“More Regulation will have a Negative Fallout”

P. K. Mukherjee, MD, sesa Goa talks to Virat Bahri on The Company’s outlook post The Lifting of The Export ban and The Sfio Report

B&E: FY 2010-11 was an year where you dealt with relatively low iron ore realizations. In the light of that fact, what is your perspective on the results? Also, what are your expectations with respect to when these realizations will improve in the coming time?
PKM: Iron ore realization were good but volume was relatively low. The ban on export of Karnataka ore and even the procedural bottlenecks for moving ore for domestic consumption outside the state, extended monsoon in Goa along with transport time restrictions are the major reasons that came in the way of volume growth. Dispatch of quantities more than EC permissions done by some mine owners (particularly south Goa) that further restricted iron ore movement and the unprecedented increase in road freight in Goa were other challenges. Otherwise, we are quite confident of market being quite buoyant and expect price realizations to be range bound.

B&E: What major transformations have been done post the company’s acquisition by the Vedanta Group? What were the managerial and business related challenges and how did you overcome them?
PKM: Vedanta group acquired SESA in 2007 and then DEMPO acquisition came in 2009. Volume has doubled during this period. Strong Management Information Systems including motivation/push for operational excellence and more empowerment of executives with career growth opportunities for younger generations are few areas of transformation. We also challenge our own benchmarks continuously. The thrust is on continuous growth with sustainability.

B&E: Investors would be waiting for the time when you will be able to finally move towards steel production and export. What is your perspective on the same?
PKM: If the Indian steel industry can consume all the grades of iron ore as exported, miners would be only happy to sell it to them at market determined price. Exports of iron ore from India were never done by design but only because the miners in India were not left with any choice. As far as coming into steel production is concerned, well, it would come at its own time.

B&E: How critical is the lifting of the export ban from iron ore in Karnataka to your business?
PKM: The amount of iron ore produced in our Karnataka iron ore mine hasn’t got enough demand in domestic market; leave alone the issue of market determined price. Hence, growth of our Karnataka volume (as per environmental permissions) is critically dependent on effective lifting of the ban with the seamless issue of all permits required legally. 

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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Allures of the Parisian markets enchant you

Hinterland Travels (www.hinterlandtravel.com) is a UK-based company which has been organising tours to Iraq for 30 years. Owner & Managing Director Geoff Hann said, “In Iraq, although we concentrate on archaeological and historical sites, we also visit the Shia pilgrimage or Shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. We look at some recent history sites such as Saddam’s Palaces… Inevitably, we do pass through or stop at places where atrocities have been committed. We mention these, but do not make it an integral part of any of our tours. For example, when exploring Kurdistan, we visit Halabja and the prison in Sulaimaniyah.”

On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl's Reactor No. 4 exploded and caused the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. As radioactive plume filled the atmosphere, millions fled from Chernobyl and neighbouring towns. Still unfit for human habitation, there are, however, tourist companies that will take you into the 30 km ring of the exclusion zone. A twenty-six-year-old lady from England (name withheld) is one of the millions who have undertaken such a tour (See ‘Diary of a dark tourist’). She recalls, “I was motivated to visit Chernobyl out of morbid interest and because I have a fascination with post-apocalyptic scenarios. Part of me has always wondered what a place would be like if people suddenly vanished. How would nature take over? What would the silence be like?”

But what makes people forsake a trip to Switzerland and instead, head to Iraq or Cambodia? Experts believe the motivations of a dark tourist stem from the need to heighten their sense of mortality, a quest for a novel experience, a celebration of crime and deviance. Reverence, nostalgia or plain basic voyeurism could also be the reason to visit a cemetery or a battlefield or a shipwreck or a disaster site like Ground Zero in New York or Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. Reveals Geoff Hann, “My clients are motivated to see these places for themselves because of the sheer volume of media coverage. They are also suspicious of the motives of that news. They want to communicate with the people in these areas.”

Most people may feel the label of a dark tourist as derogatory, but the truth is that almost all of us at some point in time have been a dark tourist. Many of us would have been to The Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, and walked in the rooms where our former prime minister once lived, and around the exact spot where she fell after her bodyguards’ bullets tore into her body. I, for one, have taken the tour, and like an unashamed voyeur wondered how life would have been in the same rooms, and paused with reverence and grief at the spot where she was slain. But voyeuristic rubbernecking around a site of crisis can result in hurting people’s sentiments; case in point when actor Riteish Deshmukh and filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma decided to take a tour of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai right after the three-day siege.

Dark tourist sites can be disturbing places where the excesses of humanity have caused much grief and serve as reminders to the gravest mistakes and misdemeanours of mankind. As long as one goes with the right attitude, there’s a lot that one can take away from the experience.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Lion city lessons for us...

Singapore is a microcosm of what India and China can do together

For long, Singapore has fascinated the world with its incredible development story. So much so that this small island nation is not just one of the richest countries in the world (4th highest per capita GDP by purchasing power parity) but has also become a role model as to how cities should be professionally managed. It has also vindicated the fact that for prosperity, there can be no substitute to human ingenuity. If that is persistently present, a nation can become affluent even in the absence of natural resources. In terms of Human Development Index too, it has one of the highest rankings (22nd). Yet one of the most important facets of this nation which could have been a living example for the fighting giants, have been completely ignored. Singapore in one sense stands out as a microcosm of the miracle that can happen if India and China come together. While demographically Singapore has a predominant ethnic Chinese population (around 75%), it also has a substantial proportion of people of Indian origin. And not only they have peacefully coexisted for long, both the communities have significant contributions in the economic triumph of the island nation.

Time since the ascent of India and China as economic powerhouses of the future, the world has been strife with speculations about the possibility of a potential conflict among these two Asian or rather global giants, in future. Interestingly, in the current spate of global recession ignited by the banking collapse in the US and Europe, Indian and Chinese economy remained relatively steady amidst economic slide among many in the West and Japan. But instead of being euphoric, the D-day theorists are becoming increasingly paranoid. They consider that the competition among the two in increasing their clout in Central Asia and Africa as well as the race for oil reserves in those places can be potential reasons for conflict among these two energy starved nations. Needless to say, without energy the economic wheels in both the countries would come to a standstill. Add to this, ‘the fear of the unknown syndrome’ from which both these nations suffer. Each is getting increasingly paranoid and apprehensive about the objectives of the other, leading to an unprecedented arms race among the two as if both are bracing up for the inevitable. Each gets driven by the stereotype image of the other that the global media feeds. It is ironical that while China and India have almost become the production hubs for all the products and services that the First World nations use, in their own backyard, they seldom allow each to sell products to the other freely.

Yet one wonders what miracle can happen if these two giants or rather two-third of mankind can shed their inhibitions and come together. Not only would it create an economic marvel which would dwarf everything else, it would also make sure that Asia would never need the West ever again. Each has unique abilities which the other can use productively. While the Chinese are extremely meticulous, conformist and perfectionist which are indispensable in quality manufacturing, Indians with their ingenious ‘out of the box thinking habit’ and non-conformist attitude, have made India the hub for service outsourcing and global Research & Development. So while one creates the products of the day, the other services it, while one meticulously manufactures, the other designs for the future. One wonders that if 4.2 million people of Indian and Chinese origin can create the wonder called Singapore, what two-third of mankind residing in India and China can do together. For once, let Singapore show us the way to the possibly remarkable future.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Politicians would have been the least expected to have mba qualifications

P. D. Rai, Member of Parliament from Sikkim, agrees that his knowledge helps him to do better planning with the funding he gets for performing activities in his constituency. “MBA is a capability qualification and so it can be said that analysis of issues would be done perhaps differently. An MBA is a professional degree and the attainment of professional outcome and values will certainly impact my own Parliament work and indeed in my political work. The domain is different but the principles of how to manage political issues versus say business issues do not change. In my own Parliamentary constituency, Sikkim, over the last 17 years, I have painstakingly built my political career and have balanced it with my professional work. This has been possible because of my educational qualifications.”

This is not to say that an MBA is essential in politics – in fact, it is not at all. For example, Rahul Gandhi, who formally joined politics in 2004 and has emerged within five years as a key strategist for the party, is not an MBA. But then, he too has worked as a consultant for a few years with management guru Michael Porter’s Monitor Group.

An MBA is becoming a more popular degree among current politicians in the US as well, especially experts in finance or management analysis. The most powerful woman in corporate America, Carly Fiorina, who once headed HP, plans to run for the US senate. She says that government spending is “out of control” and she may be able to make things better. Anne Mulcahy, Chairman Xerox, is a member of Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board. But popularity aside, from Manmohan Singh to Obama, it’s quite an accepted fact that qualifications in law, finance and related sciences beat management education hands down when it comes to the political circles. But then again, we have Chidambaram who not many know is an MBA graduate from one of the world’s topmost ivy league institutions, the Harvard Business School. Clearly, maybe one day, we could well have a Prime Minister who’s an MBA.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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“Like pharma, the pesticides sector is also changing very quickly...”

Salil Singhal, CMD, PI Industries Ltd. on the challenges of the pesticides sector

Having been associated with agriculture since 1967, Salil Singhal, CMD, PI Industries has a lot to talk about in a free flowing interview with Niharika Patra

B&E: What actually is the flaw with Indian agriculture?

Salil Singhal (SS): The input side of agriculture has issues. For example, if you compare the production to pesticides usage, India has a total cropped area of around 167 million hectares while the US has around 172 million hectares. In pesticides consumption, US figure is around $7 billion while for India it is $1.2 billion. Because of poor use of pesticides we are loosing crop to the tune of $20 billion per annum. The cost benefit ratio in agriculture is very high to the tune of Rs. 19 per Re.1 employed for some crops, and if you compare the $ 22 billion in fertilizer subsidies, we have grown the crops for the pests to eat it away. There are many other problems like procedures of introducing new seeds, the distribution of subsidies et al. There seems to be little focus.

B&E: How do you compare the era of 60’s and present. Do you think there has been any kind of deterioration?

SS: No. Undoubtedly, the Green Revolution gave us a lot. Today, even without favourable conditions we can produce 210-230 million tonnes of foodgrains. But looking at the changing food habits, what we have is not enough to satisfy this ever changing need. We have to double our food grain output and agricultural output resource to be able to do that. But we are not geared for that right now and agriculture needs structural changes.

B&E: What is the focus of the pesticide industry in relation to the productivity of the crop?

SS: Cost benefit is a very important input. The second important input is quality output. Organic farming doesn’t work for quality. Petsicides can give quality with high productivity and that is our focus.

B&E: There is a lot of hue and cry about the excessive use of chemicals. What are your views?

SS: Pesticides usage has come up very recently while the fertilizers have been used for a long time. Today, we understand that there is a problem and we have identified it and it needs to be resolved.

B&E: Does pesticide industry face challenge from the genetically modified (GM) crops?

SS: Yes. The problem is that the science of pesticides is changing phenomenally. The whole science and technology of agri-chemicals has changed. Like pharma, the pesticides industry keeps changing quickly but that is not there in GM crops. The cost of new discovery is very high ($600-800 million and atleast 8-10 years to commercialise it). Then there are the regulations. Until 2005 companies were allowed ‘me-too’ registrations. This is where India has been the biggest looser The ‘me-too’ registration has nearly destroyed the Indian pesticide industry. We also have the most in-efficient and corrupt regulatory mechanism.

B&E: How do you see the growth by the Chinese market and its effects on India?

SS: There is a lot of illegal import by the fly-by-night operators from China. There are certain groups within the industry who are trying to bring in the Chinese agenda of reverse engineering.

B&E: How well suited are Indian pesticides companies for M&As. What about PI Industries.

SS: I have not seen many foreign companies taking up Indian companies. It would be too early to comment on this. We are definitely looking forward to M&As and are fully prepared to fit into any good deal that comes forward.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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From dream homes to empty nests

As the number of unoccupied houses in Kerala goes up every year with more and more people relocating overseas, Anu Warrier seeks to find answers to the social, economic and environmental questions these vacant houses raise

K.J. Mathew of Thiruvalla in Kerala had dreams of having a house once. He realised that dream 45 years ago. Now he regrets that. He built a small but decent house for his family of nine, including his parents. Later, his children renovated the house when they got employed in Dubai. All of them gradually constructed their own houses nearby. Today, Mathew finds himself as a housekeeper looking after four houses built by his sons and himself. “When I want to see my children, I look at these keys they entrusted me with. After the death of my wife, they engaged a domestic help to support me. Our main job is to clean each house at least once a month,” says a tired Mathew.

The story of Mathew is not an isolated instance. All across Kerala, there are parents like Mathew who are left alone in large houses while their children have migrated abroad. They are forced to look after the houses they have constructed. And then, there are houses constructed by their NRI sons and daughters. In some places, relatives are entrusted with the charge of looking after these houses. In some, housekeepers do the job.

According to the 2001 Census, around 7.3 lakh houses in the state remained unoccupied. The Economic Review 2006 puts the number at more than 10 lakh. The same document reveals that the number of homeless families in the state is 10.85 lakh. Most of the vacant houses are in Pathanamthitta district which accounts for the second-highest migrant population in the state.

Joseph Mathew, a native of Kumbanad village of Pathanamthitta, tries to reason. “Those who migrate to the Gulf countries are the owners of most of these houses. Once they get a good job there, they build huge and posh houses which blare out that they are rich and in a good position there. The size of the house and amenities inside it are status symbols here. They fly back to their workplace after the housewarming ceremony, locking them up. These houses might be occupied only once in one or two years. The rest of the time, these are looked after either by their parents or by housekeepers they employ.” In a way, building the house and its maintenance is mindlessly expensive.

The first generation of migrants to US and UK committed the same mistake. They built large houses for their parents and children. But the parents passed away and the children never wanted to come back to Kerala. Most of those houses were sold at throwaway prices.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Lals of dwindling returns

The successors of the once dominant Lals of Haryana - Devi, Bansi and Bhajan - are running out of steam, discovers Vikas Kumar

The politics of Haryana has for long revolved around the three Lals - Bansi Lal, Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal. After the state was carved out in 1966, these Lals took turns to rule it. Their political dominance was almost unchallenged. But that era now seems to be fading. The legacy of the Lals is on the wane.

Bhajan Lal, who mastered the craft of political defections, was always synonymous with the politics of ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’. At his Sector 5 residence in Hisar there is much hustle and bustle. His Haryana Janhit Party is commemorating its second anniversary. However, instead of boasting about achievements of his fledgling party, his younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi was busy criticising their five MLAs, who had switched loyalties within one month of the election. His opponents call it poetic justice.

Bhajan Lal, quietly sitting in the corridor with his close associates, seems helpless. His son is facing the rough end of the stick. A strategy used in the past seems to have boomeranged. Ramjilal, one of the closest confidantes of the Bhajan Lal family and his five-decade-old friend, says, “He is unparalleled among the three ‘Lals’. With his shrewd political acumen he had sidelined political stalwarts like Devi Lal and Bansi Lal.” Asked to compare the father and son, he tries to avert the question but finally admits, “Kuldeep is rigid while Bhajan Lal is flexible. One cannot go ahead in politics with a rigid attitude.”

However, the political clout of Bhajan Lal and his party has diminished in the past few years and he is no longer a force to reckon with in Haryana. The decline has been so rapid that Kuldeep managed to win by a thin margin of 6,000 votes from the Adampur constituency in the 2009 assembly election and his wife Jasma Devi lost miserably in Nalwa constituency to Prof. Sampat Singh of the Congress.

Arunesh, a senior Haryana journalist who has observed the father-son duo closely, says, “Kuldeep is a fresh face. If he stands alone for the next five years, he will certainly be able to revive his party. Haryana Janhit Party had created a buzz among voters but failed to carry the momentum due to lack of coordination. The elder son, Chandra Mohan, is not taken seriously even by his own family.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Return of Dynasty

The champions of democracy have always frowned upon the role political dynasties play in the polity. However, they are here to stay and the world needs to make peace with them. The emergence of Rahul Gandhi and Bilawal Zardari on the political scenes of India and Pakistan have come at a time when other countries in Asia too have shown similar trends. The dominance of Begum Khalida Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladeshi politics, emergence of Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia, and continued the two George Bushes in United States, Laurent and Joseph Kabila in Congo, are other examples worth mentioning.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Different Strokes

Different people have different takes on the emergence of Twenty20 cricket. Some call it ‘pornography of cricket’ and others call it the ‘saviour of the game’. Whatever the point of view may be, there is no doubt that T20 has redefined the entertainment aspect of the game. As football and other international sports consumed less time that cricket, there was a need for a trimmer version of the game to suit the taste of the audiences from developed countries. With Indian Premier League (IPL), BCCI also tried to do a football with cricket and also succeeded in changing the format of the game. However, IPL and Twenty20 international games have a clash of interest and will definitely lead to either of them getting subdued. On the other hand, according to purists, this version of the game will lead to the death of genuine class and technique that have defined the game until now.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Rough road ahead

US and allies face tough questions while recommitting forces to the war effort in Afghanistan, says Zubair A Dar

A cursory look at the map showing the toll on United Kingdom’s troops in Afghanistan clearly shows the challenge that the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) forces face in this war ravaged country. The maximum number of casualties have occurred in southern provinces around Helmand and Kandahar – at least 223 deaths since the war began in 2001.

Facing elections in the coming year, the Gordon Brown-led Labour Party is finding it hard to reassure the United Kingdom’s public in general and the families of the troops in particular about the effectiveness of the war in stopping the threat from arriving in London. In a speech at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, Brown stressed that Afghan campaign was "prosecuted out of necessity" as three-quarters of the terrorist activities that happen in Britain arose from these areas.

And this is one of the many factors that US President Barack Obama will have in mind while spelling out his policy on Afghanistan, the tone for which was set recently, when he announced his intention to "finish the job".

Though the process is likely to begin by sending more troops to Afghanistan to control Taliban resurgence before the final withdrawal begins, negotiation with the Taliban has not been entirely ruled out. Though the stated mission is to “dismantle and degrade their (al-Qaeda's and Taliban's) capabilities and destroy their networks”, there are strong indications that the Taliban can be a part of the final settlement that would see security responsibilities transferred to the Afghans.

The likely troop reinforcement comes weeks after the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley A. McChrystal, in a report warned that "failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near term risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible". McChrystal had sought 40,000 more troops for implementing his new strategy in Afghanistan that concentrated on protecting civilians rather than killing insurgents or controlling the territory.

It was following this report that the US President began a series of consultations – nine in all – with his war council that included Vice President Joe Biden, secretary of state Hillary Clinton, secretary of defense Robert Michael Gates, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan ambassador Richard Holbrooke and US Commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal besides management and budget director Peter Orszag whose consultation is seen as a result of the budgetary concerns raised in recent weeks. While US war expenditure is likely to increase by as much as $30 billion to $40 billion per year, the McChrystal plan had warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure”.

Obama’s new strategy will have to negotiate many domestic and international pressures. In the recent months, the American and British public has viewed the Afghanistan war as “not winnable”. Voices within the US Democrats, who fear Obama’s association with a growingly unpopular war in an election year, oppose any major escalation of involvement in Afghanistan – their belief that the conflict is no longer central to US security.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Born on 26/11 - Homemaker, mumbai

Mansi Mahesh Shirke

Homemaker, mumbai

Mansi Mahesh Shirke, 30, lives in Nalla Sopara, a Mumbai suburb. She was born on November 26, 1979. The meaning of the day has changed for her since what happened in Mumbai on 26/11.She says: “Last year, on my birthday, as we were preparing to go out for dinner, the terrorist attack began without warning. We were caught unawares. We watched television for two days in horror and lost all sense of time. My birthday was forgotten,” she says.

She adds that her heart still goes out to the families who lost their near and dear ones in the attack by terrorrists. “Memories of the brave officers who were martyred in the line of duty still haunt me,” she says. “When I recall the sacrifice of Sandeep Unnikrishnan, my eyes well up.”

Mansi says: “It is impossible to live down the horror of what happened on 26/11 last year. So my birthday celebrations are bound to be a low-key affair this year. I would like to spend it quietly with my family."

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Prepare for the surprise

In spite of scientific difficulties and widespread criticism, new technological advances and the promise of more path-breaking research may turn man's eternal quest for immortality into a reality, mohan k. tikku writes

Humans have always yearned for immortality. But each time, they have come up against the wall of death. People then did the next best thing. They sought to keep the memory alive (if not the body) with tombstones and totem-poles, in rituals and prayers and through memorials and mummified bodies. But at the beginning of the 21st century, a crack in the wall has appeared. For the first time in human history, the possibility of driving a hole through the wall of death is beginning to look real.

This is no grandma's tale. It is about science and technology. The shifting frontiers of new knowledge are breaking through the sound barriers of conventional wisdom. Genetic engineering and nanotechnology are moving in a direction so as to make it possible to redesign human bodies, rebuild tissues to specifications and replace worn out organs.

But, first things should come first. Before we get on to immortality, we must deal with extension of life. In fact, scientists are treating life extension as a stepping stone to immortality. In a recent book, leading American computer scientist and futurist Ray Kurzweil has shown how this could be done. The title of the book says it all: Fantastic Voyage :Living Long Enough to Live for Ever. In his work, Kurzweil has discussed the role of science behind extension of life.

But there is a caveat. We shall have to change our lifestyles as well. This is important. According to University of Georgia gerontologist Leonard Poon, life span is thirty per cent determined by genes and seventy per cent by environment. Kurzweil, for instance, has detailed how much water one should take to flush out the toxins and other unwanted fats each day and the quality of that water. It is a bit like your car. Whenever an accessory or a car part is worn out or breaks down, you replace it with a new one so long as the body of the car is in good shape. And lifestyle is the key to keep the body in good shape.

And then, it is not just about the body but the mind and the brain as well. At the World Future Society conference in the US about a couple of years ago, I heard Kurzweil talk about the rate at which computers will change our thinking capabilities. In about a decade from now, he said, we shall have computers with the processing power equal to that of the human brain. And in another decade - that is by about 2029 - the computers shall not only exceed the processing power of the human brain, but such computers shall be available for the equivalent of $ 1,000 a piece.

Meanwhile, computer chips will be around and available to be uploaded on our brains adding phenomenally to human intelligence. The decisions we will then take and the lives we shall then live shall be radically different than our lives today. So it is not just about the body, the human thinking capabilities will undergo a radical makeover. The New Man that Karl Marx talked of now lies buried under the debris of the Berlin Wall. The signs of the New Man that the new technologies promise today are already beginning to appear on the horizon.

The seeds of this new thinking can be traced back to around 1927, when biologist Julian Huxley (brother of author Aldous Huxley) coined the term transhumanism. Julian, who also founded the World Wildlife Fund and became the first director general of UNESCO, described transhumanism as something that would make it possible for man to transcend oneself "by realising new possibilities of and for his human nature". Not many people cared about this term till about the sixties and the seventies, when fresh scientific advances started opening new windows on what humans could be. By the eighties and the nineties, it had gathered enough momentum for a movement that calls itself World Transhumanist Association to take shape.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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The High Priestess of Bollywood

Sharmila Tagore, who was on the distinguished jury of the Cannes Film Festival in May, feels our cinema needs to grow up. By Subhash K Jha

You were a member of the jury at Cannes; what do you think of the way Indian films are represented abroad?

You know our cinema has a captive Indian audience. But I don’t think we’re pushing the envelope to compete with the best of global cinema. Where are the really brilliant world-class filmmakers after Satyajit Ray and Adoor Gopalakrishnan competing at Cannes or Toronto Film Festival? I know Bollywood producers make a noise about going to Cannes and other international forums… The films I saw at Cannes were bloody realistic. Here in India we make films which convey a softer realism. I think Nandita Das’s film “Firaaq” could’ve gone to Cannes, or earlier, even Sheetal Talwar’s “Dharm”. Manikada (Ray) always used to ask, "What is the West’s compulsion to understand us?" They don’t have any compulsion. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Devdas” was shown at the opening night of Cannes. That was a huge honour for us. But if we want to compete with the West at Cannes and other international platforms, we need to become a global player and make the kind of films the world is resonating to.

You feel that the Bollywood formula is no good abroad?

The Indian formula works fine for the Indian audience. As an Indian actor for fifty years I’ve got it pat. I know exactly what would attract and repel the audience. But in the global cinematic context, I don’t have to look so pretty. Look at the ads in England. They aren’t celebrity-based and the models are often ordinary people. But here, look at how over-dressed the characters are even on television soaps. Glamourisation on screen is passé now. Everyone was talking about Anurag Kashyap’s “Dev D” in England.

How was the experience at Cannes?

We, the jury members, interacted on three levels… the man-woman, director-actor and East-West levels. The films this time had a lot of violence and sex, and a lot of homosexuality as well. It’s interesting to see cinema from different countries and cultures resonating with similar themes, emotions and even technique. There were some really out-of-the-world films… some wonderful, some weird, but all very interesting. There was a kind of divide among the men and women in the jury over certain movies. There was consensus only over the Palm D’Or. Otherwise we were sharply divided. We all brought our different sensibilities and culture to the table.


But it must have been tiring?

If you are a member of the jury at Cannes, you are royalty. From the time I disembarked I was looked after completely. All you’ve to do is surrender to their hospitality. There were two films to be seen every day. The average length of films this time was relatively long, most of them beyond two hours. There was a difference of opinion over the films. Also we found the performances ofor the female actors to be better than the male actors. We found the actor Tahar Rahim in “A Prophet” to be outstanding, but the film got the Grand Jury award and so we couldn’t give the boy the Best Actor award. On the other hand, the actor Christoph Waltz, who got the Best Actor award, was stunning in a terrible film, Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”. Some jury members felt Tarantino’s film had a lot of gratuitous violence, and no award should go to it because an icon like Brad Pitt was propagating so much violence.

We recently saw you playing a cameo in the Bengali film “Antaheen”.

At my age it’s good to be part of a good script. I’d like to work with young directors who know their work. I like being part of a realistic film. We’ve been an insulated cinema for too long. We don’t view any world cinema in this country. Where are the Rays and Kurosawas today? Everything is so in-your-face in today’s cinema. I came back from Cannes with renewed respect for Ray and Adoor. I am really sorry to say there’s no one like Ray. He made films that will live on forever.

Your tenure as a chairperson of the Censor Board ends soon. Would you consider another tenure?

I think they should look for someone else. Change is always welcome. The new government has now settled down. I’m sure they’ll take the right decision.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
Delhi/ NCR B- Schools get better
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I Beg to Differ

To most of us, beggars are nothing more than an eyesore, but for Lucky, unsure of her age somewhere in the late 20s, heckling devotees outside a temple in south Delhi is all in a day’s work. Thankful for her defective left eye, Lucky is convinced of the adage of ‘ask and you shall receive’…

It seemed like child’s play when I had started, but then everything is at that age. To people, I was a sort of an opportunity to rinse their soiled conscience, by being kind to an underprivileged kid like me. My mom, similar case as mine, had no clue about her dad. She is a sad simple woman who sits outside the same temple where her mom used to sit. I, on the other hand roam about heckling the visitors to the shrine, on sympathetic and sacred grounds. I was a fast learner of this trade and thanks to my left eye (infected since age four and now completely ineffective), I used to beat all competition, even nursing mothers! For the next five years I was the main bread earner for my family including my mom, two elder sisters and a younger brother, but as one gets older, the earnings reduce. I remember I was just seven, when an extremely generous ‘Gori’ (a foreigner) gave me a sweater, bought me fancy food and even gave a crisp five-hundred rupee currency note. My family was ecstatic, as I had earned about twenty days’ income in one! Since that day I was named Lucky and even after 17 years of living off random acts of generosity, I will consider my life living up to my name.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

A quick peep into the fizzy saga...

Always known for its quick wit and gang of friends, now Appy Fizz wants to be known for its new style too. Surbhi Chawla explores

Wanna look cool with friends while partying, yet don’t want to touch alcohol cause dad’s going to be hopping mad when you get back home. Well, this apple drink with a fizz promises to fool your friends, make your dad happy, while allowing you to still seem the coolest guy in the party. A winner from the stable of Parle Agro (known for its mango drink – Frooti), Appy Fizz, not only looks a lot like bubbly alcohol, but also doesn’t pinch your pocket. Quite a deal! Recently, Appy Fizz underwent a change in its avatar. Nadia Chauhan, Director, Parle Agro told 4Ps B&M, “Appy Fizz got bored of its old gear and we thought it will be a great idea to change into something new. It has purely been a cosmetic change to keep things short.”

Boredom or the Obama effect of Change We Can, the most recent campaign of this drink, where a whacky Appy Fizz character hangs out with its cool friends has sure managed to generate adequate buzz around the brand.

For the uninitiated, Appy Fizz saw the dawn of the day in the sultry summer of 2005 and ever since it has focussed on being different from the others in its league. Interestingly, the year 2005 was also the year when the consumers were looking for alternatives in the drinks segment. They no longer wanted a product that would just quench their thirst or provide relief from the heat, but were also looking for something healthy. This breed of health conscious customers were partly also driven by the pesticide controversy that took place around the same time and ones that were looking for a change from fizzy colas. These developments in the market made marketers sit up and take note. Most donned their innovative hat in search of that magic drink that would tinkle the Indian taste buds yet maintain the nutritional factor. A rash of new drinks were launched – new iced teas to branded chais, and even flavoured milk. Besides, there were also new variants being launched for the fruit-based drinks including a guava flavoured Frooti by Parle Agro. To grab this opportunity Parle Agro decided to enter the carbonated Apple drink segment and introduced Appy Fizz in the Indian market.

Though there were many juice brands available in India at that time, but none of them were offering an apple juice as market research showed that apple juice or an apple based drink would not appease the entire country. And the idea to have a carbonated touch was another big risk that Parle Agro was taking with its Appy Fizz. It was a very niche segment that the company planned to capture and looking back it seems that the strategy worked for Parle Agro has a first mover’s advantage in this category. And to catch the fancy of the youth the product was given a sparkling tinge. Also, the bottle of the drink was given the shape of a champagne bottle and the drink a golden colour, so that it would be a huge hit in party circuit, especially amongst the tea-totallers, who feel left out. With its tagline ‘A cool drink to hang out with,’ and a smart advertising campaign, Appy Fizz was instantly able to create a brand new category and a captured sizeable market share.

From thereon, what has helped Appy Fizz achieve ever growing success is its constantly evolving market strategy. Nadia elaborates, “In the year 2006, the task on hand was to introduce Appy Fizz to the consumers in the most interesting manner possible. With that objective well achieved, the strategy from then on has always been to keep Appy Fizz current.” It is this new objective that allows honchos at Parle Agro to be flexible in their communication strategy that they adopt and it also becomes convenient to experiment.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Prime Causes

The prime causes of this correction – the subprime issue and US housing market – are yet to show improvement.” In India, there have been casualties all across the board. Let alone investors’ wealth, even corporations have been hit severely by this market meltdown. IPOs of companies like Purvankara have hit roadblocks due to this increased volatility. The company has already postponed its IPO and also revised its issue price. Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, has seen its net worth erode by a staggering $2.6 billion in the past fortnight. So what do you do now as an investor in India? Do you sell, do you buy, do you stay off? We don’t know about you dudes, but we’ve already placed our equity purchase orders. For fools dare where angels...

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Hair care, health care, oral care, baby care – you name it and he’s got it! This ones’s a ‘Real’ showstealer!

SUNIL DUGGAL... CEO, Dabur India
Hair care, health care, oral care, baby care – you name it and he’s got it! This ones’s a ‘Real’ showstealer!
Anly ItIoM Baenndn BeItTt SC,o Pleilmanain p a&s sCoou.t ,a hned gPaevpes ai Fleogo dusp, btori effi-- nally join Dabur in 1995 as GM-Sales & Marketing. His years of loyalty paid off when he was finally made CEO, Dabur India in 2002, and has spearheaded the spectacular growth recorded by Dabur since then, both within and outside the country. A dynamic professional, Duggal has steered Dabur’s business forward, including their recent portfolio enhancement in the juices segment. His has travelled across India to understand the nitty gritty and dynamics of the FMCG business. Duggal is now agog with his ‘Vision 2010’, which talks about doubling revenues & profits and plans to enter the goldmine (read: Retail) sector to fill the gap in the health and beauty retail space. “We believe that the specialty retail format we are entering is a unique proposition,” he envisions.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

No 'Mamata' for Buddha!

Mamata Banerjee re-emerges from the dumps to wage a war against industrialisation in her state She is oft en described as maverick, stormy petrel of West Bengal. A rabble rouser; a fickle-minded and instable leader. She has painstakingly earned these titles over the years, hurling abuses at her opponents and colleagues alike, by throwing tantrums inside the Parliament and on the roads. People often ask why does Didi demand so much attention. Why is she so aggressive and combative by nature? One thing is certain – she is fiercely ambitious and would go to any lengths to achieve her objectives. It's this very ambition that led the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) President Mamata Banerjee to go on a 25-day fast to protest against the acquisition of fertile land at Singur for Tata Motors’ proposed car plant.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative