in early 2008, was the world's largest ever telecom equipment contract, but has been snarled ever since, preventing BSNL from placing orders with short-listed firms.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:33 pm

India's BSNL scraps $10 bln GSM tender - report - Reuters

The Hindu

India's BSNL scraps $10 bln GSM tender - report
Reuters
MUMBAI, March 6 (Reuters) - India's state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd [BSNL.UL] has decided to scrap its tender for 93 million GSM lines worth $10 billion and invite fresh bids, Indian newspapers reported on Saturday. ...
BSNL scraps tender for GSM linesIndian Express
BSNL to scrap Rs35,000 crore tender; seek fresh bidsdomain-B
BSNL scraps $10 bn GSM line tenderEconomic Times
Calcutta Telegraph -Times of India -Hindu Business Line
all 59 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:16 pm

General Motors to pay its vice chairman $5 million

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said Girsky would receive $500,000 a year in base pay, and the remaining 90% of his annual compensation in the form of equity.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:12 pm

BSNL scraps $10 bln GSM tender - report

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has decided to scrap its tender for 93 million GSM lines worth $10 billion and invite fresh bids, newspapers reported on Saturday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:11 pm

China wants yuan in SDR in 2015 - Japanese daily

TOKYO (Reuters) - China is pushing for the yuan to be added to the basket of currencies that comprise the IMF's special drawing rights, aiming for its inclusion in 2015, Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun said on Saturday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:02 pm

Days of "special" yuan policy numbered - China c.banker

BEIJING (Reuters) - China flagged on Saturday it will let the yuan resume its rise at some point as it unwinds the super-loose policies it has been pursuing to prop up the world's third-largest economy.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:54 pm

Industrialist GP Birla dead - Hindustan Times

Oneindia

Industrialist GP Birla dead
Hindustan Times
Noted industrialist GP Birla died on Friday night in Kolkata after a brief period of illness. He was 87. His wife Nirmala, son CK Birla and daughter Lekha Poddar survive Birla. GP Birla, part of the illustrious Birla clan, headed the GP-CK Birla Group ...
Industrialist GP Birla passes awayindiablooms
Indian Industrialist GP Birla Dies at 86, Press Trust ReportsBloomberg
Industrialist GP Birla deadPress Trust of India
Oneindia -Times of India -BusinessWeek
all 43 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:41 pm

U.S. deficits higher than Obama budgeted - CBO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's budget plans would rack up $9.8 trillion more U.S. debt by 2020, or $1.2 trillion more than the White House has forecast, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:24 pm

General Motors offers to keep 661 of rejected US dealers

GM once planned to terminate franchise agreements with about 1,300 US dealers in a bid to operate its retail networks more efficiently and return the company to profitability.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 8:55 pm

US deficits higher than Obama forecasts: Congressional Budget Office

President Barack Obama's budget would increase the US deficit in 2011 to 2020 by $1.2 trillion more than the White House has forecast said CBO.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 8:51 pm

US deficit debt to exceed Obama forecasts CBO

The United States will chalk up a wider budget deficit and higher national debt than projected by US President Barack Obama over the next decade, new estimates by Congress showed on Friday.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 7:32 pm

Microsoft to launch social networking phone in US

Software giant Microsoft is to launch its own mobile phones in the US later this year as it aims to challenge the growing smartphone dominance of its main rivals Apple and Google, the technology blog Gizmodo reported on Friday.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 7:13 pm

Google to insert automated captions on YouTube

Google is to add automatic captions to the tens of millions of English-language videos it hosts on YouTube, the web search giant said on Friday.

Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 7:08 pm

U.S. House panel - Toyota shows no proof yet of study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has failed to support statements of top executives that the automaker has rigorously evaluated electronic throttles in its vehicles, Democratic leaders of a congressional committee said on Friday.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 6:24 pm

Rashtriya Ispat\'s Independent Director resigns in protest

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam\'s Independent Director Jagatpal has resigned on March 2 under protest. Jagatpal alleges nontransparency in talks between Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) and Gangavaram Port Trust (GPT).
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 4:08 pm

Air India gets corporate makeover to stay afloat - Economic Times

The Hindu

Air India gets corporate makeover to stay afloat
Economic Times
NEW DELHI: The government has parachuted a motley crew made up of a businessman, a retired air chief, a trade economist and a realty tycoon into the board of Air India, the national carrier that bleeds Rs 14 crore every passing day, hoping that their ...
Anand Mahindra among 4 new directors of Air IndiaHindu Business Line
A flight back in time on Emperor Ashoka, Rani of Jhansi!Times of India
New directors appointed on Air India boardThe Hindu
domain-B -Livemint -Financial Express
all 249 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 3:13 pm

7.5% growth doable this year: PM

While replying to the debate on motion of thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha, PM said that the economic growth in the current fiscal could be 7.5%, more than the official estimates of 7.2% as projected by the Central Statistical Organisation.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 3:10 pm

Yeddyurappa hikes VAT by 1 per cent in budget - The Hindu

Daijiworld.com

Yeddyurappa hikes VAT by 1 per cent in budget
The Hindu
Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa presenting the State Budget for 2010-11 in the Legislative Assembly in Bangalore on Friday. BANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in Karnataka has opted for new taxation measures to net additional ...
Bangalore infrastructure gets a shot in the armExpress Buzz
Revenue shortfall sees State fiscal deficit soaringBusiness Standard
Budget outlay up at Rs 70k crFinancial Express
fnbnews.com -Sify -Mangalorean.com
all 65 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:59 pm

Bt cotton fails to control pests in 4 Gujarat districts - Times of India

Hindu Business Line

Bt cotton fails to control pests in 4 Gujarat districts
Times of India
NEW DELHI: In what is bound to strengthen environment minister Jairam Ramesh's stand that GM crop technology should be handled with precaution, Monsanto on Friday admitted that its Bt cotton variety had failed to control pests in four districts of ...
Bt cotton ineffective against pest in parts of Gujarat, admits MonsantoThe Hindu
Bt cotton has failed admits MonsantoIndia Today
Bt cotton flunks pest resistance test in GujaratHindustan Times
Daily News & Analysis -Business Standard -Hindustan Times ePaper
all 9 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:47 pm

European leaders see no need to bail out Greece

BERLIN (Reuters) - European leaders expressed confidence on Friday that new austerity measures planned by Greece would be enough to pull the country out of its debt crisis and make any bailout unnecessary.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:42 pm

'Citi selling 40% stake'

The chief executive of Citigroup told a government panel on Thursday that no financial institution should be too big to fail and that he was aggressively moving to rein in excessive risk-taking.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:20 pm

Noted industrialist G P Birla dies at 86

Noted industrialist G P Birla has died at his residence here. He was 86. Birla had been ill for some time with various ailments and took his last breath late last night, family sources said.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:20 pm

'Govt to appoint COO for Nacil'

Highly placed sources said keeping AI-IA afloat will require an annual infusion of Rs 5,000 crore to keep paying the oil and airport charges and wages.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:15 pm

SEC norms hit NRI investments

The tightening of compliance norms by US regulator Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) may force foreign financial companies in India with operations in the US to revisit their business strategy for NRIs based in that country.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:07 pm

Wimax to have 2 players: Govt

Unable to resolve the differences between the Department of Telecom and the Department of Space over spectrum use, the government has decided to allow only two players in each circle for broadband wireless services instead of three players earlier.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:04 pm

Govt appoints four parttime directors on Air India board

The government is stepping up its efforts to save ailing national carrier Air India. It has approved four parttime directors on the Air India board. Anand Mahindra, Amit Mitra, Fali H Major and Harsh Neotia will stay on the board for three years.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 2:01 pm

Sikorsky may make choppers at Hyderabad

Facility could come up by 2015.
Source: Daily News & Analysis: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 1:53 pm

RBI defers base rate adoption - Times of India

Stock Watch

RBI defers base rate adoption
Times of India
NEW DELHI: On the request of banks, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday deferred implementation of the base rate regime to fix interest rates for loans by three months to July 1 and also exempted three categories of loans from the new system. ...
Banks can lend below base rateEconomic Times
Lending rate overhaul gets delayedCalcutta Telegraph
RBI puts off rollout of base rate to July 1Financial Express
Hindu Business Line -Indian Express -Business Standard
all 57 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 1:49 pm

RBI defers base rate adoption

On the request of banks, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday deferred implementation of the base rate regime to fix interest rates for loans by three months to July 1 and also exempted three categories of loans from the new system. Earlier, the new system was to be implemented from April 1.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 1:44 pm

BSNL to scrap Rs 35k cr tender

After dilly dallying for over 20 months, state-owned telecom firm BSNL decided to scrap its controversial Rs 35,000-crore tender to procure equipment for expansion of its mobile services.
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 1:44 pm

'Linking Bharat to India key to growth'

Aditya Puri, managing director, HDFC Bank, is credited to have built from scratch one of the most trusted banks in the country. But behind the practical banker lies a family man, who believes in work-life balance. In an hour-long chat with Partha Sinha & Shubham Mukherjee, frequently interspersed with one liners in his trademark Hindi, Puri, an ex Citi-banker, poured his heart out about inclusion, his ideas about bringing the Bharat and the India closer, usage of technology to shrink geographies in banking and also being tough with habitual defaulters. Excerpts
Source: India Business News | Business News - Times of India | 5 Mar 2010 | 1:33 pm

Schneider Electric India buys two units of Zicom - Business Standard

The Hindu

Schneider Electric India buys two units of Zicom
Business Standard
Schneider Electric India, the Indian arm of French energy major Schneider Electric, today announced it would buy two electronic security system business units of Mumbai-based Zicom Electronic Security Systems, for Rs 224.7 crore. ...
Schneider to acquire Zicom's businessesThe Hindu
Schneider to buy Zicom security system business for Rs 225 crHindu Business Line
Schneider to buy Zicom's security system businessIndian Express
India Infoline.com -Livemint -Stock Watch
all 42 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:06 pm

Gloves come off in HUL vs P&G wars

Mumbai: The battle for the whitest wash rages on. On Friday, the Calcutta high court passed an interim order restraining Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) from airing its recent Rin detergent powder advertisement in response to a 2 March challenge by Procter and Gamble Home Products Ltd, (P&G) which said the commercial disparaged its Tide Naturals.

Also See Rise and Fall of Detergent Giants (Graphic)

“The court has instructed HUL to take the advertisement off immediately,” P&G said in a release. “The court has also stated that HUL is barred from showing any such advertisements in the future.”

All-out competition: On 26 February, HUL launched an advertisement that said Rin washed whiter than P&G’s Tide Naturals.

HUL will comply with any order as soon as it received a copy of the court’s ruling, a spokesperson said. P&G said the court allowed it to continue airing Tide Naturals advertisements, according to Sumeet Vohra, P&G India’s marketing director.

The two sides were battling it out elsewhere on the same day, in the Chennai high court, at the hearing of HUL’s suit against P&G’s Tide Naturals advertisement.

The court had directed P&G on 2 March to prominently display a disclaimer saying the product didn’t contain lemon and chandan (sandalwood) in all advertisements of Tide Naturals. The judge was not satisfied with the modification as it wasn’t prominent enough.

During the hearing, HUL objected to the use of the word “natural” in the brand name, packaging, advertisement and promotion, since it had been established that the product only contained synthetic compounds. The next hearing will be held on 9 March.

The third edition of the detergent wars between two of the world’s largest consumer goods firms in India has everything befitting a soap opera: aggressive advertising, a price war and legal battles on several fronts.

The Rs13,000 crore Indian detergent market is the largest segment in the consumer goods sector and both players are struggling to protect their market share and boost profit. A bruising battle may lead to a loss of credibility and bleeding bottom lines for both brands, said some advertising experts and analysts.

Both P&G and HUL are losing market share as consumers cut spending due to high food inflation. According to Nielsen data, P&G’s Tide brand lost around 1.5% in market share in the 18 months till December 2009. Rival HUL’s Rin brand lost 0.6% in the same period. HUL is also facing a slower rate of growth in the laundry segment (washing powder and detergent bars). While both these companies have lost ground to smaller rivals such as Ghari and Sasa, they are taking each other on since they are the largest brands in the mid-tier category, said analysts.

While HUL and P&G took potshots at each other in the detergents category all through the late 1990s, things were more subtle then, said ad film-maker Prahlad Kakkar.

In 1991, when P&G introduced Ariel, a premium brand, in India, HUL responded with heavy promotions for Surf. In 2005, when P&G dropped prices by 30-50% to gain market share, India’s largest packaged consumer goods company by sales reacted with equivalent price cuts.

To arrest its declining market share in laundry, P&G launched the Tide Naturals variant in December, priced 30% cheaper than Tide. According to Nielsen data, Tide Naturals has taken a 0.6% share in the two months since its launch.

HUL responded on three fronts. In January, the unit of the Anglo-Dutch company cut prices of Rin and Surf by 10-30%. On 25 February, it filed a petition in the Chennai high court saying Tide Naturals did not contain natural substances. On 26 February, it launched an advertisement that said Rin washed whiter than Tide, naming the rival brand.

The Rin commercial shows two mothers waiting at a bus stop for their sons to return from school, one with a Tide Naturals packet. The other woman’s son asks: “Aunty chaunk kyun gayi? (Why is aunty shocked?)”, playing on the Tide punch line: “chaunk gaye”. It ends with a voice-over: “Tide se kahin behatar safedi de Rin.”

Apart from filing the petition in the Calcutta high court against the Rin advertisement, P&G has cut prices of its Tide bar by some 30-50%.

HUL’s move smacks of desperation, said an executive with a media agency that services P&G. He added that P&G was sure to kick off a series of commercials against HUL, but declined to share details. “We cannot comment on future plans,” said a P&G spokeswoman.

But ad guru Alyque Padamsee, a former head of Lintas, said both brands are likely to lose. “It’s going to highlight all the inadequacies and lead the consumer to mistrust both of them. I am not sure who gains from it,” Padamsee said.

Sunil K. Alagh, former managing director of Britannia Industries Ltd and now running SKA Advisors, which specializes in consultancy services in the consumer goods space, has a different view. “Whenever a challenger has taken on the market leader, the challenger has won,” he said.

According to Alagh, Tide Naturals is a new but smaller brand compared with its heavyweight rival. Rin’s strategy is to kill two birds with one stone. “It has taken on the mother brand Tide by making a sweeping statement, even as it takes a swipe at the P&G brand Tide Naturals,” Alagh said.

Apart from credibility, there also arises the question of declining margins. In 2005, both companies saw a significant decline in profit which they are still trying to recover from.

“Lever has still to recoup the damage that was done five years back. The margins are still not at the same level,” said Nikhil Vora, managing director of brokerage IDFC-SSKI Ltd. However, HUL “has managed to rejuvenate Rin, a dying brand in the last one month”.

P&G’s detergents business is part of Procter & Gamble Home Products, a 100% subsidiary of Procter and Gamble Co. “It is not possible to know how the division is doing,” said Anand Shah, an analyst with Angel Broking Ltd, who sees the decline in margins being carried forward.

What is worrying analysts is the possibility that the price cuts may be extended across brands as the two rivals widen their attacks against each other. “If the company (HUL) does not gain volumes, it may actually see (revenue shrink) this quarter,” said Shah. The laundry segment is a highly saturated segment with single-digit growth, and price cuts may not see an accompanying increase in volumes.

Graphic by Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint

sapna.a@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

The thrill factor

What is it with mysteries that give us such kicks? At this year’s Jaipur Literature Festival, I tried to get my head around this mystery of mysteries as I drifted between venues like a kayak without its Eskimo, and heard some of the best minds illuminate aspects of fiction.

There was Vikram Chandra, lover of genre literature, expert on detective fiction, co-writer of a Bollywood action film, who described his masterwork Sacred Games (2006) as an anti-thriller. He discussed how the archetypal detective story and its display of rational minds investigating problems, perhaps can be seen as the only genuinely modern literary form, and the literary detectives (such as Sherlock Holmes) are typical post-Enlightenment figures.

Mysterious: Frayn at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Photo: Zac O’ Yeah

Alexander McCall Smith said he may well have written about a dry-cleaning agency, if it wasn’t that the market for dry-cleaning novels is minuscule compared with detective novels. The larger point is that popular detective fiction doesn’t reflect reality very well, because if you think about it, murder isn’t a very common crime. Violations of traffic rules are at the top of urban crime statistics, said Smith, yet few writers have stood up to the challenge of writing about parking offences.

I buttonholed Michael Frayn—the brilliant playwright and novelist—who uses mysteries as an engine for some of his plots. Frayn said: “Everyone is drawn to the mysterious. Wittgenstein said once, commenting on Freud, ‘Beware the charm of the uncanny.’ He suggested that Freud is popular because he seemed to be investigating the realm of the unknown, something Wittgenstein felt one should be cautious about.”

It seems to Frayn that a lot of human energy is devoted to answering the mysterious questions in life, as seen in his multi-award-winning novel Spies (2002) about two boys during World War II, who imagine that the mother of one of them is a Nazi agent. Spying on her, they reveal unexpected secrets. In his famous play about the theory behind the atomic bomb, Copenhagen (1998), described by one reviewer as a “cerebral thriller”, the scientists Bohr and Heisenberg—stuck in a timeless post-mortem limbo—discuss a mysterious meeting they had in 1941 which has been the focus of much subsequent debate.

In the Booker-shortlisted Headlong (1999), a novel that combines art history with scholarly investigation, the protagonist suspects that he has discovered a long lost, priceless Bruegel painting, with enormous ramifications. So what mystery triggered that story?

“That question is often hard to answer, but in this case, I can tell you absolutely precisely how it started. I was in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where they have one of the best Bruegel collections, looking at Hunters in the Snow, one of the world’s greatest paintings. Then I looked at the painting next to it, Return of the Herd, and then The Gloomy Day, but when I read the signs I realized that they belong to a series illustrating the seasons and there was a season missing! Immediately, I felt a novel coming: Where could the missing season be?” Frayn’s conclusion was that it wouldn’t be in any established collection, but in the hands of someone who had inherited it and couldn’t recognize a Bruegel. “So if you saw that picture on this man’s wall, what would you do? Would you just say: Oh, I think you’ve got the missing Bruegel? The problem for the protagonist is to find out if it really is the picture he thinks it is and also to get hold of it. There turns out to be more opposition to him than he supposed at the start.”

There perhaps lies part of the answer: Like their readers, great writers are attracted to mysteries and that is what makes their books so mysteriously alluring.

Zac O’Yeah is a Bangalore-based writer of crime fiction. Write to him at criminalmind@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

A dance to remember

You are Tamil? You must know the Bharatanatyam?” This is a lazy man’s way to start a conversation, but it reinforces the cliché that a young girl from a middle-class family from Chennai would surely have learnt Bharatanatyam. “A south Madras chick, then it must be Kalakshetra?” Yeah, right!

Rukmini Devi--A Life: Penguin, 243 pages, Rs550.

As students in Chennai, we had no sense of the history of Kalakshetra and were ignorant of the cultural politics of the place. Kalakshetra was the school that stood by the whispering waves, a sylvan spot whose silence was broken by the thump of drums or strings of a violin to an old note. It was the benchmark for the mushrooming practice of young girls to learn dance after a fashion to imbibe “cultured hobbies and manners” that included tailoring, cooking and music that Mrs Beeton would have so approved of in the 1940s. Isabella Mary Beeton, a cookery writer, was the author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.

My memories of Rukmini Devi, the founder of Kalakshetra, was of a handsome woman in her late 70s who carried herself with remarkable elegance beyond her years.

There were many dancers, gender activists and sociologists who challenged Kalakshetra and Rukmini Devi’s genre of dance called Bharatanatyam. She was criticized for sanitizing dance in the name of being pristine; it did away with the original rasa, the frisson, to replace it with Victorian prudery. Dravidian activists held it up as another example of how indigenous Tamil culture had been usurped as high art by the elite community of the times, surpassing native culture.

Setting aside the criticisms, it is remarkable how Rukmini Devi, from an orthodox family milieu, defied social stigma to learn a performing art at 30, beseech elder Devadasi women such as Mylapore Gowri Ammal and other gurus to teach her to dance, then endeavoured to make it socially acceptable. She also founded an institution for it, making Tamil dance a renowned art. Rukmini Devi—A Life by Leela Samson is a truthful tribute to one of India’s leading artistic minds, whose legacy continues to have an impact on many hearts and minds, not just on the performing and fine arts, but on education and philosophy.

Samson’s biography is a veritable trove of information on the early 1900s, especially the social and cultural history of the 1920s and 1930s. Chennai was the headquarters of the Theosophical Society; the freedom movement had gathered much momentum—spirited thinkers were active in challenging social norms and charting new courses in social, economic and creative channels.

The biography records in unsparing detail the many challenges and tribulations, and controversies of the Theosophical leaders and Rukmini Devi, whose family and journey into the arts was woven into that of the Theosophists.

Rukmini Devi hailed from a traditional Tamil Brahmin family. Her father’s sense of propriety and spartan sense of style had a lifelong effect on her. But greater was the impact of her association with Theosophists Annie Besant and George Arundale, who shaped her life and opened her to experiences beyond the confines of domesticity, and Anna Pavlova, who drew her to dance as a form of creative expression. Rukmini Devi was 16 and Arundale 41 when they decided to marry.

Rukmini Devi’s journey from a quiet life of domesticity to one that embraced dance and the arts is detailed, written in a language that is simple, unaffected and elegant—a book Rukmini Devi would have liked.

Write to lounge@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

Get copyright right

Why on earth is everyone suddenly going jhing-a-la-la-ing about copyright? All talk shows and news-hour debates have suddenly discovered the importance of copyright and a proposed amendment to the Copyright Act. After all, copyright and the proposed amendment have got to be important issues if you have Aamir Khan, the quintessential jhing-a-la-la man, himself embroiled in a celebrity spat with Javed Akhtar over the issue. These, unfortunately, are the parameters by which we now judge whether or not an issue is important enough to be featured on prime time news. Now that the celebrities have kissed and made up, the issue too has become passé and need no longer be discussed hotly. Well, that’s the way it is folks. We are, finally, a nation that is completely in awe of Bollywood and its celebrities, and to a lesser extent, television celebrities.

If that isn’t true, then we need to holler out to dear Sib and say “Wake Up Sib” because you need to reassure us that there’s more to the amendment than just the jhing-a-la-la brouhaha. But to give dear Sib his due, I’ve got to stop being irreverent and get down to brass tacks. So this is the last time you will hear me Sibbing away irreverently about Mr Sibal, our hon’ble minister for human resource development and one of the leading legal experts in the country. My apologies, hon’ble minister, sir, and ne’er again shall I err as I have in this column. Not unless you stick to your inexplicable decision to include only representatives from the film industry in the panel that is said to have been formed to discuss and sort out differences between producers, record labels, artistes and creators, all of whom will be affected by the proposed amendment to the Copyright Act.

Biased: Is the copyright debate film-focused?

I’m hoping that the hon’ble minister will forgive my momentary lapse into irreverence because, you see, the issue isn’t about who’s mad at whom, and who’s not talking to whom, but one that is about protecting and empowering creative people—people who compose, write and script the music, the songs, screenplays and plots that we so love and cherish. The proposed amendment is about strengthening the rights of creative people by ensuring that their right to profit from any exploitation of their creative genius is non-assignable and cannot be waived in toto. Crudely explained, this would mean that if your favourite composer or lyricist were to write a new song, either for a film or for an album, or for any other commercial purpose, he or she would not have to assign all rights, in perpetuity (or forever more), worldwide (even in the universe and the galaxy), contrary to current practice thus far. Therefore, if a work is to be exploited commercially in any other format, but for which permission was granted or licence given, due permissions/licences would have to be sought from the creators, who would also be entitled to a reasonable share of the profits to be made from further exploitation of their works. So if you took permission to incorporate a song in an album, and you now wish to sell it as a ringtone too, then you would need to get permission from all the parties who made the song in the first place, and also share profits from the sale of ringtones with them.

It surprises me then that people from the film industry (who work as an ensemble with specialists and artistes from different genres joining hands) should be opposing this fair and reasonable sharing of revenues. It surprises me even more that a discussion on an issue of such abiding importance should be convened officially with a panel that does not include representatives of different forms and genres, including art music, folk music, ghazal and regional music. Further, the opinions of producers and artistes from different parts of the country must be taken into consideration or else, life will definitely not be jhing-a-la-la!

Write to Shubha at musicmatters@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

Rooftop luxury

Sweet deals: A vendor at Barkhor Square in front of the Potala Palace. BoA Overland

All too often, luxury travel translates into a homogenous, cookie-cutter experience, where you stay in the best hotels, avail of the best possible transport and see the sights without feeling the heat or the cold. Travel without the blips can be, well, unexciting. But not if you take up Best of Asia (BoA) Overland’s challenge of the High Road to Lhasa, a 26-day, ex-Kathmandu trip that’s a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Part of the reason, of course, is Tibet itself, much reviled, much mythologized, yet somehow achingly untouched. The highest region on earth, the Tibetan plateau has some of the world’s tallest mountains and is also the source of some of the world’s most majestic rivers. It is a harsh terrain, the atmosphere is extremely dry, yet this part of the planet remains a coveted destination for adventure junkies. BoA Overland’s own all-terrain vehicle promises to take you where no one else does, in comfort and safety, without compromising on any of the excitement. With a careful eye on acclimatization, the group moves into Tibet only on Day 4 and then goes on to cover Milarepa’s Cave (3,800m), La Lungla (5,000m), Lao Tingri (4,000m), Everest Base Camp (5,150m), Rongbuk Monastery—one of the highest in the world—Lake Manasarovar, Sakya, Shigatse (home to the Tashilhunpo monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lama), Gyantse and Lhasa.

God’s abode: The Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

There are some unavoidably long driving days in this itinerary and about 10 nights at bush camps—but consider that only 14 people get to be on a trip to one of the world’s last surviving wilderness regions, take an Everest mountain flight, enjoy full camp support (including hot water for a wash!), a massage and sauna at Last Resort (www.thelastresort.com.np) and five nights at a five-star hotel (www.dwarikas.com). There are no severe age or health restrictions for the trip: If you’re up to Tibet, BoA Overland will take you there for $7,273 (around Rs3.36 lakh) per person on twin-share basis. Two trips are planned this year: 6 June-1 July and 25 July-19 August. For details, log on to www.boa-overland.com

Write to lounge@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

The devil, the deep sea and in between

It is under a disturbing grey sky that we sail into Devil’s Island, a trio of islands once infamous as a French penitentiary colony. Their notoriety was further accentuated by Henri Charrière’s “autobiography” Papillon (it was later found to be at least partly fictitious), based on his imprisonment and attempts to break free. In the film, Steve McQueen played the part of Papillon, who escaped on a flotilla of coconuts on the “seventh wave”. None of that grim history (real or imagined) is on display in the rocky cliffs and coconut trees as we enter the bay, but in the early dawn, the waters are so restless that the ship lurches dangerously. Startled passengers watch as a forceful swell scatters the cutlery and glassware off the breakfast buffet tables. An hour later, it is still impossible to board the tenders to go ashore.

Devil’s Island now houses a few prison cells, the ruins of a church and a desolate cemetery with many tombstones commemorating infant deaths. When we sail away from Devil’s Island, the sky mysteriously clears to reveal another beautiful day.

Photograph: Wendell Rodricks

Two days before Devil’s Island, we dock at Trinidad and Tobago. Wayne Mohammed, the driver of a taxi we hire, turns out to be of Kashmiri origin. A cocktail of religions (Muslim father, Catholic mother, Hindu wife) has resulted in a charming, Indian-looking man. There is, incidentally, a sizeable resident population of Indian origin in Trinidad.

On a sightseeing trip around the island, he asks us about Bollywood and shows off the new National Academy for the Performing Arts, a modern statement in glass and metal. Skirting around the Queen’s Park Savannah—sometimes dubbed the largest traffic island in the world—Wayne drops us off at the Botanic Gardens. Exotic trees and flowering plants are set in more than 50 acres of lush tropical land. Clouds of red and white poinsettias glisten in the clean air. From a vantage point one can see the entire bay of Trinidad.

To read the first part (Click here)

Photograph: Wendell Rodricks

With Carnaval round the corner, the streets are already festooned with decorations. I ask Wayne if he can take us to see where they make the grand costumes. In a tiny studio, girls are assembling sequins, feathers and tonnes of glitter. Overhead, racks of feathered headdresses sway in the tropical breeze. “Look,” says the excited salesgirl next door, “we even have a Bollywood costume.” The woman’s costume, rich with Indian motifs, and the man’s dhoti pants in tangerine satin do look Bollywood indeed.

Trinidad is also home to the famous Angostura Bitters. The secret of its composition is so closely guarded that seven persons do their parts of the concoction at separate times of the year to ensure that they never meet each other.

Back at sea, I register for Portuguese classes to brush up on the way Brazilians speak (which is distinctly different from the Portuguese spoken in Goa). The first port of call in Brazil is Fortaleza. It is just a day away and the thrill of Brazil has already infected the ship. When we cross over the Equator, the ship’s team performs a ritual. Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, arrives at the pool with an entourage of toga-clad staff. Passengers are subjected to punishments for various crimes: Lingering too long at the parlour, order ing too much foie gras and for just being “too good”. The hilarious punishments include blindfolding a hapless passenger and forcing him to kiss a fair maiden (a gigantic raw salmon). In the revelry, guests order glasses of the celebrated Brazilian Caipirinha cocktail (cachaça, lime and sugar) to toast the impending arrival of the Brazilian coast….and Carnaval.

Fashion designer Wendell Rodricks writes a cruise column exclusively for Lounge from on board the ‘Silver Spirit’.(www.silversea.com )

This is the second of a seven-part series.

Write to lounge@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 12:00 pm

Bid and buy temple treasures

Aset of six teakwood colonial-style pillars, each resting on a lotus-shaped circular base with four-sided cornices on the top, will be the star items at the Mystery of Chickpet auction next week. Salvaged from the Shri Adinath Jain Swetamber temple, built in 1922 by the resident Jain community in the neighbourhood of Chickpet in Bangalore, the set of pillars is one of several other lots from the temple to be put on sale by the Bangalore-based auction house Bid and Hammer Auctioneers Pvt. Ltd. “The size of the Jain community in the locality is increasing rapidly, so the trustees decided to break it (temple) down and build a larger space. They got in touch with us to check if the sculptures and art in the temple were valuable,” says Maher Dadha, chairman and managing director, Bid and Hammer, about what he believes to be the country’s first architectural auction.

Click here to view a slideshow of artefacts that will be put on sale

A locality otherwise characterized by narrow lanes, crowded shops, old buildings and barely enough space to walk, Chickpet is historically important, being one of the first towns to form Kempegowda’s Bangalore—Kempegowda is credited with building the city. “Although the items on auction are dated to be less than a century old, they reflect the culture of the time,” says Dadha, pointing out, by way of example, that the apsaras carved on the cornices of the wooden pillars wear crowns that resemble the one worn by Queen Victoria.

Fusion of styles: The Jain Swetamber temple was built in 1922 in Chickpet.

Spartan in its original style of construction, the temple has been repeatedly renovated over time, resulting in a fusion of different architectural styles, with heavy British influence. So while doorways and arches show signs of Mughal influence, these are flanked by colonial-style marble dwarpals (guards). The interiors were adorned with vintage art nouveau majolica ceramic tiles from Japan which blended seamlessly with the marble murals of the Shatrunjay Mahatirth (depicting a pilgrimage taken by Jains) and Pahari school miniature paintings of Lord Mahavir.

Eighty per cent of the 139 lots on sale are from the temple; the rest are assorted items that go with the historical architecture theme. “We have to make sure that people who are coming from across the world have a good variety of items to pick from,” says Dadha.

But given the fact that the temple is only 90 years old, there is also a view that the temple and its contents are not significant in value. “It is just a modern edifice that is being put on auction. It is healthy that an auction is being held, so several people have a fair chance to own the pieces, but otherwise I wouldn’t say it is adding value to the world of art,” says Naman Ahuja, associate professor of ancient Indian art and architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

However, art collectors are excited at the concept of the thematic auction, maintains Dadha, adding that he has had several non-resident Indians calling him to express interest. “Many of them have residences in India and are very excited about having a portion of a temple to adorn their houses,” says Dadha, whose team took close to a year to extract portions such as the pillars, arches and embedded murals without damaging them. Some of the pieces might not be perfect, Dadha says, but that could not be helped. No restoration work has been done on any of the items, which have been valued in the range of Rs7,500-42 lakh.

The Mystery of Chickpet auction will take place on 10 March at ITC Windsor, Bangalore. For details, log on to www.bidandhammer.com

Photographs by Hemant Mishra / Mint

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:54 am

Industry rushes to beat tax break deadline in hill states

Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee says the companys plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand, which started production today, will change the companys centre of gravity from south to north India. But thats not the only benefit the Hinduja group flagship company will get by fast-tracking the production schedule.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:44 am

‘Pyaar’ on the sea

Paolo Vitelli manages to spare only a few weeks of the year for sailing in the south of France. After retirement, the 62-year-old chairman of Azimut-Benetti plans to spend more time at sea. Vitelli started with a sailing boat charter service in 1969. Now the head of the world’s largest producer of 24m-plus yachts, Vitelli was in India to unveil Azimut’s new 120ft yacht at the Mumbai International Boat Show last month. Edited excerpts from an interview:

Is there an Indian yachting market?

Yachtsman: Vitelli says unlike the Chinese, Indians like the water. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint

We consider India a strategic market. It’s no more an emerging market, it’s a sure, realistic and certain market. Why? The amount of wealth in this country is increasing rapidly; secondly, you have a beautiful coastline, and Indians appreciate beautiful things. Indians also like the water, unlike (the) Chinese. We think we are just on the edge of big success. For the past four or five years, yachting was being talked about, now it has become a reality.

Selling boats must be harder than selling luxury cars in India. How do you convince your prospective customers?

Yachting started later than buying cars and it’s more difficult because the sea is more difficult than the road. There’s no other holiday as enjoyable as along the coastline, no other way to stay with friends or family than in the ambience of a boat for a weekend. There is no other way to do pyaar (romance), as on a boat. (Aristotle) Onassis taught us how it’s good to do pyaar on a boat. If you enjoy swimming, being with family, or making pyaar, the boat is a perfect tool. For that, you must be able to use it. The last element to convince Indians to buy yachts will be quickly providing marinas. We can provide service, but we can’t service a boat in the middle of the ocean.

What are maintenance costs for a year in India?

The international standard for maintenance is 5% the cost of the boat. In India, considering lower labour cost, it is 3% (prices for Azimut yachts start at Rs2.5 crore).

Do Indians buy boats and anchor them in the Mediterranean?

Yes. A very prominent person in India has parked his boat in the Middle East and will soon move it to the Mediterranean. A couple of Indian families keep their boats in Côte d’Azur. Not as much as the Russians, where 70% of buyers keep their boats in Côte d’Azur, but 5% of Indian buyers keep their boats there and in the Med. If an Indian buyer takes delivery of their boat first in the Mediterranean, they can spend the first season there, going to Capri, Portofino, Sardinia and Corsica to test the boat. Then come to us for the final check and come to India when the boat is proven. A couple of Indian buyers have already done that.

Do Indian buyers know navigation?

Not at the moment, because you use captain and crew here. I was trying to convince an Indian owner who is upgrading his boat to navigate himself because it gives you so much pleasure. He promised me that he will get a licence. You can still have a crew on board but you can decide your course and have the pleasure of arriving at the destination as the captain.

Parizaad Khan

parizaad.k@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:42 am

Essar to buy US coal firm for $550-600 mn

The Essar Group is close to buying Trinity Coal, one of the top 10 coal producers in the US, in a deal worth $550-600 million (Rs 2,500-2,735 crore).
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:42 am

NSC, DIPP clash over FDI rule change

Differences have arisen between the National Security Council (NSC) secretariat and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the commerce ministry, over significant changes in foreign direct investment (FDI) rules and an expanded approval mechanism for sensitive sectors.
Source: Business Standard | Front Page Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:40 am

Singh pushes talks with Pakistan

New Delhi: Taking advantage of the swing in momentum in its favour, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is pressing ahead with its foreign policy initiative to resume diplomatic negotiations with Pakistan.

Stating this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated the UPA’s commitment to improving governance, which he argued would enable the country to achieve double-digit growth, in his reply to a debate on Friday over the motion of thanks for President Pratibha Patil’s address to Parliament on 22 February.

The government’s anti-poverty strategy is presaged on ensuring robust growth. The Budget, presented on 26 February, renewed this ideological commitment of the UPA by leaning in favour of growth and fiscal prudence.

Justifying the resumption of talks with Pakistan, Singh said the government was determined to push the dialogue forward as it would be counterproductive to stay aloof when the rest of the world was willing to talk to Islamabad.

“I have never believed that the channels of communication with Pakistan should break down. The chances of miscalculation can only increase in an environment of no contact,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that the rest of the international community is talking to Pakistan. So, our not talking to them is not going to isolate them.”

Singh, who is known to be keen on continuing talks with Pakistan, clarified that any meaningful dialogue could proceed only if the terror apparatus operating on that country’s soil against India was controlled. The foreign secretaries of both countries met recently after a 13-month hiatus following the 26 November Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan said earlier this week that it had put forward a road map on how to restore dialogue.

Singh rejected the Opposition’s criticism that India had restarted the talks only under pressure from the US and said the decision had been a “calculated one”.

A day after food price inflation touched 17.87%, Singh said a good winter harvest in combination with fiscal and administrative measures will bring rates down as he mounted a strong defence of his economic management.

The government chose to let prices rise rather than cause widespread unemployment in plotting the economy’s recovery from the slump that was triggered in 2008 by the global financial crisis, he said.

“We could have dealt with the price effect by a very tough monetary and fiscal policy, which would have depressed the demand,” Singh said. “If we had gone that route, there would have been large-scale unemployment and a steep fall in industrial production in our country.”

While India was facing higher prices, several other countries were struggling to deal with a surge in the number of jobless people, he added.

The Prime Minister, who said drought had added to the pressure on the prices of essential commodities, expressed confidence that the country would soon overcome the crisis.

“There should be no panic on the food situation front considering the comfortable level of food stocks that are available with the Union government,” he said. “Rabi prospects are also very encouraging. Post-monsoon rains have been good. All this augurs well for our ability to stabilize food prices at a reasonable level.”

Singh’s UPA government has been struggling to meet the conflicting aims of controlling food inflation and paying farmers good prices for their produce in order to retain its political support in the rural areas.

Both Houses of Parliament have witnessed disruptions and several abrupt adjournments as Opposition and supporting parties have attacked the government over prices.

The Prime Minister said India will end the current fiscal year with a gross domestic product growth of 7.2-7.5%, while reiterating that it would achieve 8% in the next fiscal year (2010-11) and return to 9% in the subsequent year.

Opposition leader Arun Jaitley said in the Upper House that the Prime Minister’s speech was disappointing and lacked any concrete steps that could be translated into action.

Santosh K. Joy contributed to this story.

liz.m@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:37 am

Preity Zinta | There are no changes in team ownership

Mumbai: At the outset, let me make one thing clear: I am always with the team,” said Preity Zinta, co-promoter and chairperson of the board of directors at Kings XI Punjab. The actress added there were no changes in ownership of the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, contrary to “what you hear or read”.

Batting for success: Preity Zinta, co-promoter and chairperson of the board of Kings XI Punjab, thinks her team would break-even this year. Mike Hutchings / Reuters

“When I was only doing movies, I heard of link-ups with actors. Now in business, we are hearing that there is a full sellout and Hero Honda has been involved. The Munjals are wonderful people, we know them; there was never any such thing. We would love to have Hero Honda as sponsors, but there is no deal between us,” she said.

At her Bandra office, Zinta curled up on a sofa to talk about her team, which has already seen a change in captaincy—with Kumara Sangakkara replacing Yuvraj Singh—and will play at a new venue this season, Dharamshala. Edited excerpts:

How is season 3 critical, considering IPL is returning to India and there will be two more teams from next season?

We are broadening our horizons, like, for example, Dharamshala, another catchment area, will host two of our seven games. People in cosmopolitan cities are used to big events, but for places such as Chandigarh and Dharamshala, it would be nice for people to interact with cricketers. A lot of finances were cut off last year because of on-ground activation, which will come back this year. Revenues will change due to gate receipts. Security costs have tripled in three seasons.

I am not yet worried about revenue. It is talent, injuries, player fitness, availability—these are more of our concerns. Everything in IPL gets divided among eight teams. Next year, there will be lots of questions, lots of dhishum dhishum (read fighting). Many players will go back to the pool, make new strategies.

How lucrative has owning this team been?

I would think we would break-even this year. Personally, what happened so far is: people you have known for years, you cannot ask them to pay Rs2,800 for a T-shirt. You end up giving 10,000 or some such T-shirts to friends and family. This year, I have told people to buy their own T-shirts. As an actress I tell people to watch my movies, I don’t give them tickets.

Are there any plans to widen your brand image, like some other teams have?

We are interested, but more than branding, owning a club or a pub, was to have an academy. We had the Kings XI Punjab Cup, teams from smaller areas, play-offs and selections. This year, we picked talent that will play for our team. If you can perform in the IPL, you can play for the country. This has become like a TV reality show; you become popular and your life is set. Doors open for you.

Branding is not just seasonal; it’s off-season too. IPL is spending millions of dollars in branding; so the iron is hot, you can hit it as many times as you want.

How do you analyse last season and what are your plans for the current one?

Last year, we had several injuries—Jerome Taylor, Shaun Marsh, James Hopes did not show up, Brett Lee did not play 70% of the games, S. Sreesanth was out, (Mahela) Jayawardene was injured in the semis, Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) cracked his finger, V.R.V. (Singh) had a back problem. Eight injured when you have 11 to play. I know how we went through it: It was traumatic.

Distributing luck: A file photo of Kings XI Punjab co-promoter Preity Zinta giving prasad to her teammates before the start of their match. PTI

Since we are new in the league, there is a lot of shuffling in every team. Yuvraj is our most valuable player. If he wants to just focus on his batting, eventually we win or lose as a team. There is no place for “I” in “we”.

With 94 matches next season, will there be spectator fatigue?

People never tire of cricket, like cinema. I like to watch movies of certain actors because there’s some credibility. IPL will be like that. But in a year or two, a whole deal has changed—the last two teams became the first two teams. As one team performs well, there will be more viewers for it. Punjab versus Kolkata Knight Riders gets the highest ratings after the opening match, semi-finals and final. It becomes about Shah Rukh Khan and Preity. The second largest number of Web hits came from Indians in the US, where it was early in the morning. Every sixth face in the world is an Indian. You have enough people to watch IPL. There are players from all over, so you have people from those countries watching. My neighbour watches five-day games as if it’s a Twenty20 match, and he says this is pure cricket. I just say, “whatever”.

One player you wish you could have in the team?

I am not a regular cricket viewer; I have never been. But I know Sachin (Tendulkar) and I love him. My all-time favourites would be Don Bradman and him.

Whatever memory of cricket I have, it’s been of Sachin hitting fours and sixes. Now when I meet him, he is so amazing. If he was arrogant or a loose cannon, one would say, “whatever”, but he is so humble, sweet, down to earth. What do you say about him?

Now my favourite is a free hit. I love it. I am learning so much about the game. There is so much entertainment than just mundane cricket. No films are releasing that time, or TV shows. It’s free on YouTube, so a lot of people will watch in offices because their boss is a jerk and would not let them get out. Mumbai can build roads during the IPL, as people are not out on the streets.

This is the third in a series of interviews of IPL team owners and executives. On Monday: Manoj Badale, chairman and co-founder of Rajasthan Royals.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:36 am

Overseas assets to be focus, says Chawla

Mumbai: The government will focus on acquiring raw material assets abroad as it seeks to boost economic growth to double-digit levels, finance secretary Ashok Chawla said on Friday.

Growth agenda: Finance secretary Ashok Chawla. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint

Citing the example of the oil sector that had acquired such assets, the finance secretary said this policy “will be extended to other sectors of manufacturing” at Beyond Budget 2010: The India Agenda, an event organized by Mint in Mumbai.

“The government is engaged in preparing a policy for the manufacturing sector that will focus on acquiring raw material (assets) abroad wherever it is necessary,” said Chawla.

Economists and policymakers say supply constraints in areas such as foodgrain, raw materials and infrastructure could prevent the economy from accelerating to double-digit levels, which the government says is needed to eradicate poverty and boost jobs.

Two weeks ago, the petroleum secretary had suggested that the country’s foreign exchange reserves be used for buying energy assets abroad. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC), the country’s largest oil producer, has so far bought oil fields through its arm ONGC Videsh Ltd in Brazil and Russia among other countries.

“The manufacturing sector is showing a renewed energy, a renewed vigour”, but it needs to be “at the vanguard of industrial development”, said Chawla. The government will focus on supporting the sector not only because it provides employment, but also because it needs to get to the next level, the finance secretary said.

Budget discussion: (From left) Sanjay Nayar, CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. India; O.P. Bhatt, chairman of State Bank of India; Rakesh Mohan, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Tamal Bandyopadhyay, deputy managing editor of Mint; Union finance secretary Ashok Chawla; M. Damodaran, former chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India; and R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, during Mint’s Beyond Budget 2010: The India Agenda conference in Mumbai. Photo by Abhijit Bhatlekar/Mint.

India’s manufacturing sector needs to “join the comity of nations whose manufacturing sector can take on the world”.

Chawla said the finance minister himself will chair the proposed super regulator—the Financial Stability and Development Council. He said this won’t detract from the role of the Reserve Bank of India.

“All it means is that at the top of the pyramid there will be an apex regulator,” he said.

While reiterating that fiscal health was the overriding message of the Budget, Chawla said the government will focus on agriculture, infrastructure, improving skill-sets of employable Indians and reforming the delivery system of basic social services.

ravi.k@livemint.com

Sandeep Singh is with Hindustan Times.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:36 am

Quick Edit | Those poor Hollywood stars

The 10 actors who have been nominated for this year’s Oscars were paid a combined $20 million of upfront wages, reports The New York Times in a story on the new economics of Hollywood. That’s a bit more than Julia Roberts’ earnings from Erin Brockovich in 2001.

That means that 10 of the most talented Hollywood stars earned a total of Rs100 crore for their work, if we were to round off the numbers. That is a modest Rs10 crore per star. The rest of the money comes later, as a sort of bonus if the studio covers its costs after the film is released.

Now take a look at our very own Bollywood. Hard data is hard to come by, but there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that many of the top men (alas, not women) in showbiz get paid around Rs10 crore a film—around the same as what their international peers get. There is also the fact that our stars are often the highest taxpayers in recent years.

Economic theory tells us that wages equalize as poor countries catch up with the rich ones. But we did not expect it to happen so soon in showbiz.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:35 am

Calcutta HC orders HUL to pull out Rin ad

The ongoing advertisement war between HUL and Procter and Gamble (PG) is likely to end. On Friday, Calcuta High Court has asked FMCG major HUL to immediately pull out the offending advertisement, in which HUL has taken a direct pot shot at its rival PG\'s product Tide.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:13 am

Pru may exit some Asia markets post-AIA buy - sources

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Britain's Prudential Plc may quit some countries in Asia should it seal a $35.5 billion buy of American International Group's AIA, sources directly involved with the deal said on Friday, allowing the bulked-up insurer to focus on key markets.

Source: Reuters: Money News | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:08 am

GM India sets all time high sales record

General Motors India has registered a record growth of 126% in sales in February 2010, compared to the corresponding period last year. It sold 11,111 units in February 2010 against 4,921 units in February last year recording an all time high in monthly sales.
Source: Moneycontrol Top Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 11:00 am

Rupee posts best gain in 8 weeks

Mumbai: The rupee posted its biggest weekly gain since early January and closed at its strongest level in more than six weeks buoyed by gains in regional currencies and dollar selling by offshore players.

The partially convertible rupee closed at 45.60/61 per dollar, its strongest since 19 January, and 0.4% above its previous close of 45.80/81.

The rupee has gained 1.1% on the week, its best since a 1.9% rise seen in the week to 8 January.

“There were some dollar flows seen today, but there was good demand from oil firms, which prevented sharper gains. Offshore guys seem far more bullish on the rupee, there was good selling from them as well,” a senior dealer with a European bank said.

Dealers said the US non-farm payroll data and comments from Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou, who is visiting Berlin on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s invitation, would set the tone for the dollar and other majors next week.

Gains in regional peers also boosted sentiment for the rupee, they added.

The Malaysian ringgit hit a six-week peak on Friday after the central bank raised interest rates, while the South Korean won climbed on better-than-expected US retail sales and a drop in jobless claims.

Dealers said stake sale in NMDC due next week would be crucial for the rupee’s direction as good foreign demand was anticipated at the sale.

The government is set to sell shares in state-run miner NMDC, the country’s largest iron ore producer, to raise about $3 billion in an offer from 10 to 12 March.

Shares posted the best weekly gains in 2010 as they closed 0.1% higher, taking cues from a rise in global equities, with banks leading the rally, but concerns over stretched valuations limited gains.

Since mid-February, foreign investors have bought shares worth a net $1.5 billion. Last year, record inflows of $17.5 billion had helped the rupee gain 4.7% on year.

Traders said the rupee looked set to gain further boosted by easing risk aversion seen in global markets.

“Interest rate differentials have yet to gain influence in driving Asian currencies. As interest rates rise relative to the US, rate differentials are likely to gain importance,” economists at Credit Agricole said in a research note.

“Higher rates will eventually support further Asian forex appreciation,” they added.

Credit Agricole expects the rupee to rise to 42 per dollar by September 2010, before further gaining to 41 by end December.

One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were at 45.59/69, little changed from the onshore spot rate.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX closed at 45.70 and 45.6975 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $5.6 billion.

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:52 am

Half-open shutters

The humdrum, industrial quality of shop shutters has been the inspiration for some of artist Atul Dodiya’s earlier works. All of those works were installations—or neo-sculptures.

Large canvas: (top) Fool’s House, one of the works from Malevich Matters; and Dodiya in front of an artwork from an earlier show.

Dodiya’s first experiment with shutters was for Century City, a show at the Tate Modern in London in 2000. Artists from many cities were invited to represent a time period of their respective cities through themes which dominated that era. Mumbai was chosen for the last decade of the century, and Dodiya made shutters an emblem for communal violence and the rise of the underworld. “Shutters coming down, the overwhelming sound of it came to my mind when I was thinking of ideas for that show. Besides, shop shutters have been a permanent fixture of our city. I’ve passed them by while walking on pavements, while travelling by local train—it’s a quintessential Bombay thing,” Dodiya says.

In his new ongoing solo show Malevich Matters at the Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi, these shutters become a backdrop, or a plane on which Dodiya examines his own art. Painted in oil (Dodiya returns to oils—his favourite medium, he says—after four years) on large canvases, the 11 works in this show reveal Dodiya’s influences and imperatives in the two decades he has been working out of Mumbai. It is an amalgamation of many themes that have recurred in his art—Mahatma Gandhi, artist Bhupen Khakar whose pop-wit and irreverence Dodiya has always admired, motifs from the works of artists such as Jasper Johns, Joseph Beuys, Picasso and Kasimir Malevich, a Russian supremist artist whose geometric abstractions brought about a revival in Russian art of the early 20th century. He juxtaposes all these elements on painted shutters of various sizes and hues, some of which are half-open.

Malevich Matters is like a self-assessment of his own oeuvre—or a culmination of all his interests. “These are all devices for my mental plane, and they all come together in this show,” Dodiya says. The sheer breadth of reference in the show can be confusing for those unacquainted with Dodiya’s works. There’s a deliberate randomness about the mix-and-match quality of these works, done at his sprawling suburban studio over two years (simultaneously, Dodiya has been working on 3D works with actual shutters for Art Basel 2010 in June). The title of each work is written in bold, kitschy fonts on top of the canvas—making them appear like names of shops. In False Start, the words “J. Beuys & Sons” appears prominently on the canvas. It includes elements from the art of Beuys, a German performance artist, sculptor and polemicist, along with a profile of Gandhi; in another, a half-open shutter reveals the signature moustache and chin of Bhagat Singh and the upper half has a portrait of Khakar and one of Khakar’s figures—Bhagat Singh is a national hero, while Khakar is cult figure in the art world, and the work is meant to examine notions of heroism and iconism in our society. In Sayno Bolona, Dodiya pays homage to Santiniketan and his “favourite artist”, Rabindranath Tagore.

Malevich Matters is yet another testimony to the fact that Dodiya is a contemporary artist who has not abandoned his curiosity about artistic traditions. Many of his works have references to themes explored by artists from previous centuries—or to the artists themselves. He is also interested in society, how the rise of religious fundamentalism has shaped the later part of this century, and Gandhi’s relevance in these times. Also on display is his perfect control over form and structure, the arduous details and mastery over oils and colour scheme.

Dodiya’s works have recently been selling at auctions all over the world at prices ranging from Rs40 lakh to Rs1 crore. At the risk of being over-arching and trying to encompass many ideas, this show can be educative on his art. He has experimented with many forms and essentially remains an artist driven by intellect and ideas. “I like artists who keep changing. I have always tried to retain that student phase in JJ School when seeing a new medium or a new form excited us about its possibilities,” he says.

Malevich Matters is on display at the Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi until 10 April.

sanjukta.s@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:41 am

RBI delays base rate system by 3 months

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred the introduction of base rate system, which will be the new benchmark lending rate for banks, by three months to 1 July.

“Concerns on base rate have been sorted out,” the central bank’s deputy governor Usha Thorat said.

Earlier, banks were expected to implement the base rate system from 1 April.

The central bank has proposed replacing the current benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) with the base rate system, below which no banks would be allowed to give commercial loans.

Banks provide loans to many of their borrowers, including companies, below BPLR. The regulator wants banks to implement the new base rate system to ensure greater transparency.

BPLR and base rate will both continue until the complete implementation of the new base rate, State Bank of India chairman O.P. Bhatt said.

“Base rate is meant for new borrowers and we will have to take care of old borrowers also,” Bhatt, chairman of the country’s biggest public sector bank, said.

He said lending rates were unlikely to jump till May and the bank would review home loan rates by 31 March.

feedback@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:28 am

Air India picks four directors

Hyderabad / Bangalore: The government has chosen four new independent directors, including Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group, to join the board of Air India as part of a plan to turn around the loss-making national airline, two people familiar with the development said.

The others named to the board are former Indian Air Force chief Fali H. Major, Ambuja Realty Group chairman Harshavardhan Neotia, and Amit Mitra, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, an industry lobby group.

The board is being reconstituted after more than a year.

The Prime Minister’s Office cleared the appointments earlier this week and orders will be issued in a few days, a civil aviation ministry official said. “They will be taking part in the next board meeting,” he said.

An Air India executive confirmed the development. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mahindra could not be reached on Friday as his company said he was not in the country. Neotia could not be reached either. Major confirmed he is joining the board.

Mitra said the focus of the new board would be on low-cost services, maximizing utilization and improving public perception about the airline.

“If this team cannot bring in change, no team can,” he said over the phone from New Delhi.

The board of Air India, run by state-owned National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, is expected to meet later in March to finalize the airline’s cost-cutting strategy so it can get another infusion of equity capital from the government.

The airline plans to reduce the salary of each of its more than 30,000 employees by 15-17%, Mint had reported on 4 March. Air India has sought Rs5,000 crore in equity infusion from the government to boost its debt-raising ability. The government has approved Rs800 crore in two equal tranches and has pegged any future infusion to effective cost cutting by the airline.

tarun.s@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:25 am

Spot Light | Where’s the idea, sirji?

Reviewer: Emmanuel Upputuru

Disappointed: Upputuru.

Emmanuel Upputuru, national creative director for Publicis India, has spent around 12 years in advertising and has worked with brands such as Shell, Dabur, Shriram Honda, Kawasaki, Nokia, Mother Dairy, Gillette, Limca, Sprite, Motorola, Maruti and American Express Bank.

Campaign

The new ad for Apex Ultima paints from Asian Paints tries to establish the long-lasting property of the product. It shows a magician trying to make a castle disappear. He performs the trick, but the castle still seems to be standing. That’s when he touches a wall, only to realize that while the paint remains, the walls have actually disappeared.

What did you think of the ad?

To be very honest, I didn’t get it in the first place, neither in the second place. It was only a competitive streak (I will get it before you can get it) in me that forced me to crack the idea embedded in the spot—that when the building disappeared, only the paint stays. Wow. There is so much chaos around the magic that the girl who gives the key clue to us, “Hey, it’s just the paint!”, is lost. It’s a demo ad, but when you have to show that “Hey look this is the idea, please get it”, it’s not fun any more. The shot where the magician pokes into the “paint” is too desperate. It looks like a big-budget film. So I am pretty disappointed with it.

What are the challenges of advertising a category that has low consumer involvement?

No magic here: The ad looks like a big-budget film.

Actually in a low consumer involvement category you can do great work. Look at the advertising around adhesive brand Fevicol. Because I believe in a low-involvement category, all you have to do is bring about salience. Sounds like a planner’s answer.

Are there any brands that have done a good job of it?

The best example comes from the Asian Paints stable itself. The Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai is a benchmark in many ways. The ad showcases different shots of a family in their home.

What is your favourite ad in this category?

I wish I could say Sony paint. One way to look at the category is paints. The other way is the brief: long lasting. And in the latter a lot of good work has been done: Reynolds “Mole”, where parents use a permanent marker to draw a mole on one of their identical twins to tell them apart; Fevicol’s “Moustache” ad; Camlin’s “Sindoor” ad. And internationally what comes to mind is a spot where an old woman keeps getting calls, because during her college days some guys wrote her name and number on a toilet wall. And Asian Paints also gave us the legendary “Sunil babu” ad. It would never enter any international award book, but it told the story in a simple, endearing and memorable manner.

As told to Gouri Shah.

gouri.s@livemint.com

Source: LatestNews-Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 10:25 am

Zicom sells core business, to focus on energy, aviation

Mumbai: Mumbai-based Zicom Electronic Security Systems Ltd has sold its core business to French company Schneider Electric SA for Rs225 crore in a all-cash deal.

The company will use the money to repay the Rs90 crore debt on its books and diversify into new businesses such as renewable energy and aviation engineering, said founder and chairman Manohar Bidaye.

Graphic: Paras Jain/Mint

Zicom’s main business relates to integrated security solutions such as closed-circuit television surveillance, access control cards and alarm systems, contributing 52% of the company’s Rs375 crore revenue and 48% of profit in the nine months ended December 2009. Zicom decided to exit the business as increased demand from large hotels, government installations and office buildings called for a high degree of sophistication.

“The new business needs a huge amount of investments going forward, so we thought it was best to pass it on to a company which had the technology,” said Bidaye.

Zicom will continue to sell home security equipment and provide technology to smaller offices through its retail arm. Besides, the company has also retained its fire safety business in Dubai known as Unisafe Fire Protection Specialist Llc.

“We will use the extra cash from this deal to invest in renewable energy like wind and solar energy and also in servicing aeroplane parts, details of which are still being worked out,” Bidaye said. “We are confident on entering these businesses on our own, but we are planning for some acquisitions in India.”

For France-based Schneider Electric, this is the third acquisition in 2009-10.

“The Indian market is very important to us and growing,” said Olivier Blum, country president, Schneider Electric India. “We have close to 8,000 employees in India, 12 factories doing research and development and manufacturing here. This is our fourth biggest market behind France, US and China and we expect to grow 20-25% going forward.”

Schneider will inherit Rs80 crore worth of projects, a Rs179 crore turnover business and a Rs1,400 crore security systems market growing at 30%, Bidaye said.

joel.r@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:50 am

China Trying to patch up with Google

China is in consultations with Google to resolve its dispute with the company, which has threatened to abandon the Chinese market over hacking and censorship concerns, said a Chinese official on Friday.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:16 am

Gold rush abates as high rates bite

Indian gold demand abated on Friday afternoon as traders awaited price dips after a late evening pick-up in offtake in the previous session, dealers said.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:14 am

Saral II form to be out in 2 months

The Direct Tax Code (DTC) is likely to be introduced next fiscal while the Saral-II form for filing tax returns would be out in two months, said top revenue and tax officials of the country on Friday.
Source: HindustanTimes.com - Top Business News Headlines | 5 Mar 2010 | 9:12 am

Inflation is the greatest danger to government’s growth estimates

Mumbai: The Budget is over and things look satisfactory on the fiscal front. But the greatest danger to the government’s economic growth estimates comes from inflation, which is now not restricted to food and commodities alone, says Michael Spencer, chief economist and head of global markets (Asia) at Deutsche Bank AG. Edited excerpts from an interview:

How do you rate the Budget?

It hit most of the points we were expecting. Certainly, in terms of financial data it was bang in line with our expectations. We welcome the transparency the government has given to the medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy. This was needed particularly when you look at the broader perspective; when there is growing concern around the world about sustainability of government finances. Among industrial countries, India was the one country in Asia, which has a relatively high debt to GDP (gross domestic product) ratio, and the ratio has been going up in the last couple of years.

Graphic: Ahmed Raza Khan/Mint

Where we would have liked to see a little bit more discussion on was around the strategy for reducing fuel subsidies, for example, and food subsidies. There, I gather, it’s more a legislative process.

Do you think the Budget is inflationary?

I don’t think the Budget is inflationary. You are raising taxes and increasing fuel prices. That gives you a temporary increase in prices. But the fact is that the government is scaling back its role as an economic agent.

(But) I think that there are real concerns about inflationary outlook in India. There is tremendous optimism (in India) about the demand side of the equation. And a lot of concern about whether supply can keep pace with demand, whether it be financial services or power generation. Not just in infrastructure, which most investors recognize as a sort of ongoing constraint, but in industry and services. That, to be honest, we do not hear anywhere else in world, certainly nowhere else in Asia. So, I do think there’s a little bit excess optimism that this is just about food prices, commodities…and by the end of the year, inflation will be clearly falling. But it is not clear to me that inflation is going to fall as fast as people expect.

Are you concerned about the government’s expenditure targets being a bit optimistic?

If we have concerns, it’s more on the revenue side. There’s generally a consensus of sorts in India (about growth), which we think is too optimistic. As we look through the last couple of quarters, inflation seems to have imposed more of a drag on consumption than people were expecting, even relative to our own expectation in the fourth quarter of the calendar year (2009). The numbers were a few tenths below our forecasts. On the expenditure side, what disappointed was consumption. In an environment where we think inflation is going to be 8.5% by the middle of the year and (is) probably not falling (as) quickly as people expect, there is going to be a bit more subdued consumption.

So, to the extent that India has suffered a pure supply shock to food for example, that hopefully will come off. But we have a real concern that core inflation is picking up.

Has the government done enough to curb inflation?

I expect the Reserve Bank (of India) will. There might be a couple of reserve requirement increases and we are looking at rates going up 125 basis points this year. There will be more rate hikes in 2011. So initially, real interest rates might be declining, but by the end of the year it’s clear (that) monetary policy will become measurably tighter.

ravi.k@livemint.com

Source: Home - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 8:49 am

NMDC to invest upto $3.9 bn in 2nd steel plant - Economic Times

The Hindu

NMDC to invest upto $3.9 bn in 2nd steel plant
Economic Times
KOLKATA: India's top iron ore miner NMDC is planning to set up a 2-million tonne steel plant in the Southern Karnataka state with an estimated investment of 160-180 billion rupees ($3.5 billion-$3.9 billion), a senior company official said. ...
NMDC plans 2 steel plants at Baladila and BellarySteelGuru
NMDC plans to set up two steel plantsThe Hindu
Hope for French auctionCalcutta Telegraph
Sify -Financial Express -Moneycontrol.com
all 66 news articles »

Source: Business - Google News | 5 Mar 2010 | 8:10 am

Google Transit makes your metro commute easier

New Delhi: Anyone who’s commuted in Delhi knows it’s nothing to blink at. Hour long traffic jams, choking fumes and an endless sea of cyclists, pedestrians, motorbikes, panhandlers, buses, cows, cars and carts make getting around India’s sprawling capital a challenge for even the best equipped. So when the first section of the Delhi metro opened in December 2002, it was hailed by residents as a welcome step towards a pleasant commute.

Loading video...

That being said, even with the construction of the metro, a city as big and ever changing as Delhi makes figuring out how to get from point A to B without asking several passersby (most of whom are likely to be as confused as you are) a challenge – particularly for tourists or those new to the city. That’s why Google Transit, a partnership between Google and Delhi Metro comes as a welcome announcement.

Google Maps will now provide not just driving directions, but also metro schedules and routes, offering detailed information on which metro lines to take, what time trains leave, where to switch, what the cost of the commute is, how long it the trip will take, and what services – whether these be ATMs, coffee shops or bars – are near a designated metro station. Google Transit will be available for free on data enabled mobile phones.

The service will continue to be updated as the Delhi Metro updates its information. The Google/DMRC partnership comes at a good time, given that Delhi expects a surge of tourism surrounding the Commonwealth Games in October.

Google has also launched the service in an experimental manner in Kolkata, as well as parts of Chennai and Hyderabad and has expressed an interest in partnering with multiple agencies in various regions. “If there are agencies out there who feel this service is useful, all they need to do is contact us and give us their data about routes and schedules,” says to Manik Gupta, product manager for Google Maps in India.

To get a sense of how commuters can use Google Transit, Mint asked Gupta to walk us through the service. Watch the above video.

Source: Tech News - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 4:10 am

No evidence of throttle failure in fixed cars: Toyota

Japan: Toyota Motor Corp said a partial review of complaints of unintended acceleration after vehicles were repaired had found no evidence of failure in the electronic throttle system or the fixes.

Toyota, which has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the US due to loose floor mats that can jam the accelerator and gas pedals that do not spring back as designed, said this week that it has fixed more than 1 million cars.

However, US regulators said they are reviewing more than 60 complaints that fixes made on the recalled vehicles had not solved the problem.

“It may be difficult to find out whether there are really problems with the cars or not. It may take time to settle the dispute,” said Koji Endo, auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan. “I am afraid Toyota’s brand may be further damaged if it is sued by one customer after another.”

The US sales unit of the world’s largest automaker said in a statement that it had evaluated the cars and interviewed their owners and found no evidence of problems with the electronic throttle that some customers and regulators suspect could play a part in some incidents of unintended acceleration.

It also said no problems had been detected in the brake override system.

Mantle of Success Abandoned

The announcement came at a time when Toyota’s key executives delivered speeches to workers and dealers at the automaker’s headquarters in Toyota City on Friday.

Toyota’s North American chief Yoshimi Inaba told an audience of about 2,000 people that the automaker had not been able to dispel concerns about quality during a series of US congressional hearings.

“Toyota will review its organisation in North America and will promote information disclosure,” said Inaba.

Toyota also plans to review its research and development processes and set up a special team to beef up road tests, said technology chief Takeshi Uchiyamada, adding that the company was not able to get a good grasp of specific details of complaints about its cars.

Employees expressed concerns about a loss of skills on the factory floor.

“With the baby boom generation starting to retire, Toyota’s manufacturing is losing depth. We have to hand on deep skills in the workplace,” 62 year-old veteran factory worker Mitsuru Kawai said to the executives.

President Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company founder, said “I regret the recent rapid expansion exceeded the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organisation.”

Toyoda, who cried in front of US workers after the congressional hearing last week, choked with tears again. He said that the company had often just assumed a mantle of success but it would now have to abandon that stance.

Shares of Toyota closed up at 0.6% to ¥3,395, underperforming the Nikkei average which was up 2.2%.

The stock is down by about a fifth since the recall crisis erupted in late January.

Source: World Business - Livemint.com | 5 Mar 2010 | 4:08 am

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