Overhaul the intelligence set-up

Our agencies should have a more organic relationship

India faces complex security challenges, which have the potential to derail its economic and social progress. But there does not seem to be any broad-based exercise to reform the country’s intelligence apparatus and make it more pro-active and in line with the pursuit of the nation’s internal and external policies. Whatever piecemeal restructuring has been attempted from time to time, have mostly been crisis-driven and not a comprehensive needs-based attempt to address the structural flaws in the intelligence set-up. So even while we have been eviscerating our intelligence institutions over the decades, the recent attempts to ‘monitor’, ‘coordinate’ and ‘oversee’ this largely dysfunctional apparatus have only created even more layer upon layer of meta-institutions.

Let's take the example of some of those countries which are known for their intelligence-gathering prowess. The UK has just one intelligence agency, the MI-5 that oversees both internal and external intelligence operations. France has four and China one (Ministry of State Security). The US has the highest number of investigation agencies among the developed nations, but even its overall number does not exceed 15. In contrast, India has more than 25 internal and external intelligence agencies -- most have been found of working at cross-purposes instead of complementing each other. As a result, despite their numbers, Indian intelligence is proving to be the soft underbelly of the country with each agency functioning in self-created silos.

The failure of our intelligence agencies to provide for real-time intelligence and advance warnings of developing situations cannot be overstated. But this can happen only by sharing and using multiple databases, including those maintained by the National Intelligence Grid, NATGRID, the Crimes and Criminal Tracking Network and System, CCTNS, and the Intelligence Bureau-run intelligence sharing hub, the Multi-Agency Centre, MAC. Instead, what we get is nebulous intelligence analysis provided by the different agencies that are often in the dark about the investigations carried out by their peer agencies. The sorry outcome of this kind of haphazard sleuthing is that Indian intelligence agencies have time and again failed to perform by producing meaningful, actionable and timely internal and external intelligence.

Even in those cases, where Indian intelligence apparatus has succeeded in busting terror and espionage rings, it has not been able to provide accurate information which could be developed into concrete evidence that stands judicial scrutiny (as was the case with MI-5’s unearthing of the plot to blow-up trans-Atlantic flights over American cities).

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Crimes of endearment

As Coalgate rocks India, an inside account of Jharia-Dhanbad reveals just how high the stakes are. Anando Bhakto reports

The nondescript houses in coalfields and the roofless, dilapidated collieries dotting the dusty landscape of Jharia-Dhanbad in Jharkhand, the country’s mineral rich belt, give you no clue that this could be the breeding ground of 24x7 scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees made right under the nose of the administration, often with its connivance.

How does the racket work? Since it is dangerous in open cast mines to dig coals beyond prescribed limits, the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and CIL (Coal India Ltd) do not mine after a point and it is here that illegalities begin.

According to estimates, there are over 2,000 open cast mines in Jharkhand. The coal mafia employs labourers, sometimes those working for coal companies, and then smuggle coal through an organised and elaborate network of cycle carriers.

Apparently, everyone knows. ``Illegal mining and its transport in Jharkhand have become a booming racket for the mafia to reap in huge chunks of black money. This involves everybody, from top officials of the BCCL to the police and politicians,” candidly admits Niraj Singh, Dhanbad Deputy Mayor.

According to information provided by the Ministry of Coal to the Standing Committee of Coal and Steel in 2010, there are 49 illegal mining sites. They include Katras, Baroda, Govindpur, Sijua, Kusunda, Kustore, Bastacolla, Lodna, EJ Area and Chach Victoria under the BCCL.

Coal companies seem to be hand in gloves with the mafia. What else can explain why they do not fill voids created after mining by way of sand stowing, an obligatory duty under the Mine Closure Plan - thus paving the way for illegal mining of coal?

Despite the Ministry of Coal admitting the presence of predominant illegal mining sites in eastern regions before its own Standing Committee, no definitive government study has so far been conducted to assess financial losses suffered by exchequer. And there is a good reason why – the losses are enormous.

Interestingly, the Jharkhand government did instruct Jamshedpur-based Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI) to conduct a study with a limited reference point. Says Professor Tata L Raguram, the man behind the study, “The study we did was on small scale, artisanal coal extraction and cycle-based coal supply chains that operate in coal tracts of Jharkhand. The study did not trace large scale illegal coal operations.”

Even so, their findings were alarming. It revealed that 1.37 million tons of coal (estimated to be worth Rs 207 crores) is mined from abandoned sites around Jharkhand every year. Experts mention that due to this the exchequer in the state suffers an annual loss of Rs 34 crore as royalty per annum. What would be the magnitude of revenue losses caused by this organised coal racket? In the lack of any definitive study, such losses are neither assessed nor any attempts made to make changes appropriately.

In view of the XLRI findings, the Standing Committee accused responsible officials of “either indifference or too scared to stop the menace.”

Such is the dominance of the coal mafia that the transport of coal and coke by unlicensed cycles is a regular sight on the Ranchi-Hazaribagh road: there are a total of 616 FIRs which have been lodged in Ramgarh, the sub-divisional headquarters.

Cases against illegal coal operators can be lodged by anyone, government officials or coal companies. Then there are major security lapses at many points when coal is transported from mines to railway sidings. Observed the Standing Committee, “The complicity of some insiders of coal companies with the coal mafia cannot be ruled out… Generally large chunks of coal are thrown off from uncovered wagons and trucks along their routes.” Just one sign of this malignancy.

Add to it vast amounts of illegal monies made by the mafia in loading and transport of coal. According to Deputy Mayor Singh, one lakh ton coal is transported everyday, of which 20,000 tonnes are transported by road on trucks and 80,000 ton by railways. “While Rs 160 per ton is charged for loading of coal to be transported by road, only Rs 80 is paid to labourers who are hired on contractual basis. The remaining Rs 80 goes unaccounted. This means in loading 20,000 tons of coal, around Rs 16 lakh worth of black money is generated everyday. The first part goes to the police who, understandably, refrain from taking any action against culpable parties. The second goes to ‘babus’ in collieries, the third to middle men controlling labourers and the fourth part to conniving officers in BCCL,’’ alleges Singh.

Significantly, contractual labour is prohibited in the coal industry. The BCCL which in 2005 had sought exemption from the Labour and the Coal Ministry to outsource labourers, has not abolished the contract system even though exemption ended in 2010.

It is common knowledge in Jharia that a sizeable part of the money to be paid as wages to labourers is swindled by a closely knit group of coal mafia and officials. “While outsourcing labourers, the least the BCCL could do is to credit their wages directly to their bank accounts, thus ending any scope of foul play. Why do they insist on paying in cash?” questions Deepak Dutta, member of Jharia Coal Field Bachao Samiti (JCFBS).

Then comes in an essential ingredient of the coal industry – the rangdari tax or extortion. According to a dealer at Rajapur colliery at Katras Mod, who naturally prefers anonymity,  anything between Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 is taken for every truck by bahubalis (muscle-men) who work for mafias.

“This works out substantially on a daily basis as there are about 1,300 trucks engaged in transporting coal,” Datta told this magazine.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Movie review: David

Tri-Try

Bejoy Nambiar’s 3 in 1 stylistic thriller tries to be more than it is, which not necessarily a bad thing, can sometimes turn against you and bite where it really hurts.

David stops just short of biting but does take it in the mouth. Beginning really well in french noir fashion with dark scenes and Neil Nitin Mukesh’s stubble glinting in the low light of the high end production sets, it keeps going and keeps trying but ultimately underwhelms.

What the film doesn’t lack is energy. There is always things happening on the screen and even though the director could have reined his leash a bit tighter and made the film shorter, it does keep you entertained throughout. David tells the tale of 3 “Davids” in 3 different places, in 3 different eras. No, this isn’t even slightly similar to any of Tarantino’s and the film does draw a bit of his style. It would also remind you of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, without the witty dialogue or any of Scorsese’s customary skills.

Where the film misses on dialogues though, it makes up with its catchy soundtrack which could easily be one of the best you would hear this year. Overall the film is raw, visually appealing and backed up by some good acting but that doesn’t do enough to cover up the feeble plot.

Read more...

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Why Yeddyurappa Feels Betrayed

It took him four decades of toil and vigil to catapult the BJP to power in Karnataka. today he feels shortchanged reports Kumar Buradikutti

It was February 19 this year. Two ministers had already been caught watching porn clippings in the Karnataka Assembly and the issue was blown ‘out of proportion by the media’. Some media representative in Shimoga compelled Yeddyurappa to respond on the issue and he literally blew hot and cold at the media:  “Everybody watches them. Don’t you watch them at home?” The thing is that all the Porngate accused happened to be his supporters!

 There was another incident in March 2011. BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar and BJP state unit president KS Eeswharappa, both being his rivals in the party from day one, were holding a meeting with some 57 rebel BJP MLAs in the party office in Bangalore without the knowledge of the then CM Yeddyurappa. Somehow the CM came to know about it. The next moment, he breezed through the meeting and breezed out, anger overflowing on his face. Media representatives blocked his car just as he was about to leave. Suddenly, an angry Yeddy hit his car driver in front of media representatives and their cameras.
Yeddyurappa has always been seen in two extremes: either emitting fury like the above two instances or crying like an abandoned child on the street.

Supporters of Yeddyurappa worship him. A highly ambitious angry young man cherishing in his heart a dream of political revolution roams village after village on his motorcycle, organises the masses, brings them into the fold of his party that then had little or no impact on state politics with its negligible presence, gradually builds the party with strong cadre force at the grassroots level, becomes his party’s first elected representative in the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature, becomes the party’s first Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and finally, after four decades of such efforts, brings his party to power and becomes the chief minister of the first BJP government in South India. But how long was he allowed to hold on to the CM’s seat? Just three years! Forty years of party-building and three years as chief minister! And    no hope for future as well. This is, perhaps, the source of his anger and desperation – and of his supporters too.

Another important reason for his anger is that he had never been allowed to function and do what he wanted as the CM. He faced three-dimensional attacks throughout his tenure: firstly from his own party men who used to gang up on  him on a monthly basis; secondly from HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) who literally haunted him as a nightmare by unearthing one land scam after another on weekly basis involving Yeddy and thirdly from HR Bharadwaj, who left no stone unturned to threaten to dissolve the assembly and impose President's rule using his constitutional power as the Governor of the state. No chief minister, perhaps, has ever faced such multi-pronged attacks in the history of Karnataka. The second and third aspects can be understood and tolerated. What made him particularly furious was the fact that his own party men tried their best to pull him down more than any of the Opposition parties and eventually succeeded in their efforts.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

"Our aim is to be in the top-3 players in mobile phones"

Kenichiro Hibi, MD, Sony India, speaks to B&E about his company’s plans to ramp up its mobile division and grow its other businesses in the country

B&E: It’s been three months since you took up your current job. What are your immediate priorities?
Kenichiro Hibi (KH): I am just starting and everything looks challenging here. The market is very big, with a huge potential. We want to connect with our consumers both inside their homes and outside as well with our TV and mobile offerings. We are already the leading player in the flat panel space. In the mobile space, our aim is to be among the top-3 players. According to GFK, Sony Mobile already has a 9% share in the Indian market, and we will further build onto it. We are looking at a rapid growth in the mobile space. Our overall target is to triple our turnover three-fold by 2015-16 fiscal, from the current turnover of over Rs.63 billion to over Rs.180 billion.

B&E: Considering the steep revenue target you have set for 2016 fiscal, where will this growth come from?
KH: We have a three-pillar growth strategy. We expect the TV business to grow further. There is the CRT replacement market, with over 10 million customers who could possibly graduate to LCDs and LEDs. Our focus is on the premium range of products only. As in the case of Bravia though majority of sales still happens in the 22-inch range, but the 55 inches TV sets are doing well too. Also the segment is a big frontier for us. As India is a youth market, so we have products that appeal to the youth like digital cameras, Vaio PCs, gaming, etc.

B&E: What’s the revenue share of your main product lines?
KH: Our flat panel Bravia range contributes 35% of the revenue. Our laptop range Vaio contributes 20% of the revenue, while the Cyber-shot digital camera range contributes 15%. India is already the sixth-largest market for us country-wise.

B&E: Sony is facing strong headwinds in most of its major markets. How do you see those challenges affect your India business?
KH: The global weak economic sentiments have affected us, so has the situation in China. But in India the fundamentals like customer demand are strong. Though in India too GDP growth has slowed down, there’s still demand for our products. Also, since we import all our products, the weakening rupee and the appreciation of Yen creates some price-balancing issues for us here.

B&E: Are you considering local manufacturing here to become more price competitive?
KH: We will decide as we go ahead depending on the market conditions. For the time being we plan to use the FTA agreements that India has with Malaysia. We have production facilities in Malaysia for TV and audio products, while the majority of mobile phones are manufactured in China.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Has ECB found a solution to the debt crisis?

After several failed attempts to rein in the yields on the peripheral government bonds, the European Central Bank (ECB) is back again. This time with Outright Monetary Transactions (OMTs). But can OMTs achieve what other programmes couldn’t? B&E talks to a host of experts, including the ECB President Mario Draghi, to find the answer.

The summer of 2012 was somewhat depressing for countries across the eurozone until European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi announced he was willing to do “whatever it takes” to keep the single-currency union intact. And he had reasons for it. The eurozones’s economy was (it still is) under tremendous pressure from a credit crunch, and as such fiscal tightening. While the economy had contracted for the second time in a year (Eurozone’s GDP declined 0.2% in Q2 2012 after stagnating in Q1 2012), the composite PMI for manufacturing and services had fallen in July to its lowest level in more than three years (since June 2009). Even the number of people out of work in the region was up by 88,000 to 18 million in July. Although the statement, from the head of the most important financial institution in Europe, was enough to ignite some sparks of optimism, no one had a clear idea of what Draghi really had in mind.

Come September, Draghi has finally explained what he meant; the ECB would now engage in what it calls “outright monetary transactions (OMTs),” unlimited purchases of government bonds for eurozone countries near the brink of financial crisis. With this new intervention programme – termed as European Stability Mechanism (ESM) – the central bank aims at “preserving the singleness of its monetary policy and to ensure the proper transmission of its policy stance to the real economy throughout the region.”

Interestingly, the ECB was engaged in open-market operations a year ago as well, purchasing Italian and Spanish sovereign debt, but it couldn’t achieve much out of it. Yields declined temporarily, but later rose to new heights. For instance, the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bond had again reached 7% (in January 2012), the level that prompted Greece and Portugal to seek help from ECB, after it was driven back under 6% by ECB’s bond-purchase programme in September last year. Result: The ECB purchases were essentially stopped in January 2012, replaced by two so-called long-term refinancing operations (LTROs), which boosted liquidity in the eurozone via €1 trillion in three-year loans to banks. The loans indirectly eased pressure on governments by allowing banks to buy more sovereign debt. Yet interest rates for the debt of fiscally troubled eurozone countries remained stubbornly high. Thus, the question remains: Can OMTs achieve what LTROs couldn’t?

What ECB now plans is a more direct action to keep those borrowing costs down, using open-ended purchases of short-term government bonds in the secondary markets. In fact, as a bondholder, ECB will not claim seniority over other creditors. It will also ignore potential credit downgrades by rating agencies and will not demand more collateral if that occurs. The reason is simple. Financial market fragmentation and the uneven supply of credit across eurozone are holding back growth, effectively delaying a resolution of the debt crisis. Agrees Mario Draghi, President, ECB, as he tells B&E, “Risk premia that are related to fears of the reversibility of the euro are unacceptable, and they need to be addressed in a fundamental manner. The euro is irreversible.”

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

“We have nothing like a foodgrain surplus”

Shetkari Sangathana founder Sharad Joshi tells Chandran Iyer of B&E that lopsided policies pursued by successive governments could lead to bigger famines

B&E: Let’s take a flashback to the famine that hit India during 1965-67 and then the seventies. What are your memories?
Sharad Joshi: Things were terrible at that time. There was not only food security but also acute drought. The whole of Maharashtra was reeling under water shortage. Most of the wells in this state had become dry. I had seen birds falling down on the roads due to thirst. You can imagine the condition of people.

B&E: Do you think India has learnt its lessons from that famine? Is our agricultural policy today strong enough to prevent it from happening again?
SJ: I don’t think so. Successive governments have pursued lopsided policies. Wrong policies introduced during the British tenure are still being continued. The British imposed the system of land revenue and its collection posed a big problem to even better-off farmers. Even now, in many places in India, landless people are giving loans to the farmers to help them pay land revenues. Even the coolies in the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) are giving loans to farmers and turning money lenders.

B&E: The agriculture minister recently said that in 1972, there was food deficit while now there is food surplus. What is your take?
SJ: I don’t believe that there is any food surplus. The statistics comes from Food Corporation of India, which has to show that there is excess food, which is rotting. Unless they show that food is rotting, they cannot tally their accounts. They have to show that they do not have enough storage capacity. In the case of wheat and cotton, we are doing quite well. But apart from these two, I don’t think we have anything like grain surplus.

B&E: Can you pinpoint what exactly is wrong with our government’s agricultural policy?
SJ: What is happening now is that there is no official confirmation that the prices cover the cost of production. Farmers cannot pay taxes and the dues of the loans that they have taken and the electricity bills are a huge burden. The loan waiver scheme of the government completely forgot the electricity bills with the result that many farmers have been unable to pay these bills. So, there is no power and diesel is already in short supply as it’s expensive and there is no government policy yet on ethanol and biodiesel. At the same time, labour is in short supply. All these are precursors to a great famine.

B&E: Doesn’t it sound like a bit of a doomsday prediction?
SJ: What we have seen earlier have been famines due to natural reasons. But what we may see in the future is going to be the result of folly of man as well as fury of nature. To avert it, India needs structural reforms. Firstly, there is a need to scrap the APMC system. It has outlived its utility. They have never been able to fix a good minimum support price. The second important step is to scrap the Food Corporation of India. Thirdly, there should be nothing like a Public Distribution System.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

"There is stalemate in dialogue with China"

Clad in an starched white Indian kurta-pyjama, speaking fluent Hindi, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Dr. Lobsang Sangay breaks his silence for the first time on several key issues. In an exclusive interview with B&E’s Aditya Raj Kaul, the Tibetan leader says that with likely changes in China’s top political leadership, the struggle for Free Tibet will reach a decisive stage next year.

B&E: Almost 40 Tibetans including monks have attempted self-immolation since 2009. Why this sudden increase in such desperate acts of protest? Have they lost hope for a free Tibet?
LS: [Brief silence] Yes, it has been really unfortunate. Question is why? The Chinese Government doesn’t allow any form of free speech like we see in India, here we can have dharnas, hunger strikes, and we can protest, and organise rallies. But in China, especially in Tibet, it is not so. You simply cannot participate in protests, even if it’s a gathering of three people, they get arrested and tortured. Tragically, Tibetans are taking to this rather drastic political act of self-immolation. But all the 40 self-immolators have only hurt themselves and not harmed others. Their demands are pretty clear – the return of His Holiness Dalai Lama and Free Tibet.

B&E: The 27-year-old Tibetan activist Jamphel Yeshi also self-immolated himself hours before Hu Jintao’s arrival in March this year. Is self-immolation the only way of being heard?
LS: We have told people not to indulge in self-immolation. A few days after Jamphel Yeshi’s self- immolation we in fact issued a very strongly worded letter asking Tibetans-in-exile particularly not to resort to self- immolations because we have freedom of speech in India. We can resort to and engage in many other forms of protests. Unfortunately, Tibetans inside Tibet don’t have any other option, but to commit self- immolations.

B&E: Have the concerns over Dalai Lama’s security intensified of late? The Dalai Lama himself recently said that a Tibetan may attack him?
LS: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s security is of major concern to us. Threat perception always remains. The report (about a Tibetan attacking Dalai Lama) is reliable but not verified. Reports are that the Chinese Government at one time was training people like that, so we have to take all this under consideration.

B&E: Your views on Indo-Tibetan relations in the near future?
LS: Before 1959, India and Tibet had close relations. The 1914 Simla agreement makes it very clear. Tibet is of major interest for India from geo-political, environmental and cultural point-of-view. Culturally, because we follow Buddhism, which we adapted from India. Environmentally because Tibet’s Himalayan geography directly affects the region. And geo-politically because China is building a railway line all the way to India. The Indian government spends billions of dollars for border security. Before 1959, it was not necessary. Resolving the Tibet issue is in India’s interest.

B&E: Is there any ongoing back-channel dialogue with China or does a stalemate persist considering recent resignations of your two appointed emissaries?
LS: At the moment it is a stalemate, mainly because of the Chinese government. The relevant Chinese officials have not reciprocated positively to the memorandum that we submitted. That is why our two appointed envoys resigned. The environment is not conducive for dialogue. The situation inside Tibet is also getting worse. Having said that, we are ready to engage in dialogue with the Chinese government anytime. We seek autonomy within China and within the framework of the Chinese constitution. Most likely with the changes in leadership, by early next year there might be slight changes in the trend.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

What in heavens went wrong?

It was one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in the history of Wall Street. But despite all the hype and drumbeats, the Facebook stock has lost almost 25% of its value within the first month of trading and become the second worst listing in US history. Is this just a short term glitch or does it have long term implications for the social network?
Issue Date - 30/07/2012

From the days when his business card read “I’m CEO... Bitch” till today when it has become virtually impossible for him to justify the plummeting stocks of his company, Mark Zuckerberg has begun looking much older than his 28 years. And why not? The billionaire tycoon who was habitual of calling the shots from the confines of an insulated environment, now has to mingle with (and forcibly smile at) the perpetually hungry hounds of Wall Street after his botched IPO – an IPO which Dealogic (a specialist data research firm) calls the second worst listed in US history. The gloss of being the world’s youngest billionaire is swiftly being wiped away with class action lawsuits alleging blocking of revised information about the IPO’s prospects hours before its listing. And of course, there is now also the accompanying headache of having to create value for a lot more shareholders than he originally bargained for.

No matter how much one tries to justify the sequence of events, fact is that Facebook’s debut on the bourses has been a mess. The social network’s $104 billion valuation at the time of its offering was the largest ever by an American company. But then things went downhill. If General Motors’ announcement that it was pulling off all ads from Facebook because of low returns was not enough, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley let slip that it was lowering Facebook’s revenue forecast. A spooked Wall Street went into a tizzy and Facebook’s stock expectably nosedived from its $38 debut. The stock has lost almost 25% of its value within the first month of its stint at the bourses. So is this the end of the hugely successful saga of Facebook’s gravity-defying growth? To answer that, we need to look at issues much deeper than a depressing debut at the bourses. Read on...

The good...
There’s no denying the fact that Facebook will go down in history as a company that spearheaded and laid the foundation for a radical online advertising model of the future. Facebook has built a reach and target driven engagement platform with a user base that is just phenomenal. For the quarter ending March 2012, the social network – that is available globally in more than 70 languages – reported a monumental 901 million monthly users, an increase of 33% compared to the same period last year. Roughly 80% of these users are based out of the US and Canada. On any given month, an average of 526 million users are active on the website. During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of seven days. Further, Facebook is home to more than 125 billion friend connections. Of late, Facebook has also seen extraordinary growth in terms of users accessing the social network on mobile. Ironically, Facebook was late to market with a dedicated mobile app. But its growing breed of 500 million plus mobile users speaks volumes for growth prospects. With this wealth of data, Facebook is in a unique position to collaborate with its partners by giving them access to demographic information based on login credentials. Chances are that Facebook might eventually succeed in creating an advertising network that is as deep rooted as present day television networks. But here’s the big question. Despite significant competitive advantage over off-line media, why has the Facebook IPO floundered?

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Infosys my experiment with entrepreneurship

There is nothing wrong in wanting to get richer. But there are many ways to get richer, and entrepreneurs must be able to choose the right one By N. R. Narayana Murthy Founder & Chairman Emeritus Infosys Ltd

For most people who are looking to take the entrepreneurial plunge, one of the greatest inhibitions is the loss of security that a job provides. Even in my personal case, it was not how I had planned things initially. I grew up in a middle class Kannada Madhava Brahman family, and the most critical learning that I imbibed from my family and environment was the uncompromising focus on education and respect; a learning that I have retained throughout my life.

My journey into entrepreneurship started out very differently, and a couple of defining moments come to mind. The first defining moment was a meeting with a famous American computer scientist when I was a graduate in Control Theory at IIT. He talked to me at length on the future of computer science; and his conviction and subject knowledge were so profound that I was hooked to the field for life. The second defining moment happened during my trip to Europe. It happened in the Sofia Express, in which I was travelling on my way to India. My co-passengers were a girl and a boy. I started a discussion with the young girl in French, who talked about the perils of life in an iron curtain country. To our astonishment, a few policemen came and arrested both of us, which, I believe, was because the young man had complained that we were perhaps criticising Bulgaria’s Communist government. They confiscated my belongings and dragged me along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in a corner as a toilet. I was made to stay there without food and water for 72 hours. Even after I was taken out, I was taken to Istanbul on a departing freight train, again without food and water, before finally being released; because I was “from a friendly country called India”, as per one of the guards. During the entire journey to Istanbul, I seriously rethought my views on communism. While I was quite a bit of a Leftist in my thought process earlier in life, my experiences in Europe started convincing me otherwise. Subsequently, over the coming years, I became more and more convinced that rather than communism, it was capitalism – and in essence the entrepreneurial spirit – that was the best way for countries like India to get rid of poverty. You can say that Infosys, in essence, was an experiment for me in entrepreneurship.

My first venture was Softronics, which only lasted for a year and a half (after which I joined Patni). I realised a few key lessons. Firstly, when you become an entrepreneur, the market has to be ready for your idea. The Indian market was certainly not ready, which is why with Infosys, I decided that we will explore the global market. Secondly, I learnt that it is important to have a team that has a common and enduring value system and the strengths of team members must be complementary and mutually exclusive. Again, these lessons came in handy when I set up Infosys. The idea of starting another software company started brewing in my mind when I was working as a lead engineer in Patni Computer Systems. I wanted to, as my upbringing had taught me, build a company that would earn the highest level of respect.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Inbox : This Fortnight

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & FINANCE
Meg in, leo out!

When Leo Apotheker was named CEO of HP in October last year, there were doubts about whether a the former CEO of a software company (SAP) would ever be able to handle a mix of hardware and software at the world’s largest IT company (in terms of topline) as the CEO. After analysing the situation and his competencies, B&E did a story titled, “Wrong person. Wrong place” (issue dated November 11, 2010), in which we concluded that “The new CEO is a software guy and has prior experience only in enterprise sales – A clear mismatch with the current philosophy of HP – the largest IT company in the world”. When he announced his decision to sell off HP’s hardware division and buy out Autonomy for $11.69 billion in the last week of August 2011, we ran a follow-up story titled, “Is Apotheker destroying HP?” (issue dated September 15, 2011). This was our claim: “Apotheker, had little clue about what could potentially be done with a PC-plus-services portfolio. Post sell-off of the PSG unit, the company stands to lose $400.74 billion in expected revenue earnings over the next 20 years (arrived at using a binomial regression forecast model; R2=0.99; Eqn: y = -37.75x2 - 1395x + 42154).” The expected followed. Apotheker was booted out of the company. HP’s Board confirmed this publicly on September 22, 2011.

First question: Did he really deserve the bullet so soon? Actually, Apotheker has done enough in 9 months than what humans are usually capable of. Under him, HP’s m-cap shrunk to $47.52 billion – a fall of 51.52% since he took over!

Interestingly, the very moment the Board announced Apotheker’s exit, they pulled out another “typically-HP Board” trick. Former CEO of eBay Meg Whitman, with no prior experience in the field of hardware, was handed over the crown.

This brings us to the second question: Is a lady, who in the past four years was known only for two less-than-glorious acts – she resigned as eBay’s CEO in 2007 and then unsuccessfully ran for the office of the Governor of California (after spending $322.5 million in election campaigns) – fit to become the CEO of the world’s largest IT firm? Apparently, she is a fast learner. And what HP needs right now is someone with a vision. Remember, it was her vision that made eBay buy Skype for an inflated $4.1 billion in cash in 2005 (and which was later sold at $2.75 billion in 2009). But at least a move like this will keep HP’s hardware and software units going for some years! Apotheker destroyed more than 51% of HP’s m-cap in less than a year. How long will Whitman take to wipe out the rest? Difficult to say. But, if she manages to convince the HP Board to eat its own words and retain the hardware and mobility units (with webOS), she would have scored a one on ten to begin with in our books.

BNP Paribas’ $96 billion asset sale

BNP Paribas’ $96 billion asset sale In a move to insulate itself from the impact of the Greek debt crisis, BNP Paribas, the largest French bank, plans to sell $96 billion of risk-weighted assets to allay investor fears about the bank’s leverage and funding. The bank will also reduce its US dollar funding needs by $60 billion by the end of 2012. Unlike some of its main rivals like Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, BNP has been lucky to escape Moody’s Investors Service’s review without a change in rating. But that’s not a long-term remedy as the agency said it would extend its review for a possible downgrade of BNP’s long-term debt and deposit ratings. The bank in a statement on its website said the asset sales would reduce its balance sheet by around 10%. Of late, leading French banks have been fighting to restore confidence after suffering a summer of sell-off by investors, as they feared the banks are ill equipped to cope with the fallout from a Greek debt default. It’s not that BNP has been alone. Even smaller rival Société Générale unveiled a similar plan after post talks of a possible Moody’s downgrade. By selling assets, BNP will be in shape to reach a core Tier 1 ratio of 9% by Jan. 01, 2013, under the new Basel III regime, which calls for more stringent capital requirements.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

B&E This Fortnight

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & FINANCE
Zero job growth!
America’s gold plated standards in political and economic leadership have become a laughing stock. And President Barack Obama – also being dubbed as “President Zero” by the Republicans is at the receiving end of this phenomenon which has engulfed America. In fact, the dust from the debt ceiling drama hadn’t even settled when the government report on jobs released on Friday became a more pressing concern for the Obama administration. Apart from narrating the pathetic state of unemployment, the report revealed that there was zero job growth in August – an indication that the economy has come to a halt and that further inaction by the administration might be lethal. As a result Obama has devised a $447 billion job growth package and the proposal has been sent to the Congress for approval. Half the budget comprises tax cuts. The rest would be allocated towards improving infrastructure to keep people on the job. Further, measures include easing stringent environmental emissions (which supposedly hamper employment). With elections round the corner and Obama’s approval rating dropping to an all time low, it is increasingly becoming difficult to imagine how the President who came into power with hopes and mass hysteria will repeat history once again.

Carol Bartz fired!
“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s chairman. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.” It didn’t take much time for Carol Bartz, the outspoken former CEO of Yahoo! to take out her iPad and write a mail to the company’s 13,000 employees informing them that she had been fired. Bartz’s two year tumultuous stint at the beleaguered web giant came to an end on September 07. One of the most celebrated entities of the Web 1.0 era, Yahoo! struggled to cope as Google took over the world wide web by storm. When Bartz took over as CEO, she had cut jobs, outsourced its loss making search business to Microsoft and attempted to streamline operation. She was partly successful in mobilising the stock at around $13, however, investors were uneasy and could not wait to see the impact of the fixtures Bartz had introduced. Moreover, she ended up publicly alienating Jack Ma, Group CEO, Alibaba (Yahoo’s key Japan ally) who in turn spun off the payment too, Alipay (one of the company’s most profitable asset) without compensating for Yahoo’s share. Further, the company missed second quarter revenue targets. Whatever the reasons were, investors didn’t like it and Bartz was fired. However, instead of cutting deadwood, Yahoo’s board should contemplate breaking down the business and selling it off. In fact, they goofed up when they turned down Microsoft’s acquisition offer three years back.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

What’s going Wrong with China?

Consumer Price Inflation in China has Skyrocketed from 1.5% in The Beginning of 2010 to about 5% at Present. And The Policymakers have been Helplessly reacting to it by Tightening The Monetary Policy, Aggressively. But is it The Right solution when it comes to Maintaining Growth?

While the Chinese economy continues to stun the world with its superlative growth figures at the forefront (in stark contrast to the troubled economies of the First World), there is an interesting happening in the background – the Chinese economy could well be overheating. No doubt, it’s difficult to tell when a rapid-growth economy like China’s starts overheating, but some of the risks associated with China’s $586 billion stimulus programme (announced on November 9, 2008) – inflationary pressures and asset bubbles specifically – are now certainly intensifying beyond the point of being ignored.

It’s not as if Chinese growth is slowing down. In fact, the dragon economy baffled expectations of mild cooling and reaccelerated in the last quarter of 2010 – Chin’a GDP growth accelerated to 9.8% y-o-y in Q4 2010, from 9.6% in Q3 2010, bringing the overall GDP growth for 2010 to 10.3%. While the industrial production rose by 15.7% in 2010, fixed asset investment also increased 24.5% during the year. Yes, that’s fast. Perhaps, too fast as all this clearly outpaced the government’s 8% GDP growth target for the year 2010 by a big margin.

Result: The overall rate of CPI inflation in China skyrocketed from 1.5% in the beginning of 2010 to about 5% at present. Chinese policymakers do argue that about half of this increase over the past year or so can be traced to sharp increases in food prices that reflect, at least in part, temporary supply shortages caused by adverse weather conditions; a closer look at the numbers shows that they might be right, at least partly.

Consumer prices excluding food were up 2.6% in January 2011, the fastest y-o-y inflation rate in at least 10 years. Although the rate of non-food price inflation moved back a bit to 2.3% in February 2011, it still remains high when compared to the average non-food price inflation over the last decade (see chart). In fact, a slight increase in food price inflation in the near future could prompt Chinese workers to demand even higher wages, thereby accelerating the non-food prices, and ultimately resulting in a higher overall CPI inflation. In short, there is a risk that an explosive wage-price spiral could hold the Chinese economy to easy ransom.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Trends & Prospects in R&D

R&D Invariably Plays an Important role in Addressing The Interwoven challenges of an Economy. Having Endured The Worst Recessionary periods, The Global R&D outlook for 2011 looks Increasingly Stable & Positive. The R&D spend is Anticipated to Increase to almost $1.2 trillion. B&e’s ReflEction of The Trends and Prospects.

European union a concern

The available statistics and forecasts thereof make it amply clear that growth in research and development (R&D) has resumed following the recession induced cuts in advanced economies. The global spending on R&D is anticipated to increase to $1.2 trillion in 2011. Amongst the global research community, the state of R&D in European Union is the most concerning. The EU has failed to reach the “3% by 2010” mark primarily because of the banking failures and the massive support required by Greece, Spain and Ireland. The active environment for collaborations with emerging economies such as China and India hold a lot of promise for the European R&D. Still struggling to recover from the economic downturn R&D investment in Japan and Germany is not keeping pace with Asia.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Sathiahhh!

Media’s favourite butt-of-jokes, Vivek Oberoi, is gearing up for his wedding with Priyanka Alva on 29th October, where the confirmed invitee list includes Karnataka CM B.S. Yeddyurappa. Vivek has been in the limelight recently, with the movie Rakta Charitra, which after much controversy has finally released. Reportedly, his fiancée got quite squeamish after watching the movie, which shows him slicing and dicing villains with much ease. We bet Vivek won’t return to gore for a while now!

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)