Enterprise &Economic Update Kerala

Kanjikode coach factory

Vol 2, Issue 7 August 2012

Boarding a metro RNI No. KERENG02297

Editor K J Jacob Principal Correspondents Aby Abraham G K A P Jayadevan Design and Layout Renu Arun Website Suhas K Sales and Marketing Jose Thomas Printed, published and owned by K J Jacob and published from Independent Media, XI/173 B, Mulakkampallil Buildings, Kunnumpuram-Civil Station Road,Thrikkakkara, Kochi,Kerala-682 021 Phone: 0484-2421916 and Printed at Sterling Print House Pvt.Ltd. Door No: 49/1849, Ponekkara-Cheranelloor Road, Aims Ponekkara P.O., Kochi - 682 041 Phone : +91 484 2802522, 2800406 *Editor: K J Jacob For subscription, advertisement : sales@economic-update.in Tel: +91 99475 39023

We value your feedback.

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W

hether it is by accident or by design, Kerala keeps making definite progress in creating better facilities for its people. Apart from the legendary strides it has made in education and healthcare, the State, of late, has been quite successful in creating an industrial infrastructure which will fast-forward its industrialisation.

Urbanisation is an attendant problem of industrialisation. It has worsened in most major cities in South India, so much so that multinationals are increasingly looking forward to Tier-II cities, which include Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, to set up shops. However, the three major towns in Kerala, too have started feeling the heat of traffic snarls and congestion.

Town planners world over have advocated creation of mass rapid transit systems (MRTS) to tackle the issue. They offer a comfortable alternative mode of travel and decongest the roads by taking away a good chunk of the city traffic. By limiting the growth of private vehicles, they reduce emissionrelated issues as well.

Kerala has now embarked on an ambitious programme to set up MRTS in the three major towns.

There will be a metro in Kochi, and monorails in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. If everything goes according to the plan, they will be ready, in phases, by 2018.

This is quite a challenge. It is unique for an Indian State to have an MRTS in every major town. It involves meticulous planning and mission-mode execution in a transparent way. All people with a stake in the State’s future want the projects to have a smooth sail. Their hope stems from the fact that there are instances of efficiency in our State such as CIAL and the major expansion of BPCL Kochi Refinery.

We hope these projects will also prove worthy models for the future.

Contents COVER STORY

20 The Metro State After the international airports, the three major towns in the State will have a mass rapid transport system. The metro rail in Kochi and the monorails in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram would make the State the first one to have an MRTS in all its major cities 4

Contents

16

Chugging along

Ending the uncertainty, the Railways takes possession of the land in Kanjikode for the coach factory

29 Serving it right Right to Service Act promises citizens government services in a time-bound manner

Banking on the mobile

30

Mobile banking offers unmatched convenience and saving in costs

Making the most of Social Media

26

Corporates in Kerala are not very savvy when it comes to using technology for advancing business.

S R Nair writes on how they can make the best use of social media

34 Eater’s digest Your ability to work smart in office depends a lot on how well you digest the food that you eat.

The Other Side 32 Alone in the autumn The government’s arguments against statutory pensions don’t hold water

5

6

The Salim Rajan flyover is not just a road over bridge in Kochi.

A part of the city traffic plan conceived in the light of the implementation of the Kochi Metro rail project, the `37.5 crore flyover near the KSRTC bus station links the Salim Rajan Road on the east of the railway line with Mullassery Canal Road on the west. In effect, it offers better connectivity to a town which has been cut in the middle by the railway. The project is being implemented by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

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Your cover story on the changing face of Ayurveda is timely. World over, there is a renewed interest in holistic medicine, and if properly marketed, Ayurveda can benefit from the new trend. It’s also great news that the service provides in Kerala are changing with the times.

They may be reminded that Sri Lanka, which has little to boast in traditional Ayurveda, has in the recent past made big strides in the field. It’s time that we, too, seized the opportunity.

K Balram, Thrissur This is the right time for the government to come in support of Ayurveda. Like it did for tourism two decades back. At that time, everybody knew that Kerala had big potential for tourism development, but it needed big investment to set up infrastructure and for marketing.

The government, despite criticism that it was spending public money for private enterprises, went ahead giving the sector the much needed push. Today, that intervention is hailed as one off the best moves by a government in Kerala.

Likewise, the government must come out with a solid plan for the promotion of Ayurveda. It must devise ways for its scientific advancement. It must support marketing initiatives worldwide. It must also incentivise setting up of hospitals with modern facilities.

Ayurveda for Kerala is a golden goose. It must nurture it well.

V Ananthanarayanan, Hyderabad One of the ails of Ayurveda in Kerala is the spread of spurious 8

players, and I am surprised that your article made no reference to it. Ayurveda is not just an industry; it deals with human life and health, and hence must be approached with the care it deserves. You may notice that the good work done by established Ayurveda institutions over decades is undone by fly-by-night operators who enter the field only to make some fast bucks. The government must put in place strong legal mechanisms to ensure that non-serious players do not open shop in the State.

Dr P K Santhosh Kumar, Thiruvananthapuram I am happy that your magazine gives due importance to agriculture in the State. At the same time, I found some stories go over the board, praising farming as a vocation. Your story on nutmeg farming was timely, but gives the impression that a farmer with a few dozen trees earns in lakhs. This is not true.

Agricultural commodities, especially spices, rarely get remunerative price.

Cardamom prices went through the roof a year back only to collapse later. The same happened with vanilla. It takes a lot of panning and a great deal of luck if one were to make some good money through farming.

Joseph Devassia Thodupuzha It’s good that the government has come out with a new tourism policy.

But policies mean nothing if you don’t implement them. I would like to request the government to follow up on the projects that they had announced in the past. As a frequent

visitor to my home State, I was looking forward with great interest to the ‘Vazhiyoram’ scheme of the department, thinking that it would ensure quality food and facilities for rest in the highways of Kerala. But I am disappointed that it did not take off the way it was planned. The State still lacks basic facilities in many of its tourism spots with great potential. The government may do well to look into this aspect seriously.

Santhosh Joseph Sydney I appreciate our updates on the business behind the big screen. The report on the role satellite rights plays in the making of good movies was informative. I am so happy that it funds the new, refreshing trends in Malayalam film industry. There have been demands for changes in the industry, but people balked at initiating them, fearing failure at the box office. Intentions, however pious they are, cannot pay the bills and you need hard currency to do the job. It’s a good sign that the young generation has found a workable alternative, and technology helps them in the endeavour.

B Hariharan Thiruvananthapuram

I say!

It (the Mass Contact Programme) gave me the opportunity to meet millions of people and to understand their life and issues troubling them.

Among them were people who complained about their inability to seek services at government offices. I was able to settle many of them on the spot itself. But, I had to face the sarcastic remark from different quarters that I am doing the job of a clerk.

The scenario prompted me to seek a lasting solution Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister, in an article on his website on the Right to Service Bill

“One-fourth of my wealth will be enough for my family” Anil Agarwal, chairman of London-headquartered Vedanta Resources, revealing his plans to pledge three fourths of his wealth to educate and provide nutrition to underprivileged children “We are not going to be regarded as a hounding tax administration. We will be friendly to those people who are tax compliant and I believe the bulk of people pay taxes” P Chidambaram, Union Finance Minister, after a meeting with the top tax officials dealing with import duties, service tax and factory gate duties

“I am really taken up by the growing Kerala IT and the infrastructure facilities available at Infopark for the growth of IT. The industry is helping women in their life and careers” US Consul-General in Chennai Ms Jennifer A McIntyre after meeting women leaders of top IT companies within Infopark “If airlines move to bio-fuels, I will not feel as guilty travelling” Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-Chairman, Infosys, talking about his company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint

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AT A GLANCE

Central banks offer economic stimuli Three leading Central banks have taken steps to kick start their slowing down economies. China’s central bank cut the rate for one-year bank loans by 0.31 percentage points, to 6 per cent. The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.75 per cent, from 1 per cent, the lowest level in its 14-year history. And Bank of England which has set the rate at a record low of 0.5 per cent since 2009 has announced plans to buy government securities worth £50 billion.

Sanctions begin to pinch Iran

Iranian oil exports are estimated to have been cut by a quarter, costing it around $10 billion till June this year. Iran now pumps about 2.8 million barrels a day — a million barrels lower than at the start of the year. It has takers for only around 1.6 to 1.8 million of those. 40 million barrels of crude are now stocked on tankers in the sea as they await clandestine buyers, at rock-bottom prices.

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Barclays gets record fine Barclays CEO Robert Diamond resigned after the company was fined a record £290 million for rigging the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) – the global interest rate benchmark.

Regulators in the US and UK had found that Barclays systematically attempted to rig LIBOR for profit. Several other banks in the US and the UK are also under investigation.

Facebook, Yahoo drop cases, tie up Facebook and Yahoo have decided to settle their patent lawsuits and forge a broad Internet advertising and licensing partnership.

The deal involves crosslicensing of patents and collaboration on advertising offerings during major media events. Yahoo had sued Facebook in March, accusing it of infringing 10 patents. The move was widely seen as an effort by the struggling company to wring cash out of the social networking giant, just before its IPO in May. Switzerland tops Global Innovation Index 2012 Switzerland topped in overall innovation performance, according to the Global Innovation Index 2012, published by INSEAD, a business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation. It was followed by Sweden, Singapore, Finland, the United Kingdom, the

Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, and the US. None of the BRIC countries made it to the top 10. They have weaknesses in their innovation infrastructure and environment and have to invest further in their innovation capabilities, said the report.

Volkswagen to buy Porsche

Volkswagen will buy the rest of the Porsche sportscar business, in which it had taken 49.9 per cent stake in 2009. Volkswagen will pay Porsche SE, the holding company, €4.46 billion for the remaining 50.1 per cent. Porsche SE will remain a stand-alone holding company that has 32.2 per cent stake in Volkswagen. Volkswagen’s chairman Mr Ferdinand Piech, a member of the Porsche-Piech family that controls 90 per cent of Porsche SE, had been trying to merge the companies for some time now, but was thwarted by lawsuits.

News Corp to split Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is to be split into two - publishing and ‘film and TV’.

The split is expected to help protect the film and TV businesses from legal costs arising from the phone-hacking scandal at its British newspaper arm. The firm had to drop its bid for full control of BSkyB, in which it holds 39 per cent, after the scandal came to light. The publishing arm which has newspapers such as the London Times, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Sun, has been seeing sluggish growth, while its ‘film and TV’ businesses which include Fox News and investments in sports broadcasting, accounts for most of the revenues and profit.

Microsoft reports first ever loss

Microsoft reported a loss of $492m for the quarter ending June, 2012. The loss, though an accounting one, is the first that the company is reporting since it got listed in 1986.

The loss was due to it writing down the value of its online advertising business - Aquantive - by $6.2bn. Microsoft had bought Aquantive in 2007 for $6.3bn but the company failed to deliver.

Excluding the write down, Microsoft’s results exceeded market expectations with total income for the quarter increasing 4 per cent to $18.06bn.

AT A GLANCE

Bihar, fastest growing Indian State

Miracle, miracle! Bihar, that once forsaken land, is the fastest growing Indian State for the second year running! It grew double digits in the last four years (a scorching 13.1 per cent growth in 2011-12) and, hold your breath, overtook the economy of Punjab!

According to the Ministry of Statistics, Bihar is followed by Delhi, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh and Goa, all tiny States.

Gujarat expanded 9.1 per cent. But there are skeptics, too: some economists say Bihar’s growth is on a lower base, and cannot be compared with larger ones such as Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. At 2004-05 prices, economic activity in Tamil Nadu was estimated at `4.28 lakh crore, while the comparable figure for Bihar was `1.63 lakh crore. Maharashtra is the largest economy with over `7 lakh crore.

GDP growth slows to 5.5%, worst may be over Aided chiefly by the construction and financial services sectors, India’s GDP grew 5.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Analysts blame it on weak demand in the West which hit exports, government overspending and a lack

of reforms. Meanwhile, rating agency Moody’s also lowered the growth forecast to 5.5 per cent and blamed it on “weak demand, elevated interest rates, high inflation, and most significantly, the instability created by a weak Central government that has badly lost its way.” Moody’s, however, welcomes the appointment of P Chidambaram as finance minister as he had presided over the ministry in 2004-08 in which the economy grew 8 per cent.

journey. The latest TRAI report says the number of connections has come down from 93.4 crore in June 2012 to 91.3 crore at the end of July 2012, registering a negative growth for the first time. The mobile companies chose to terminate all the connections with no calls in two months. Reliance Communications led the pack, cutting 20 lakh connections which formed 13.25 per cent of its customer base. Tata Docomo lost 24 lakhs mobile connections, and Uninor, 10 lakhs.

India hot on property prices Property prices in India increased by 12 per cent last year, and is at the third position among 53 countries where prices have appreciated. The global house price index survey by Knight Frank shows that Brazil recorded the strongest annual growth (23.5 per cent), followed by Estonia (13.9 per cent). Global property prices recorded just 0.9 per cent growth last fiscal.

IIT courses to go online

Cell companies bury dead connections Anything that goes up must come down.

The number of mobile subscribers in India, which once seemed on an unending upward spiral, has now started its reverse

It’s a dream come true for the thousands of students who fail to enter its hallowed portals every year.

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)— an initiative by Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Ministry of HRD – will make the classroom content of the IITs available on the net.

NPTEL plans to make 1,200 courses available on YouTube Education hub

by December. “A student can do civil engineering or mechanical engineering free of cost, sitting in the comfort of his home by streaming videos from YouTube," says Mangala Sunder Krishnan, professor at IIT-Madras and national coordinator for

web courses, NPTEL project.

Telenor in talks with Tata Telenor, the Norwegian telecom company, is planning a strategic alliance with the Tatas.

The company had burnt its hands in the Indian telecom space with the Supreme Court cancelling the 22 licenses held by Uninor, its joint venture with Unitech. It is now looking to merge the assets of Unitech Wireless with Tata Tele or buy out Docomo’s stake in Tata Tele. The companies held initial discussions on the matter and are waiting for the government to announce the norms for spectrum auctions to take a final decision. Uninor had suffered an operating loss of $806 million due to the cancellation of its licenses.

Japan for fast corridor in South India too The Japanese government is proposing an industrial corridor in South India on the lines of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. “This is because India has become the centre for compact car manufacturing. The Japanese are interested that the cars made in India be exported,” said Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, DMIC Development Corporation Ltd. Discussions on developing an eastern corridor that will allow easy transport of agricultural products to the ports are also being held.

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AT A GLANCE

Kerala only State with accelerating growth Kerala is the only state in India which saw an increase in growth rate of investment projects in the implementation stage during Q4, 2011-12 as against the previous three quarters. This was revealed in a State-wise analysis of investment and growth patterns across 20 major Indian States carried out by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). “With 27.8 per cent year on year rate of growth in investment projects in the implementation stages, Kerala has emerged as the single State across India with a sterling performance,” said the study report. The State beats the all India growth rate of 8.1 per cent buy a huge margin.

NeST, Carnegie Mellon tie-up on software

Network Systems and Technologies (P) Ltd. (NeST) has been accepted as a partner by the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute (SEI). As an SEI partner, NeST will be licensed to provide SEI services in Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The company would be authorised to conduct Standard CMMI 12

Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI) programmes aimed at helping companies improve their software engineering capabilities.

Cochin SEZ records 63% jump in exports

The Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) has come out unscathed from the recessionary trend across the world recording a 63 per cent jump in exports. Total exports from CSEZ touched `29,961 crore in 2011-12 against `18,311 crore recorded in 2010-11. A big increase in gem and jewellery exports, from `16,951 crore to `28,473 crore powered the growth. The performance of CSEZ is commendable considering that fact that the SEZs in the country had together clocked just 15 per cent growth in exports from `3.1lakh crore to `3.6lakh crore in the period.

Traffic automation solution wins eWorld award Kerala’s traffic automation solution - the Intelligent Enforcement Automation System for Kerala - has won the eWorld Jury Choice Award 2012. The system has been awarded

in the ‘Best Initiative for use of ICT in Public Safety, Security and Disaster Management’ category. Developed by Kerala State IT Mission, the system aims at enhancing road safety by detecting traffic offences such as red light violation, over speeding and wrong direction driving automatically and enforcing road rules more effectively.

Baring ups stake in Manappuram Finance Baring India Private Equity has increased its stake in Kerala based gold loan company Manappuram Finance to 5.94 per cent from the 0.95 per cent it held earlier. The PE firm bought 5 crore shares of the company through the open market route, at an estimated cost of `136 crore. Manappuram Finance CEO VP Nandakumar had earlier in March sold 4.75 per cent of his holding in Manappuram to three large private equity funds, including Baring India Private Equity to repay deposits from the public as directed by the RBI. KELTRON bags `25 crore order The Kerala State Elec-

tronics Development Corporation (KELTRON) has bagged a `25 crore order from BGR Energy Systems Ltd. The order is for the manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of sixteen 500KVA Digital Signal Processor based UPS systems, inverters, battery chargers and boost chargers. The equipment are for the control and power systems of the Rajasthan Atomic Power plant and the Kakrapar Atomic Power Plant. The Power Electronics Group of KELTRON at Karakulam near Thiruvananthapuram, will execute the orders. KELTRON has already supplied similar equipment to nuclear power plants at Kaiga, Narora and Tarapur.

SIB to raise funds through QIP route The Board of Directors of South Indian Bank has decided to raise its paid up capital by issuing equity shares. The bank plans to raise up to `500 crore through the QIP (Qualified Institutional Placement) route. The number of the equity shares to be issued and its price would be decided later.

The bank is drastically reducing its dependence on bulk deposits, to help it bring down its costs.

Mr VA Joseph, MD and CEO, South Indian Bank said that the bank has reduced its bulk deposits by `1,400 crore in Q1, this year.

project tracker

Kochi Refinery, LG to set up petrochem plant

BPCL-Kochi Refinery (KRL) has signed an MoU with South Koreabased LG Chem to set up a petrochemical plant at an investment of `6,000 crore. The plant, to be commissioned by 2015, will produce 9,00,000 tonne of propylene derivatives annually. The plant would use the 5,00,000 tonnes of propylene that would be produced once KRL’s `14,225 crore Integrated Refinery Expansion Project is complete. The propylene would be used to produce its derivatives such as acrylates, phenol, super absorbent polymer, etc, most of which are currently imported. Propylene derivatives can be used as a feedstock in 22 different industries. The State government is planning a petrochemical complex in the vicinity which will house units that make use of these propylene derivatives. The petrochemical complex is expected to bring in an investment of `10,000 crore.

Gail pipeline to Ambalamugal ready Gail Ltd has completed the laying of the 44 km pipeline from the Puthuvype LNG terminal to

Ambalamugal. The pipeline from Udyogamandal to Ambalamugal passes through the premises of the Naval Armament Depot, the cooperative medical college and SmartCity and the work had been held up due to opposition from these organisations. The Kochi Corporation also had issued a stop memo for the work at Brahmapuram. The pipeline is part of a project gail has been implementing to evacuate the gas from the terminal.

Meanwhile, Mr A K Balyan, CEO of Petronet LNG Ltd(PLL), has said that most of the work on the 5 mmtpa LNG terminal would be completed in October this year.But it will be fully functional only from 2014 due to delays in the pipeline laying work.

certain stage, and hence retendering might not delay the project.

Meanwhile, Furgo Geotech Private Limited, consultant for geo-technical matters, has found that the project will not require underwater rock blasting. L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers Ltd has completed the environment and social impact assessment for the project and will now submit the study report, after which the public hearing would be conducted.

Welspun’s bid for Vizhinjam rejected The State government has rejected the bid from the Welspun Infratech-led consortium, the sole remaining bidder for the Vizhinjam port project. During discussions, the consortium had scaled down its

PPP route for Cherthala coach factory The Railways has proposed setting up the wagon factory at Cherthala in the PPP mode. This was stated by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy after meeting the Railway officials.

The Railway officials also proposed a change in the site for the factory.

Around 100 families would have to be evicted if the factory is to be set up at the site identified for the project. The State government has identified 60 acres of land at Illanjippadam near Thiruvizha railway station for the project.

grant demand from `479.5 crore to `379.5 crore and offered to pay it back once the port turned profitable. But the government found this unsatisfactory. It has decided to retender the project after getting the environment clearance, when it hopes to attract more bidders. The government would go ahead with the preparation of the master plan and tendering of the EPC contract for the basic infrastructure of the port. The role of the port operator comes only when work on the basic infrastructure, has progressed to a

Kochi oceanarium gets in-principle approval The Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KSCZMA) has given in-principal approval for the Oceanarium project at Puthuvypeen, Kochi, subject to conditions. The approval came after its promoters – the State Fisheries Resource Management Society (FIRMA) – offered to relocate the flora and fauna of the project area at one of the two sites - a 20 acre plot near the Pokkali fields or 40 acres puramboke land at Valanthakad.

FIRMA has also assured that it will plant all varieties of mangroves present in the project area at the selected site, and take up the responsibility for its propagation, protection and management. KSCZMA has asked FIRMA to submit a detailed project report on the compensatory afforestation programme.

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When my information changes, I change my opinion.

What do you do, sir?

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) The most influential economist of the 20th century.

14

Everybody knows that technology changes business.

Today, the change flows through the net.

And the fact is, Kerala is the most networked State in India.

Of the 978 Panchayats in Kerala, 99% have broadband connectivity.

Information changes

Be updated

For subscription: 0484-2421916, +91 9947539023 or subscription@economic-update.in ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------After all, our opinions ought to change!

15

Kanjikode coach factory

Chugging along Ending uncertainty, Railways takes possession of land

K

erala has moved one step closer to the realisation of a big dream it has been dreaming for quite some time.

Ending the uncertainty over the railway coach factory in Kanjikode, the Indian Railways has taken possession of 230.10 acres of land from the district administration. Clearing the air on the future of the project, Mr Piyush Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad, handed over a cheque of `32.44 crore to Mr PM Ali Asgar Pasha, Palakkad District Collector as the price for the land and in turn, received the relevant documents.

The Railways has said it will soon build a boundary wall and other basic support infrastructure designed to secure the land. It has also requested the government to make available 90 more acres for the second phase of coach factory.

The State government and the Railways had in June jointly surveyed the land and demarcated the portion of land to be handed over to the railways for setting up the factory.

The `500 crore project is expected to be complete in three years.

It will produce 400 state-of-the-art aluminium coaches a year, using the most modern technologies. More than 100 ancillary units are expected to come up in the vicinity of the project and provide employment to around 10,000 people.

According to senior Railway officials, the factory will help railways meet the ever-growing demand for coaches. Besides, Palakkad will witness tremendous growth. Ancillary establishments may come up, which will boost job opportunities in the 16

Mr Piyush Agarwal, Divisional Railway Manager, Palakkad, hands over a cheque to Mr PM Ali Asgar Pasha, Palakkad District Collector as the price for the land locality.

The project, first announced in the 2008-2009 budget by then Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, has already gone through a series of changes before it took a firm shape now. As per the original plan, the coach factory, billed as a big ticket Central investment in the State, envisaged an investment of over `5000 crore and would have spread over 1,000 acres. The project was conceived as an exclusive project of the Railways.

However, as it stands today, the project has been pared down and the investment will be limited to `500 crore. And the project would be implemented in the private-public participation route.

More than 100 ancillary units are expected to come up in the vicinity of the project and provide employment to around 10,000 people

The State government had already acquired 431 acres of land for setting up the factory but the project did not take off due to a number of reasons, which included the financial troubles the Railways was passing through in the recent years.

The cancellation of the function to lay the foundation stone and the resultant uncertainty had signalled a bad omen for the project in October last year. It was attributed to the confusion in ministry as to whether the project would be implemented as a public undertaking or public-private partnership (PPP).

The project, however, got another lease of life when the government last year decided to implement it in the PPP route. The Railway Minister had said during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the project in February that it would call a global tender to select its partner for the project within six months. When commissioned, this will be the third coach factory in India after the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Punjab and Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.

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BUSINESS CALLED LIFE

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The Return of the Fallen Dish To err is human. Maybe not always. The humble shawarma which learnt this lesson the hard way is back in business after a three month ban which began a few days before the holy month of Ramadan. Bakeries and eateries across the State for which the Arabian meat and kubu delicacy was a major money spinner, have set up modular glass cabins around the preparation table to keep up with the stringent safety norms prescribed by the health department for roadside preparation. These glass doors costing almost `10,000 are expected to keep off the dust and pollution in the road from infecting the meat.

Reji, 30 (in pic) is a shawarma-maker who works in a bakery near Kakkanad, Kochi. He learnt the art of rolling a shawarma from an eatery in Aluva and is relieved to have got his job back at the bakery. The ban resulted in a loss of atleast `15,000 in his total income, as well as losses of other kind. He says, “The ban took away my job at the bakery. I had to take up other part-time jobs which paid me far lesser than my work here.�

But he and his tribe are back, now that all is well again. And so are the customers.

Picture, text: Kuruvilla Chacko

19

cover story

The Metro

20

State

After the international airports, the three major towns in the State will have a mass rapid transport system

K

erala has made unique advances in its social and industrial infrastructure: the State’s record in its human development indices which can match those of the developed nations is testimony to the progress it made in the social sector. By hosting three international airports, an international container transhipment terminal, and an LNG regassification terminal, it has laid the foundations for a big leap in its industrial progress. Now, it is taking another major step to decongest its cities, which are feeling the heat of rapid urbanisation.

The State is now well on its way to creating a record in urban connectivity by setting up a mass rapid transport system in all its three major towns: Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.

While the capital city and Kozhikode will have a monorail each, the commercial capital Kochi will have a metro rail.

The first Indian State to conceive MRTS in all its major towns, the State, once again, is attempting to set a model for others. The projects have been in the planning stage for quite some time but have acquired momentum recently.

Kochi Metro The final clearance for the Metro, which the Union Cabinet gave in July this year, marks the end of an agonising wait for the last decade or so. The idea of the metro was first floated in 2004, as the city was seeing rapid growth on account of several factors including the setting up of the International Container Transshipment Terminal at Vallarpadam. With there being little chance for the growth of the main business centres towards the west, the planners had little option but to think of ways to decongest its main arteries.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was entrusted with the task of preparing a detailed feasibility report of the project the same year. In its report, finalised in 2006, the DMRC suggested that the project would cost around `2,006 crore and could be completed in three years. The project, however failed to get the 21

(plus taxes of Rs 237 cro

22

ore)

23

nod from the Planning Commission, and the Union Cabinet, on the issue of the funding pattern of the project.

While the State government insisted on government funding with no participation for the private sector, the Planning Commission advocated a PPP route for the project. The Centre finally agreed to the proposal to have it in the public sector.

The Metro is expected to be commissioned in three years. The DMRC, which is the consultant for the project, will also implement the project that covers 25.6 km from Aluva to Petta and will have 22 stations en route.

As per the Union government’s decision, the metro will be a joint venture between the Central and State governments, following the Chennai metro model. It is expected to cost `5,182 crore. The Public Investment Board had earlier set the central government’s contribution for the project at `1,002.23 crore. In addition `2,170 crore will be availed

as loan from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation ( JICA).

The State government would have to raise the remaining amount needed for the metro.

Initially, the metro rail will have 3 bogies, each with a capacity to carry 200 people. The number of bogies would be increased to 6 subsequently. The fare is expected to range from `12 to `30. The metro will cover the 25 km distance in 30 minutes. It has been proposed that the metro be extended to the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) and Infopark, Kakkanad in the future.

The government has already restructured KMRL into a joint venture between the Central and State governments. The company director board has five representatives each from the Central and State governments. The secretary of Urban Development ministry will be the chairman of KMRL, and the State’s nominee would be its managing director. Metroman Mr E Sreedharan,

the principal advisor to DMRC, is expected to lead the project in the State.

The State government had gone ahead with the preliminary works for the project much before the approval was granted. It had sanctioned `159 crore for the purpose and entrusted DMRC with the work in December 2010 itself. KMRL has already renovated 21 roads in the city at a cost of `22 crore. DMRC has already started rebuilding the North Railway Overbridge and hopes to finish the work in another 10 months.

The construction of the Salim Rajan flyover, through which traffic would be diverted during the construction of the metro, is also progressing fast.

The State government also plans to rebuild the South Railway Overbridge in the city as a four lane one, along with the metro rail project.

As the rail is elevated, only about 26 hectares of land will be required for the project. KMRL has already started the land acquisition pro-

Funding the metro Proposal to build business hub at Kakkanad

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hile generating funds for the setting up of the Kochi Metro is not quite as issue with 24

the Central government also joining the project, the issue of funding operations foxed the planners quite

a bit. As it will not be able to meet the operating costs from the sale of tickets and other revenue streams of the Metro, the State government sought to put in place a steady revenue stream for it. The idea of developing a business hub at Kakkanad on the outskirts of the city came to life on that.

The proposed area now houses the quarters for the non-gazetted officers of the State government.

The residents were having a tough time as many of the houses are in a dilapidated condition. It has been proposed that the KMRL build apartments to house the residents and then use the rest of the land for commercial properties, shopping malls, restaurants and multiplexes.

cess in eight villages - Ernakulam, Thripunithura, Elamkulam, Edappally North and South, Thrikkakkara North, Aluva West and Nadama through which the metro rail passes.

It is expected that the land acquisition will be completed by this yearend.

Kochi will be the fourth South Indian city after, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to have a metro. The metropolises of Kolkota, New Delhi and Mumbai already have a metro.

DMRC has started test-piling at the KSRTC parking ground to check the conditions for setting up pillars that will support the elevated rail. The testing is being done to avoid delay, once the green signal for the work is obtained. Initially, a 2-metre diameter rig will be used to drive piles up to a depth of 50 meters. If the tests are successful, it will be replicated in the actual work.

The Monorail, Thiruvananthapuram The growth of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city, as a major IT destination was not unpredicted but the traction it gained in the recent years has in fact stunned even the planners, forcing them to think about a mass rapid transit system.

True, India’s first dedicated facility for Information technology was set up on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram two decades ago, but its growth in the initial years was not very promising. While the industry grew world over, the scenic campus became a sought after place for IT companies, disgusted with the melee in the Tier-I cities. So much so, the government is setting up the Technocity, the fourth phase of the Technopark project on 450 acres of land.

When complete, the Technocity, adjacent to Technopark, will be the single largest facility for IT industry in the state, and is expected to employ more than 2 lakh professionals.

The monorail project also seeks to address the transportation needs arising out of this growth.

The National Transportation Planning and Research Centre

The busy Meenchantha junction in Kozhikode (Natpac), an autonomous research body under the State Government, in its feasibility study report on the `5,100-crore monorail project has suggested its completion in two stages. The full alignment for the monorail project will have a length of 41.8 km beginning from Pallipuram, contiguous to the up-and-coming Technocity project to Neyyattinkara.

In the first phase, it will connect Pallipuram to the city centre through a 22.2km monorail. To be implemented on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer mode, the project can be completed within three years of initiation of work, according to Natpac. In the second phase, the city will be connected to Neyyattinkara. The NATPAC report says that the first phase can be completed by year 2016 and the second phase by 2018.

The project is expected take away 40 per cent of existing road traffic, the report said. It would need minimal acquisition of land, added the report.

The Monorail, Kozhikode If the Kochi Metro was in the making for almost a decade, the Kozhikode monorail project is luckier. If everything goes as planned, it would start operations before the metro bogies start rolling in Kochi.

The monorail project aims at building a monorail from Medical College to Kozhikode Airport - a distance of 35 km - in two phases.

The first phase from Medical College to Meenchantha is 14.2 km long and will cost `1,771 crore. The

phase will have 15 stops en route. 1.3 lakh passengers are expected to use it on a daily basis. The project will be extended from Meenchantha to the airport in the next phase.

The DMRC has already submitted the detailed project report for the Monorail project in June, ahead of the deadline set by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. DMRC is planning to float global tenders for the project, which DMRC expects to be completed in three years.

The monorail project does not face the issue many other infrastructure projects in Kerala face: land acquisition. As the rails could be built on the medians of the roads, it wouldn’t require much land, and of the required extent, 80 per cent are under the possession of the Public Works Department.

The DMRC has already submitted the detailed project report of the project to the State government. As per the report, the entire alignment will be elevated, carried on single pillars generally along the median on the road. The pillars will take up around 2m in the median.

DMRC has set September 2015 for the final commissioning of the project. It is expected that the State government will award the project to DMRC on a turn-key basis.

DMRC has made all the groundwork for starting the work on the biggest-ever infrastructural project in the city as soon as the contract is finalized. It has already prepared detailed plans for the land acquisition procedure. Around 10.65 hectares of land will be required for the monorail.

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The Technology Column

Making the most of Social Media Mr S R Nair Managing Director, Team Frontline Limited

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aving understood social media in the last edition, let us try to know what a social media website is. Social media being a broad term covers a large range of websites. But the main common link between these websites is that you are able to interact with the website and with other visitors.

Some examples of the types of social media websites are: • Social networking sites (eg. Facebook, Hi5, LinkedIn): The interaction is by adding friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups and having discussions.

• Social photo and video sharing sites (e.g. YouTube, Flickr): They involve sharing photos or videos and commenting on user submissions.

• Social news sites (e.g. Digg, Propeller, Reddit): Involves interacting by voting for articles and commenting on them.

• Social bookmarking (e.g. Del.icio. us, Blinklist, Simpy): They involve tagging websites and searching through websites bookmarked by other people.

• Wikis (e.g. Wikipedia, Wikimapia):

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They facilitate interaction by adding articles and editing the existing ones.

• Blogs/micro blogging (e.g.Twitter, Tumblr, Sweetter): Interacting by sharing/following blogs and micro blogs.

The above websites are not the only social media websites. Any website that invites you to interact with the site and with other visitors falls into the definition of social media.

How can companies use social media to improve their marketing?

One must prepare a social media strategy by talking to experts and studying similar companies who had ventured into it. It is also advisable to set up pilot programmes, instead of diving headlong first

Companies are advised not to venture into social media activities in an adhoc manner. It is suggested that the key players of the company attend seminars on social media to get more insights into the running of the same. They may also explore several viewpoints about social media marketing, collect case studies of social media success and meet with current social media practitioners to get their experiences. It is also advisable to work with practitioners and media makers to see how they can use their skills to solve your problems. One must also study and prepare a social media strategy for the company by talking to experts and studying similar companies who had ventured into it. Don’t be afraid to set up pilot programmes, instead of diving headlong first. This must be a focused activity assigned to professionals. The dedicated team must learn how tagging and other metadata improve your ability to search and measure the

spread of information.

While you are entering into social media, please bear in mind that the people on social networks are all people who have been there awhile, might know each other and therefore, know that you’re new. Tread gently into new territories. Please do not bombard others while entering as a new member. It is people who power social media, and hence, learn to believe in the value of people.

To begin with, it is recommended that your assigned staff start personal blogs of their personal interests, and learn firsthand what it feels like, including managing comments & wanting promotion. You may start by adding social bookmark links to the important web pages of your website to improve sharing. You could couple your email newsletter content (if you have one) with additional website content (I am sure you have one by now!) on a blog for improved commenting. It is important to learn which bloggers out there might care about your customer and learn how to measure their influence.

It is advised to try out a short series of audio podcasts or video podcasts as content marketing and see how they draw visitors. For this,

you may experiment with Flickr or YouTube groups to build media for specific events. Experiment with different lengths and forms of video.

Check out if the entertaining, funny and the brief video is better than the one that is longer but more informative. Don’t stop with one attempt.

Try more than one hosting platform to test out features. Try shooting video interviews and video press releases and other bits of video to build more personable relationships. Don’t throw out text, but try adding video.

Start a community group on Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn around the space where your customer does business.

When you make blogs, please ensure that you practice delivering quality content on your blogs,

The results of a negative online reputation may be as subtle as a user clicking on a competitor’s search result instead of yours or as damaging as an industry-wide boycott of your products and services

so that customers feel educated and informed. Let your blog not be used for trumpeting your company and products blindly and without logic.

Track your inbound links and when they come from blogs, be sure to comment on a few posts and build a relationship with the blogger. Find a bunch of bloggers and podcasters whose work you admire, and ask them for opinions on your social media projects. See if you can give them a free sneak preview at something that you are building up, or give some special reward for their time and effort.

While you are trying to make you product information reach out to the audience, it would be better to investigate whether your product sells better by recommendation or by education. If it is recommendation, try to use either wikis or widgets to help recommend but if education is the key process, please use more videos and podcasts for the same.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Admit when you’ve made a mistake and be ready to apologise and do it.

Explore mass distribution. Find out how you can reach out to more potential buyers/users/customers on social networks. Ensure you offer the basics on your site, like an email alternative to an RSS subscription. In fact, the more ways you can spread and distribute your content, the better it is.

Some Specifics • Remember to build community platforms around real communities of shared interest.

• Check out and if found appropriate, use Twitter as a way to show your company’s personality. But please do not fabricate this; for you will not be able to sustain falsehood for long.

• Build conversation maps for your customers using sites like Technorati.com , Google Blogsearch and FriendFeed.

• Turn your blog into a mobile blog site with Mofuse. Free.

• Experiment with the value of live video like uStream.tv or Qik on a cell phone so that you are able to reach 27

Today users won’t look past the first page or second of search results, so you only need to look at a couple pages for each keyword on the major search engines out to mobile public/customers/users.

• Search Summize.com for as much data as you can find in Twitter on your product and your competitors.

• Learn what other free tools might work for community building, like MyBlogLog. • Use WebsiteGrader.com for understanding the technical quality of a website.

• Use Compete.com for knowing a site’s traffic. Compare it against competitors’ sites.

• Voting mechanisms like those used on Digg.com show your customers you care about the information that is useful to them.

• Spread good ideas far. Re-blog them. Bookmark them. Vote them up at social sites.

• Use the same tools you’re trying out externally within your company too.

And learn about how this technology empowers your business collaboration within.

Paying Attention to Sentiment Yet another use of the social media sites is to build sentiment measurements. It is about listening to the larger web for how people are talking about you and your customer.

Things such as ‘sentiment analysis’ analyses social media, news, and research content such as tweets, likes, posts, updates, discussions, product reviews and the like. The goal should be to extract meaningful data measurements from the subjective opinions, feelings and attitudes surrounding a given brand/product/company.

Many big brands around the world have been paying attention to sentiment analysis for a number of rea28

sons: • Measuring success: Simply put, sentiment can be used as a success metric for marketing and advertising campaigns.

• Research: Analysing sentiment can be a part of an online market research study.

• Competitive analysis: Look at the sentiment for Brand or Product A to compare it against a competitor.

• Virtual clout: Through social networking and consumer generated content, opinion-sharing has become a form of virtual clout through which businesses can measure themselves. The number of Facebook likes on a brand page, for example, has been touted as an indication of a brand’s popularity.

• Influence: For better or worse, because social media influences people’s opinions, today’s brands have a vested interest in encouraging, promoting and maintaining positive conversations around the brand.

• Reputation management: By monitoring sentiment, brands can identify and respond to crises, competition, bad customer experiences, negative opinions, and general problems.

Negative online reputation & you The results of a negative online reputation may be as subtle as a user clicking on a competitor’s search result instead of yours or as damaging as an industry-wide boycott of your products and services. Besides the obvious financial implications of having a company’s credibility called into question, there are potential legal ramifications that could dominate your time and cripple your financial sustainability. Even if a case is dismissed or resolved, you’ll be living with the consequences for years to come.

Assessing your online reputation Today users won’t look past the first page or two of search results, so you only need to look at a couple pages for each keyword on the major search engines. Start with simple searches on Google; Yahoo and MSN for all that apply your name, company,

brand, product, high profile employees & handles/usernames.

Who cares about your online reputation?

Your online reputation can be seen in a number of ways. Whether you are selling a product, looking for an investor or trying to hire people, someone is going to turn to a search engine to learn more about you. The most common groups are consumers, business partners, stock holders, marketers, journalists, prospective workforce and of course, your competition.

The most common reputation management challenges are squatted usernames, squatted domains, job changes, name changes, negative comments, false information, fake profiles, trademark infringement, bad news coverage, legal documents, complaint sites, competitor attacks, hate sites, personal scandals and corporate scandals (in the order of severity).

Free Tools to Monitor Sentiment SocialMention, PeopleBrowser Playground, Vitrue Social Media Index, TweetFee, Twendz & OPFINEB are some free tools to do the sentiment analysis. You can decide whether you need to invest in a more robust and expensive tool to monitor and measure sentiment later. Twitter Advanced Search, Facebook Insights & Google Insights for Search; though, are not tools like above, give you insights into the reputation that you hold.

When you make blogs, ensure that you deliver quality content, so that customers feel educated and informed. Let your blog not be used for trumpeting your company and products blindly and without logic

Legislature

Serving it right Right to Service Act promises citizens government services in a time-bound manner

The Bill seeks to make officials at various levels more accountable.

(In pic): The government secretariat at thiruvananthapuram

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here is good news for the hundreds of people who spend years on the corridors of power, trying to loosen the red tapes that bind their lives. The State Assembly has given its assent to the Kerala State Right to Service Act on July 27, 2012, which mandates delivery of government services in a timebound manner.

The Act will come in to effect on November 1, 2012, the State formation day.

The Act gives citizens the right to obtain government services within a stipulated time-frame, and makes government servants punishable for delays in providing the services. It mandates that the government departments, local self-governments, State public sector undertakings and other statutory bodies notify the services that they provide, the time frame and the designated officer for each service within six months.

Thirteen most-needed basic government services such as issuance of birth and death certificates, denomination of caste, income and domicile,

electricity connection to households and commercial shops, domestic water connections and issue of ration cards will come under the Act in the first phase. Services related to the police department such as passport verification, receipts for police complaints, FIR copy, police intervention in grievous crimes, issue of copy of post-mortem report and releasing of vehicles under custody have also been included in the Act. The Act mandates that the designated officer provide an acknowledgement for every application received from an eligible person.

The officer will have to provide the requested service or reject the application, stating the reasons for the same in writing within the time limit specified, and intimate the applicant.

A person who has not received the service in the stipulated time or whose application has been rejected can file an appeal to the first appellate authority within thirty days from the date of rejection of the application or on the expiry of the stipulated time limit. The first appellate

authority can direct the designated officer to provide the service within a specified period or may reject the appeal. If the matter is not resolved to his satisfaction, the aggrieved person can appeal to the second appellate authority.

The second appellate authority has the power to impose a fine on the designated officer, if it finds no sufficient reason for not giving the service within the stipulated time limit.

The penalty shall not be less than five hundred rupees and not more than five thousand rupees.

More services will be brought within the ambit of the law later.

The State Secretariat and the offices of the chief minister and other ministers will also be brought under its purview in due course.

The Right to Service Act would complement the Right to Information Act that was enacted by Parliament in 2005. Till now people could get information on the action taken on a request using the RTI, but had no means to get things done if the officials did not take action. This situation has prompted many States in the country to adopt such laws.

Apart from Kerala, 11 States in the country – Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Rajasthan, Utharakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Chathisgarh – have implemented the Right to Service Act till now.

“The legislation is the Magna Carta of the people of the State,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy wrote in an article published in his website on the Bill which is expected to increase transparency and accountability and reduce corruption in the government service.

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personal finance

Banking on the mobile Mobile banking offers unmatched convenience and saving in costs

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anking from the comfort of your home is nothing new.

Net banking made that possible more than a decade back; but one had to have access to a computer with an internet connection. That too has become passé with the emergence of mobile banking. Now you can transact with your bank, from anywhere, anytime, through your mobile phone.

But people haven’t taken to it with much interest. It is estimated that just 1 per cent of the over 900 million mobile subscribers currently uses the mobile banking facility.

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Only around 3.34 mn transactions worth `286 crore were conducted on the mobile in India in May 2012, as per RBI statistics.

The low level of penetration could be due to lack of awareness.

Banking on the mobile isn’t that difficult a proposition. And you don’t need a sophisticated mobile device to conduct mobile banking. Different channels, suited to different people are available for mobile banking.

Banking on the mobile isn’t that difficult a proposition. And you don’t need a sophisticated mobile device to conduct mobile banking

SMS banking Mobile banking started in India a decade back with SMS banking.

It lets you conduct a wide range of transactions just by sending an SMS in a prescribed format from your registered mobile number to a predefined number. From knowing your account balance to recharging your

SMS banking lets you conduct a wide range of transactions just by sending an SMS in a prescribed format from your registered mobile number to a predefined number. From knowing your account balance to recharging your mobile and transferring funds, SMS banking lets you bank with the most basic mobile device

Inter-bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS)

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he National Payment Corporation of India's Inter-bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) will allow customers of banks that are members of the National Financial Switch (NFS) to transfer funds to accounts in other member banks using their mobile phones instantaneously. Most of the 50 banks, licensed by RBI are presently offering this service that doesn’t require a computer or an Internet-enabled phone.

And the beauty of the service is that you can receive funds without even revealing your bank account number, just by providing the payer your mobile money identifier (MMID). The service is available 24*7 free of cost. International transactions are not allowed using this facility.

The MMID is a 7 digit number that along with the mobile number identifies a bank account. A customer can link several accounts to a single mobile number, but the MMID will be different for each account.

At the same time different customers of a bank can have same MMID.

The steps involved in money transfer through IMPS mobile and transferring funds to an account in another bank instantaneously through the Inter-bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) (see box), SMS banking lets you bank with the most basic mobile device, even without an internet connection.

Mobile Banking through browser If you have an internet connection on your mobile phone, you can access your bank account through a browser, just as you would do for net banking.

Mobile Banking Applications SMS banking might let you do a lot, but sophisticated mobile banking applications offer much more. Apart from basic transactions that can be done with SMS banking, it allows you to book air, bus or train tickets, movie tickets and even shop from your mobile. It also has the advantage of being more secure.

SBI’s Freedom, ICICIBank’s iMobile, HDFC Bank’s ngPay etc are examples of mobile banking applications. You can download the mobile banking application provided by your bank, install it on your GPRS enabled phone and activate your mbanking facility to avail the services.

And then, your bank would be just a touch away.

Steps for receiving money 1. Register with the bank, for the mobile banking service.

2. Get a 7 digit MMID(Mobile Money Identifier) number from the bank. Banks differ in the procedures that they follow for issuing MMIDs. Some banks allow customers to get the MMID from the ATM. 3. Share your mobile number and the MMID to the person who wants to transfer the money to you.

4. You will get a confirmatory SMS once the amount is transferred to your account.

Steps for transferring money 1. Register with the bank for the mobile banking service.

2. Download and Install the application provided by your bank on your mobile. You should have a

handset that is capable of running the application.

The application might require you to enable GPRS on your mobile phone.

3. Get the Mobile PIN(MPIN) and MMID for your account.

4. Login to your application using the MPIN. 5. Navigate to the fund transfer option, select IMPS, enter mobile number of the payee, the payee’s MMID and the amount and submit. The money will be credited in the beneficiary account instantaneously.

Alternatively you can also transfer the money by sending an SMS in the prescribed format, if SMS transfer is supported by the bank.

6. You will get a confirmatory SMS once the amount is transferred from your account.

Banking services available on mobile • • • • • • •

Prepaid mobile/dth recharges Funds transfer Balance enquiry Mini – Statement Stop cheque request Cheque Status Enquiry Opening Fixed Deposit, recurring deposits, etc

• Air/Rail ticket booking • Bill Pay • Movie ticketing • Shopping Advantages • Convenience • Cheaper • Environment Friendly

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Alone in the autumn The government’s arguments against statutory pensions don’t hold water

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erala too has joined the bandwagon. It has moved to the contributory pension scheme abandoning the statutory pension scheme in vogue till now. Employees who join the State government service from 2013 will be enrolled in the scheme.

The precarious state of finances of the government is cited as the reason for the move. The State has 5.34 lakh government employees and 5.5 lakh pensioners. The State budget for 2012-13, estimates that it will have to pay `16,765.68 crore as salaries and `8,178.05 crore as pensions during the year. This accounts for 51.81% of the State’s total revenue of `48,141.59 crore. And the situation is set to worsen with the increasing life expectancy of the population.

The arguments against such pay outs are very strong. It affects the government’s ability to take up development works. The government is not just for the employees. It has to look after the whole population, rather than just cater to the interests of the employees who form just a

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fraction of the population. Moreover, the government employees are infamous for their lax work standards and so do not deserve the benefit.

The employees in the private sector who put in more hard work do not get such benefits.

It wasn’t much long ago that the Supreme Court ruled that pensions were deferred income and therefore a right of the employees. Our social discourse has moved much to the right since then, relegating pension to an unnecessary expense.

But then, the right is not always right. More so in times of bail-outs and quantitative easing. The amount paid out as pensions trickles up through the economy providing it a much needed stimulus in these recessionary times. The multiplier effect could in turn help the government generate more revenue, and help finance its obligations and development projects.

The argument that the government employees do not deserve it due to their lax work standards looks plausible. Extending the same logic, the government can stop paying salaries too. After all, that is a bigger component of the government's expenses. The argument falls flat when one examines the conditions prevailing in much of the private sector. If the service conditions of these hard working ones were improving, the argument would have been valid.

But there too the trend is against the employees. Contract employment is becoming the norm, cutting even the last vestiges of social security that

The move towards the contributory pension scheme increases the risk of talent deserting the government, especially in high-skilled areas

employees enjoyed. The experiences of the nurses and labourers in companies such as Maruti should act as an eye-opener.

The employees spend their able life time in the job and it is the duty of an employer to ensure that they get a financially secure life when they are not able to work. That the whole population does not get a benefit is not an excuse to deny it to the few who get it. The aim should be to extend the benefits to all, rather than deny it altogether.

Salaries in the government sector are less compared to those in the organised private sector that does not have a defined pension. The move towards the contributory pension scheme increases the risk of talent deserting the government, especially in high-skilled areas. There is already

a shortage of doctors in the government sector, even after the number of number of seats for medical education increased substantially. Hence, the performance of the government will take a beating and the whole society will suffer its ill-effects.

So will the government provide more salary to the employees in the contributory pension scheme, to match that of the private sector?

Either way it creates two sets of employees – one with pension benefits and others without. Isn’t different pay for the same work against accepted human rights principles?

That is not all. Contributory pension might not be able to ensure financial security in old age. Living in the future, just depending on the sav-

That the whole population does not get a benefit is not an excuse to deny it to the few who get it. The aim should be to extend the benefits to all, rather than deny it altogether ings made today doesn’t look an attractive proposition, when the trend is for economies to become higher cost ones. Not to mention the high levels of inflation that prevails today.

The lack of flexibility in the investments in the scheme, due to its strict limitations on investments in attractive asset classes and the lack of control due to its dependence on fund managers are other concerns. The effect would be known only after many years.

Dependency of the older generation affects the risk-taking ability and entrepreneurship of the younger ones. The current entrepreneurship boom in the State is partly due to the fact that the parents are not dependent on their children, at least financially, thanks to their pensions.

If the ruling classes were so convinced about the soundness of the move, they should have first started with their own pensions. Even the Central government, which has been pushing States to take these moves, has not implemented the scheme for the union ministers and members of Parliament. The bitter medicine is not for them.

Contributory pension could contribute quite a few problems to our society, in the long run. The government seems to be just acting on the hope that its finances would improve in future, even though its expenses will increase in the short term. And it could remain just a hope, that wouldn’t materialise. It is time it saw beyond its nose.

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health

Eater’s digest A P Jayadevan Let your food be your medicine; let your medicine be your food – Hippocrates, the father of Greek medicine If you follow a wrong diet, then medicine is of no use. And if the diet is right, then you don’t need medicine – Ayurveda

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he health of your digestive system is the most important determinant of your health and well-being. You essentially get energy not from what you eat, but from what you digest. Healthy digestion ensures that all the nutrients taken in are assimilated in a healthy manner into the cells.

Anyone who has frequent digestive problems faces daily challenges

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A

nybody following an animal instinct in his food habits, not considering the quality, quantity, time and place of the food, will definitely land in a dreadful, disturbed metabolic condition called ajeerna (indigestion), which is the root cause of many systemic ailments.

-‘Mādhava Nidāna’, an Ayurveda classic

One can eat to live or live to eat, and the choice makes the difference.

Eating the right food is of great importance, and the amount and quality of food eaten decide your health. Actually, you are what you digest

and potential embarrassments. There are many who feel lethargic at work.

Some even have to schedule their activities around their bathroom breaks. Some have problems after eating while some others have it before. If you are one of them, better watch your food.

Indigestion-symptoms Some of the symptoms of indigestion are: stomach ache, feeling of uneasiness in the stomach, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, diarrhea,

vomiting, acidity, laziness, weakness and head ache.

The causes There are several factors that affect your digestion like what you eat, when you eat and how you eat.

When the food is irresistibly delicious, one may have a tendency to over eat. But remember, hogging all that delicacies results in nothing but indigestion.

Processed and packed foods, which are increasingly becoming popular today, are riddled with high fat, sodium and carbohydrates, which lead to indigestion.

It matters a lot how the food is prepared. It is a common practice to keep leftover food in refrigerators for the next day. Some people cook food, especially meat, for the whole week at a time, refrigerate it and then reheat for daily intake. Heating, cooling and re-heating make the food not only indigestible, but also less nourishing. Reusing the oil used for cooking also should be avoided.

As Zen monks say ‘be in the moment’ One should give food due respect.

It should be eaten calmly, in a clean place and without distractions.

When you watch television, engage in a serious conversation or are working on a computer, while eating,

What you eat, when you eat and how you eat – all matter. When the food is irresistibly delicious, you could over eat.

Remember, eating all that yummy food leaves one with nothing but indigestion you miss a chance to watch and understand what your body says about your food.

Ayurveda says your body immediately communicates to you its opinion about the food you eat. If you do not feel light, calm and contented after having a meal, it signals that it is not meant for you.

Excessive sweating, mild discomforts in body, especially in stomach, headaches after food are all some signs by which your body tries to tell you to try a different dish next time. So it is important to be aware and alert while having your food.

Master your digestion It is very important to have balanced food to improve digestion. Balanced food also helps replenish healthy tissues and sustain energy levels.

It’s always advisable to add sea-

Old wisdom Ayurveda lists out food habits that affect health badly: * Intake of large quantity of food before the digestion of previous meals * Intake of large quantity of food at a time * Irregular intake of large or small quantity of food * Intake of unwholesome and wholesome food together Bad food habits Many of our habits today inhibit proper digestion. Some of them are: • Having fried foods, sweets and

other heavy foods every day • Eating very quickly • Eating irregularly/eating late at night • Mixing too many foods in one meal/incompatible foods • Too much spices • Consuming too much tea, coffee and alcohol • Regular intake of frozen foods/ processed foods • Smoking and excessive use of alcohol • Lack of good sleep • Emotional disturbances like stress and anxiety

Simple remedies * Before a meal, chew fresh ginger slices with a pinch of salt.

This will help stimulate the digestive fire * Mix two or three spoons of lime, ginger juice, and honey in a glass of warm water, have it after a heavy meal * Drink a glass of clean warm water once in 2 hours. This helps in detoxification and improves digestive fire

Avoid these

Curd: During night.

Never be boiled Ghee: In large quantities Milk: Taking with sour substances Edible oils: Re-usage, especially for frying sonal vegetables and fruits of local origin to your diet. Regular intake of good fibrous food can prevent conditions like bloating, gas trouble and diarrhea.

One may also try and understand what foods one is sensitive to and make the diet accordingly. One may keep a note of which foods, beverages, and eating patterns seem to upset one’s digestive tract.

Some medications may also flare up digestive problems. Keep a record on this. One can definitely see a correlation between one or more of these factors and episodes of digestive problems.

If you have serious digestion problems, the physician can suggest a dietary guideline. This may include medicines, avoiding certain foods, and adopting some new habits.

One can eat to live or live to eat, and the choice makes the difference.

Eating the right food is of high importance, and the amount and quality of food eaten decides your health.

Actually, you are what you digest.

Know your body, know the seasons, eat accordingly, says Ayurveda.

It is a sure way to a healthy life.

35

Kerala statistics

Sl. No. 1 2 3

Name of the Developer

LIST OF OPERATIONAL SEZS SEZ

Location

Type of SEZ

Area (Ha)

Kakkanad, Cochin

Multi-product

41.7

Infopark Phase 1

Kakkanad, Ernakulam, Kerala

IT/ITES

32.6246

Technopark Phase 1

Adjacent to Technopark Campus, Trivandrum, Kerala

IT/ITES

12.55

Technopark Phase 2

Trivandrum

IT/ITES

34.47

Cochin Special Economic CSEZ Zone Authority Infoparks, Kerala

Electronic Technology Park

4

Electronic Technology Park

5

Cochin Port Trust

Vallarpadom, Mulavukadu/ Fort Kochi Village, Ernakulam

Port-based

115.25

6

Cochin Port Trust

Puthuvypeen, Ernakulam

Port-based

285.8413

7

KINFRA

Kazhakoottam, Trivandrum

IT (Animation & Gaming)

10.121

Kinfra Film & Video Park

LIST OF NOTIFIED SEZS

36

8

KINFRA

9

KINFRA

Kinfra HiTech Park

10

KSITIL

Infopark Cherthala

11

KSITIL

Cyberpark, Kannur

12

Carborundum Universal Ltd

13

KSITIL

14

KSITIL

15

Electronic Technology Park

16

Uralungal Labour

Infopark, Ambalappuzha

Technopark, Kollam Technopark Phase 3

Kakkancherry, Kozhikode

Food Processing 12.52

Thrikkakara village, Kanayannur Taluk, Ernakulam District, Kerala

Electronic Industries

12.141

IT/ITES

24.5313

Pallipuram Village, Chertala Taluk, Alappuzha District

Village Eramam, Taluka, Thaliparambu, District Kannur, IT/ITES Kerala

10.375

Kalamassery, Village Thrikkakara, North, Taluka, Kanayannur, District Ernakulam

Non-Conventional Energy Sources

10

Village Purakkad, Taluk, Ambalappuzhe, Distt.

IT/ITES

13.4415

Village Mulavana, District Kollam, Kerala

IT/ITES

18

IT/ITES

11.8765

IT/ITES

10.162

Village Attipra, Taluk and District Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Contract Nellikode Village, (ULCCS Co-operative LTD) Kozhikode district, Society kerala Limited

17

18

19

20

M/s. Bluestar Realtors Private Limited

Village Thrikkakara North, Taluka Kanayannur, District Ernakulam, Kerala

Sutherland Global Services Private Limited M/s. Smart City (Kochi) Infrastructure Limited

28.329

IT/ITES

10.1175

M/s. Smart City (Kochi) Infra- IT/ITES structure Limited

53.1809 (53.838)

Village Puthencruz and Kunnathunadu, Taluka Kunnathunadu, District Ernakulam, Kerala

IT/ITES

39.6281 (12.5804)

IT/ITES

10.121

Village Thrikkakara North, Taluka Kanayannur, District Ernakulam, Kerala

Infoparks, Kerala

Infopark Phase II

KSITIL

Cyberpark, Kozhikode

21

IT

Village Pantheerankavu and Nellikode, Taluka Kozhikode, District Kozhikode, Kerala

LIST OF APPROVED SEZs 22

23

24 25 26 27 28 29

30

Unitech Real Estate Project Ltd

Village Kunnathunadu, Taluk Morkala Desam, Ernakulam, Kerala

IT/ITES

10

Parsvnath Developers Limited

Nedumbassery and Chengamanadu Villages of Aluva Taluk in Ernakulam District, Kerala

IT/ITES

30.76

KSITIL

Cyberpark, Kasaragod

Cheemeni Village, Hosdurg Taluk, Kasaragod District, Kerala

IT/ITES

40.4076

Electronic Technology Park

Technocity

Pallippuram Village, Trivandrum District, Kerala

IT/ITES

19.21

Hindustan Newsprint Ltd

Newsprint Nagar, Kottayam

Pulp and Paper

126

Emaar MGF Land Ltd.

Chengamanadu, Alwaye, Kerala

MM Tech Towers

Chengamanadu Village, Alwye, ITES Kerala

11.15

IT related SEZ

12.17

Cochin International Airport Limited

Angamali villages, Ernakulam, Kerala

Airport Based

100

Southern end of Willingdon Island, Survey No. 2578/4, 1166, Thoppumpady Ramesaram village, Cochin, Kerala

FTWZ

40.85

Cochin Port Trust

37

Results SBT net up 30% on operating profit

State Bank of Travancore reported a 30.3 per cent increase in net profit for the June quarter of 2012. Net profit increased to `181.44 crore from the `139.25 crore reported in the same quarter of 2011.

The increase in net profit was on the back of a 10.35 per cent increase in net operating income to `669.50 crore from `606.68 crore recorded in the same period a year ago. Net interest income increased 7.5 per cent to `490.40 crore from `456.17 crore, while the total non-interest income increased to `179.10 crore, from `150.51 crore during the period. But gross and net NPAs also increased to 2.85 per cent and 1.60 per cent respectively in the quarter. The comparable figures for the previous year were 2.18 per cent and 1.19 per cent.

The total business of the bank reached `1,31,131 crore at the end of quarter. Deposits grew to `74,082 crore from `71,470 crore as on March 2012. Advances also rose to `57,049 crore from `56,034 crore as on March 2012.

SIB interest income, net profit leapfrog

38

South Indian Bank continued its sterling performance in the first quarter of FY 2012-13. Net profit of the bank registered a huge y-o-y increase of 50 per cent to touch `123 crore in the quarter, up from `81.77 crore reported in April-June, 2011.

Total income of the bank for the quarter increased from `820.35 crore to `1,144.41 crore, aided by a 39 per cent growth in interest income to `1069.43 crore from `768.72 crore recorded in the same period a year ago. The bank’s net interest margin for the period also increased from 2.77 per cent, to 3.15 per cent in the quarter. Other income also increased from `51.63 crore in Q1, 2011 to `74.98 crore in Q1, 2012.

Federal Bank net up, NPA down

Aluva head-quartered Federal Bank reported a 30.23 per cent increase in net profit for the June quarter of FY 2012-13 compared to the same period last year. Net profit increased from `146.16crore reported in April-June 2011 to `190.35 crore in April-June 2012. Total income for the bank increased to `1,661.04 crore during the quarter from `1,361.61 crore reported in the same period a year ago. Higher interest income at `1,536.71crore up from `1,244.71 crore aided the rise.

The bank also achieved a reduction in NPA ratios. Gross NPA decreased to 3.60 per cent from the 3.94 per cent recorded in Q1 2011.

Net NPAs also showed a similar trend falling from 0.74 per cent to 0.62 per cent. The bank had a capital adequacy ratio of 15.45 per cent under Basel II norms, at the end of the quarter.

Dhanlaxmi Bank cuts cost, still slips

Dhanlaxmi Bank, that slid into the red last year, showed signs of getting its act together in the first quarter of the financial year. The bank reported a net loss of `11.81 crore for the June quarter, compared to a net profit of `3.4 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year. But the loss has come down from the `8.65 crore reported in the previous quarter that ended in March, 2012.

Total income of the bank during the quarter was `365.08 crore as against the `370.50 crore reported a year ago. Expenses for the quarter increased to `374.04 crore from `355.80 crore reported a year ago.

On a q-o-q basis, the bank has been able to bring down its expenses from the `442.12 crore reported in Q4, 2011. This was achieved by reducing employee costs from `72.95 crore to `56.66 crore and other operating expenses from `73.83 crore to `48.55 crore. Interest expenses also decreased from `295.35 crore in Q4, 2011 to `268.83 crore in Q1, 2012.

39