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C copi omplim e to p s made entary a ai sseng availa I n t e rlines a ers of ble 24X rnatio t Coch all 7, 3 nal A in 65 d irpo ays r a ye t, ar.
Olympian Anil Kumar, Current National Record Holder in 100 & 200 metre.
Musli Power X-Tra’s formula is based on ancient ayurvedic texts, and is made up of concentrated hightechnology extracts of time-tested herbs and minerals like Safed Musli, Kapikachu, Aswagandha, Muringa, Dhathri, Tribulus, Vayalchully, Jathi Pathri, and Shilajith. They elevate you to the peak of a new world of power. Makes life a delight by refreshing and revitalizing. Makes you a healthy person of endurance and vigour. Maintains youthfulness by fortifying circulation and the nervous system. Extra efficient and extra safe, developed and tested using own high-tech R&D and analytical lab.
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India’s fastest sprinter who broke legendary Milkha Singh’s 39-year old national record in 200 metres. Record setter in 100 metres – SAF Games, 1999. Represented India in 2000 Sidney Olympics.
contents
Not Just a Bank of Maharashtra Women and body image: a man's perspective Ever wondered why a man can look at an advert featuring a six-pack and laugh, while a woman might look at a photograph of female perfection and fall to pieces? William Leith thinks he might have uncovered the answer.
Angelina Jolie, not Madhuri, to play Draupadi? Indian filmmaker Prakash Jha has a dream project Draupadi, in which he wants to cast Hollywood star Anjelina Jolie in the lead role. After the success of Rajneeti, which was inspired by the great..
Bank of Maharashtra is hogging the limelight in the public sector banking space with all the right moves at the right times. While the bank was all set for a major re-rating by international agencies following a Rs. 588 crore capital infusion by the Government, Mahabank also came up with impressive first quarter results..
What Indira Gandhi's Emergency proved for India
Yoga Therapy
Thirty five years ago, June 25, 1975, when most Indians today were not born, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency on the country. Democracy was suspended for 19 long months and India was reduced to a tin-pot dictatorship.
Growing Undeterred, Diversification Plans Get a Boost LIC Housing Finance’s ambitious plan to diversify into five sectors - financial services, venture capital, property services, microfinance, and banking - gets a boost from the robust performance in Q1 that includes a YoY portfolio growth of 37%, income growth of 30%, and a net profit growth of 71%, even while other key players in the sector failed to grow quarterly income by much. Powering the plans are LIC Housing’s ambitious fund raising target of..
JOYALUKKAS IPO
Coming, World’s Favourite Jewellery Stock? Close your eyes and imagine the most profitable business you have seen. Readily, gold and diamonds come to your mind. Now, if you are an investor, close your eyes and imagine the most profitable business to invest into. Why are gold...
Nissan's 'small' Micra to hit roads in July Honda Siel small car to hit roads by October Skoda India keen on launching small car at Rs 3-4 lakhs South Korea’s Kia to drive in into India with major versions of cars GM, Ford take aim at heart of India car market India's luxury car boom Flourishing Pre-owned car business Maruti fighting for market share
Listing Gains or Long Term Gains?
WHY PSU FPOS CAN BE LONG TERM
WEALTH CREATORS FOR INVESTORS
Then it comes to IPOs, public sector has always outplayed private sector. And that is why PSU IPOs are still a major draw. But when these same companies go for their follow-on public offers, the results have been, at best, mixed. Reasons are simple enough, the main being the excitement of price-discovery missing. The FPOs have also been a challenge to these PSUs due to the pressure to price it lower than the volatile market price. But the upcoming FPOs of around..
On one hand it was the IPO of the most aggressive player in the most promising market, and backed by legendary VCs like Sequoia, but on the other hand it was not only fully priced, but presented some confusion regarding how far will it go with a potentially lesser role for Founder Vikram Akula..
EDITORIAL
www.seasonalmagazine.com MAGAZINE
Seasonal Vol 9 Issue 6 August 2010
Managing Editor Jason D Pavoratti Editor John Antony Director (Finance) Ceena Senior Editorial Coordinator Jacob Deva Senior Correspondent Bina Menon Creative Visualizer Bijohns Varghese Photographer Anish Aloysious Correspondents Bombay: Rashmi Prakash Hyderabad: Iqbal Siddiqui Delhi: Anurag Dixit Director (Technical) John Antony Publisher Jason D Editorial & Business Office Cochin: 36/1924 E, Kaloor-Kadavanthra Road, Near IGNOU, Kaloor, Cochin-17. Ph:0484- 2345876, 2534377, 2340080 Mob. 09947141362, 09947258505 Mumbai: 202, Woodland Heights Building, St. Martins Road, Bandra West, Mumbai -400 050, Mobile: 9757076197 Ph: 022-26401362, 26401360, Bangalore: House No: 493, Block 3 3rd Main, HBR Layout, Bangalore-4209731984836, Email:skmagazine@gmail.com www.seasonalmagazine.com UK Office: “CRONAN”, Boundaries Road Feltham, Middlesex, UK TW13 5DR Ph: 020 8890 0045, Mob: 00447947181950 Email: petecarlsons@gmail.com Reg No: KERENG/2002/6803 Printed & Published by Jaison D on behalf of PeteCarlson Solutions Pvt. Ltd. at Cochin. Printed at Rathna Offset Printers, Chennai-14. All Rights Reserved by PeteCarlson Solutions Pvt. Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means, including electronic, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All India Distributor: India Book House, Mumbai UAE Distributor: Malik News Agency & Distributors Dubai All health related articles are for first information purposes only. Always consult your doctor before taking any decison affecting your health.
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economics no substitute for efficiency The great inflation debate may have ended in Parliament, but not for the nation that send this Parliament to Delhi. After almost a year of shifting promises on controlling prices, the FM came up with a wisdom that signals helplessness. He finally justified inflation. The Opposition on its part continued to succeed in putting the Government in a spot, even while failing to come up with constructive 1-2-3 steps in taming the price rise. The stark reality is that nobody at the top - on both sides - has a clue on the continuing price rise, especially in food materials. The reason is quite apparent. All are expecting these little tinkering with repo and reverse repo to work wonders. They would have worked if India was a textbook. In reality, no nation works like a textbook, and India has repeatedly proven to be an extreme oddity in economics. And at this crucial difference ends the expertise of not only our politicians, not only our economists, and even our econo-politicians like Dr. Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, or Arun Jaitley. They are applying and re-applying whatever they have learnt and gained from past experience, and sitting smug on the belief that their fiscal and monetary policies would deliver. Even worse, each side is readily seeing the picture they want to see, and either justifying, or criticizing the other. For example, Pranab Mukherjee highlighted the demand side of the inflation equation citing a recent NCAER study. According to this study, in FY’02, the low-income households were 34.6%, middle-income households were 58%, and high-income households were 7.3%. But within the next 8 years, a revolution of sorts has taken place, with the low-income households dipping significantly to 17.9%, middle-income households rising to 61.6%, and high-income households surging to 20.5%. This has obviously resulted in higher consumption of a wider variety of food materials, and the country’s food production is yet to cope up with this surge. Nobody, even from the Opposition is disputing these numbers, which is a pleasant side-effect of growing at near double-digits for a few years. But Arun Jaitley has an equally engrossing number. He points to the low inflation levels maintained in comparable high-growth economies like China, Brazil, & Indonesia. Nobody can dare to dispute Jaitley on that, as a few of these economies are still managing food inflation at around 3%. But the sad point is that within these intense debates two crucial factors are overlooked. One is the long-term effects of populist measures and the second is the foolishness of focusing only on economics as against efficiency. Take NREGA for example. In paper it was perfect. Even in practice it was perfect for many quarters. But nobody had really factored in the demand surge it would ultimately create. Does this mean it should be scrapped altogether? Not at all, as long as it is not a cash-for-free program. Payments should be against productive work, and only then it can compensate for the liquidity that NREGA pumps into the system. The same is true of the microfinance revolution happening across the country. The first microfinance IPO is over, and another dozen IPOs are waiting in the wings. Microfinancing is perfect if it funds only means of livelihood, but it can be the worst subprime scenario financiers can create if the funding gets diverted to buy appliances and luxuries. That much for the demand side of the inflation equation. Both strategies can’t be faulted at all as it benefits the most economically deserving segments. But what about the inflation that Governments have purposefully created, down the years? Take a look at the way minimum support prices for rice and wheat have shot up during the last 10 years, and anyone will appreciate why this round of inflation was a tragedy waiting to happen. Instead of improving the quantity and quality of agriculture, the only tweaking that was done to promote agricultural productivity was regular boosts to MSPs. The surge on this front was done with no regard to then prevailing inflation-levels, and finally these surges came back to haunt by way of uncontrolled inflation. It was as foolish as providing petrol and LPG subsidies for decades, and then trying to correct it overnight, thereby driving inflation further. The argument that rising MSPs benefited farmers is not without merit, but in the new agricultural market where giant corporations and commodity futures reign, it can be easily seen that the major beneficiaries were not the poor farmers. It goes to the merit of the Left Front that they remain the only voice against agricultural futures. What was originally a hedge tool for producers against environmental uncertainties has been abused by the filthy rich traders and politicians who have never set foot on a farm, and make millions by the mouse. Otherwise, what can explain the absurd hike and fall of sugar recently? Last but not least is the inefficiencies and corruption prevailing in the system. The PDS is in shambles, and there is no agreement regarding the hundreds of thousands of tons of food grains left to rot in our public godowns, maybe due to poor logistics, but more probable due to myopic vision and rampant corruption. Good economics can pump in 1,85,000 crore to avoid going bankrupt. Good economics can suck back almost half of it through 3G auctions. But to believe that good economics can be a substitute for efficiency is foolishness to the core. John Antony
, e i l o J a n i Angel y a l p o t , i r u not Madhadi? Draup Madhuri Dixit Indian filmmaker Prakash Jha has a dream project Draupadi, in which he wants to cast Hollywood star Anjelina Jolie in the lead role. After the success of Rajneeti, which was inspired by the great Indian epic Mahabharata, Jha is ready for another movie, which will also be based on the same epic. Draupadi is believed to be a dream project of Prakash Jha. Earlier, the filmmaker wanted to work on the project with the once Bollywood queen Madhuri Dixit in the lead. But the project got shelved due to budget issues and lack of authentic adaptations. The glorious success of Rajneeti has revived his dream project once again and now he wants to make Draupadi in English with an international cast and crew. And, the news is that Jha wants to cast Anjelina Jolie for the title role.
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Speaking to the media, Jha stated, “I have been planning to make Draupadi for so many years, which will be my ultimate tribute to womanhood. My first choice was Madhuri but now I’m planning to make it an international film. I want to make the film a grand epic with an international cast and huge budget.” Jha added, “My Draupadi would be set in the mountains so the actors should have an exotic look. In Peter Brooks’s adaptation of the Mahabharata on stage, you can see Mallika Sarabhai with exquisite features.” Angelina Jolie
We can expect a modern and foreign Mahabharata from the filmmaker now!
Women & Body Image A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE Ever wondered why a man can look at an advert featuring a six-pack and laugh, while a woman might look at a photograph of female perfection and fall to pieces? William Leith thinks he might have uncovered the answer. Plenty of guys have told me this story. The guy in question is preparing to go to a party with his girlfriend. She is trying on shoes and dresses. He is telling her how good she looks. She tries on more shoes, more dresses. And then: the sudden, inexplicable meltdown. She crumples on the bed. Something is horribly wrong. Now the party is out of the question. The guy sits down. He hugs her. What's the problem? Gradually the truth emerges. 'Do you know what it was?' the guy will say later to his friends. 'She said she "didn't look right". She felt … I don't know. Fat. Or that she was the wrong shape. It's all about her body.' He goes on: 'I told her she looked great. Which she does, right?' At this point the other guys will say, 'Yeah – she looks great.' And: 'She looks fine.' And: 'I saw her the other day, wearing those shorts.' And: 'She is hot.' Then the first guy will say, 'That's what I kept telling her. And that's when she got really upset. She said, "You just don't understand."' It's true – men, by and large, do not understand. In her book The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf made this point very powerfully.
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When a woman has a crisis of confidence about the way she looks there is nothing a man can do to console her. 'Whatever he says hurts her more,' says Wolf. 'If he comforts her by calling the issue trivial, he doesn't understand. It isn't trivial at all. If he agrees with her that it's serious, even worse: he can't possibly love her, he thinks she's fat and ugly.' But it doesn't stop there, says Wolf. What if the man were to say he
A man's body is either fine, or it's not fine. For a man, the body is a practical object. It's a machine. Sometimes it works well; sometimes it needs fixing. Some guys know how to fix it, by taking up a sport, maybe, or cutting down on the carbs. Some don't, and go to seed. Men see their bodies as machines because, for most of their time on this earth, they have defined themselves as hunters and protectors. They equate being attractive with being strong and fast and muscled. That's a simple concept, isn't it? And that simplicity is hard-wired into the male brain. When his girlfriend has a meltdown, and says she hates her body, that is not a simple concept. Unlike men, women do not have a simple relationship with their bodies. They have a complex relationship with their bodies. This is what men often don't understand. When it comes to their bodies, women are extremely vulnerable
There's no way out. It seems to be, in Wolf's words, 'an uninhabitable territory between the sexes'. So why don't men understand? And, given a bit of education, can the situation be improved? Well, I'm a man, so let's see. The first thing to say is that, when it comes to their bodies, men have a completely different attitude. I'm not saying they don't think about their bodies, or worry about them, because they do. But men relate to their bodies in a simple way.
– and, what's more, lots of people take advantage of that vulnerability. This makes the situation worse. Men don't have to contend with this – the hair people, and the make-up people, and the fashion people, and the shoe people, and the bra people, and the nail people, and the eyelash people, and the Botox people, and the cosmetic surgery people, and the perfume people, and the hair-removal people. Oh, and the diet people. Men are not at the mercy of corporate manipulation on remotely this scale. Sure, there are six-packs creeping into our field of vision every so often. And, sure, this is making us feel insecure. I know – I was fat, and it's no
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loves the woman just as she is – that he loves her for her? An absolute no-no, of course, because then 'he doesn't think she's beautiful'. Worse still, though, if he says he loves her because he thinks she's beautiful.
fun being fat, especially with all those pictures of Brad Pitt nagging away. And then there are the adverts for Lynx, and the Reebok advert in which a man is chased around town by a big fat hairy belly. But for men the message is very direct. Buy some running shoes. Go to the gym. Cut down on the carbs. For men there is no mystery behind the veil of the adverts. You either tackle the situation, or become a fat slob. End of story. For men the holy grail is within reach – you just need to get fit, and then you'll be fine; then you can think about something else. But the messages aimed at women are much more complex and confusing. As the American social commentator Warren Farrell has pointed out, women's magazines often contain articles about being Superwoman, which are next to adverts about being Cinderella. In other words, the words tell women how to be independent and in control. But the adverts, where the money is, tell them they have to be beautiful. Farrell said this more than two decades ago – and, shockingly, nothing has changed. There's a solid pulse running through everything our culture aims at women – be beautiful, be beautiful, be beautiful. But being beautiful, it turns out, is a nearimpossible task. It keeps getting harder and harder. Everybody knows that it entails being slim – and every year the ideal gets slimmer and slimmer. In 1960 the average model weighed 10 per cent less than the average woman. Now she weighs 25 per cent less. Soon she will weigh 30 per cent less. But she doesn't have the breasts of a skinny woman – nor, as Susie Orbach has recently pointed out, the bottom. To achieve the ideal is vanishingly impossible.
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And it's getting worse. Orbach believes that we are exposed, on a weekly basis, to several thousand images that have been digitally
The female body is the world's prime aesthetic object – we look at it more than we look at anything else, including landscapes, gadgets, cars. In fact, cars and gadgets are often designed to resemble the female body, and landscapes can be painted to remind us of it.
For men the holy grail is within reach – you just need to get fit, and then you'll be fine; then you can think about something else. But the messages aimed at women are much more complex and confusing. manipulated. And this, in turn, makes more women opt for cosmetic surgery – which, of course, moves the goalposts even farther away. When lots of people have surgery to make themselves look more beautiful this has the effect of making everybody else feel less beautiful. And this is happening on a global scale – in 2007 people spent £9 billion on cosmetic surgery; the vast majority of them, of course, were women. So: men are told they should aspire to fitness and strength, and women are told they should aspire to something more nebulous. But that still does not explain, in terms a man could understand, why the female message is so much more powerful and disturbing. It doesn't explain why a tenth of women are anorexic, why a growing number are bulimic, why almost half of women, at any given time, are on a diet. It doesn't quite explain the meltdowns. And it doesn't explain why women want to be so skinny. Why they think they are fat, when they are not. It doesn't explain why, when a woman's body is perfectly attractive, she often thinks it isn't, and can't be persuaded otherwise. In short, it does not explain why a man can look at an advert featuring a six-pack and laugh at it, whereas a woman might look at a picture of Gisele Bündchen and feel a sense of unease that hangs around for days.
I once wrote the introduction to a book of male nudes by the photographer Rankin; it was a sequel to his previous book of female nudes. One thing struck me above all – male nudes were a much, much harder thing to portray than female ones. That's because the female body carries with it a huge weight of iconic significance – thousands of years of being looked at.
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John Updike once said that the female body is the world's prime aesthetic object – we look at it more than we look at anything else, including landscapes, gadgets, cars. In fact, cars and gadgets are often designed to resemble the female body, and landscapes can be painted to remind us of it. When we talk about 'the nude' in art we are almost certainly referring to the female nude. As far as nudes are concerned, the male nude is a distant runner-up.
The female body has meaning. Pictures of the female body can be profound, serious and complex. For thousands of years they have been depicted with reverence. Now imagine having one of those bodies. It puts a bit of pressure on, doesn't it? Now I'm beginning to see why women might be so addicted to perfection. They have a lot to live up to – a couple of thousand years of art history, and a couple of thousand airbrushed boobs and bums to deal with every week. But what started this off in the first place? Why aren't there so many airbrushed pictures of men around? Of course, these pictures do exist, and their numbers are increasing. But why are women so much more vulnerable to pictures of perfect bodies than men?
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In his book The Evolution of Desire, the American psychologist David Buss goes some way towards explaining why this should be so. Since the Stone Age, he explains, men and women have had different attitudes towards sex. Men can pass
on their genes with very little risk – all they need is a fertile woman.
'women prefer men who are older than they are.'
But it's different for women, because pregnancy is incredibly risky. What women need is a man who looks like a good provider – better still, who looks like a proven provider.
Now I'm getting close to understanding why women are so critical of their bodies. Since prehistoric times they have had a hard-wired link to how they look. For tens of thousands of years it was crucial; it could be the difference between having a protector and not having one – between life and death, even.
So let's think about our Stone Age man and woman. If he's going to settle down, and stop playing the field, he wants one thing above all – a woman who looks fertile. More than that, he wants a woman who looks as if she'll be fertile for many years to come. In other words, he might consider being a provider and protector, as long as his mate looks young, fertile and unblemished. And now consider his mate. What does she want? Not just a man who is a good hunter and a good fighter, but a man who has a track record as a hunter and fighter. In other words, an older man. And this is not only true of Stone Age couples. In a survey conducted by David Buss, 10,000 people, in 37 cultures, were polled. 'In all 37 cultures included in the international study on choosing a mate,' writes Buss,
For men it's not the same at all. The odd wrinkle or grey hair doesn't matter. Hell, it might even be an advantage. As long as you're good at throwing spears and building shelters, you'll be fine. Twenty thousand years on, what has changed? Well, as David Buss points out, it's unlikely that a Stone Age man would have seen 'hundreds or even dozens of attractive women in that environment'. But now, when he looks at a centrefold model, he is seeing a woman who has competed with thousands of other women for the part – not only that, he's seeing the best picture out of thousands. And it's not just centrefolds, is it? Just look at newsreaders – mostly, it's a pretty girl and a grey-haired man. Message to men: relax. Message to women: panic! And then there are the girl groups, and the short-skirted girl on Countdown, and even the characters in the Harry Potter films, where the boys are allowed to look like geeks but the girl must look like a model. As the art critic John Berger wrote: 'Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the relations of men to women, but the relation of women to themselves.' It's a tough one, isn't it? Surely guys can understand that, at least. If it happened to us, we'd have a meltdown, too.
LIC HOUSING FINANCE LTD
Growing Undeterred, Diversification Plans Get a Boost
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f you thought LIC Housing Finance was perhaps the best growth story around, we would say you haven’t seen anything yet. The growth story, of course, continues unabated with 20% annual growth in sales and nearly 25% growth in net profits during 2009-10. This NBFC,
promoted by LIC, and having a sharp focus on home loans, also grew its loan book by 38% and improved its market share by 3.5% to reach 11%. Going forward too, there are no indications that it is shedding its focus on home loans – with plans to increase its share to 14%. The figure is significant as the top bank
in the home loan business, SBI, has a market share of only 24%. There is, of course, a much bigger player from the NBFC segment, but then, comparisons with HDFC is unfair due to its significant headstart. Interestingly, even the house of HDFC has a significant bet on LIC Housing, holding a 4.26% stake in the company. But then, how can’t HDFC bet on this growth story that has investors like Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Deutsche Bank Group, Talib Securities, and other global majors holding similar or even bigger stakes, not to mention topnotch national investors like General Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance, & Prudential India. In fact, what catapulted LIC Housing Finance’s scrip from Rs. 185 to Rs. 915 in eight months was
T. S. Vijayan Chairman
LIC Housing Finance’s ambitious plan to diversify into five sectors - financial services, venture capital, property services, microfinance, and banking - gets a boost from the robust performance in Q1 that includes a YoY portfolio growth of 37%, income growth of 30%, and a net profit growth of 71%, even while other key players in the sector failed to grow quarterly income by much. Powering the plans are LIC Housing’s ambitious fund raising target of Rs. 20,000 crore for this fiscal, of which Rs. 4000 crore have already been raised.
But the grand two plans are none of these, but going for a banking license and starting a microfinance company. LIC Housing has already applied for a banking licence with RBI, and is expected to get it sanctioned as per the financial ministry’s policy of considering NBFCs for conversion into banks, much like how Kotak did. But in
the case of LIC Housing there is always the better model of how HDFC promoted HDFC Bank. That way it need not lose its core competency of home loans, even while pursuing mandatory banking requirements like priority sector lending. Another advantage with such a spin-off would be that LIC needn’t reduce its stake to 10% in LIC Housing for it to become a bank. CEO Ramachandran Nair is also bullish on their planned microfinance subsidiary, as he believes that the fortune, going forward, will be at the bottom of the pyramid. When these five subsidiaries go live and gather momentum within the next four-five years, nobody is even willing to predict what will be the standing of LIC Housing Finance in the country’s booming financial sector. And for the short-term the company continues to get unbelievable boosts in its core business, the latest example being parent LIC’s decision to sell its entire employee housing portfolio to LIC Housing. At 1,00,000 employees, and 25,000 accounts, this currently Rs. 1300 portfolio is expected to add Rs. 300 to 400 crore to LIC Housing’s topline every year.
DK Mehrotra, MD
Duplicating the success of India’s largest life insurer and largest institutional investor will be tough, but CEO Ramachandran Nair has now drawn up an ambitious
diversification plan that aims to start five subsidiaries within the next five years. The first among these is already live and kicking, which is their financial services subsidiary that sells financial products of other majors, other than home loans and life insurance. The next subsidiary is almost live now, a Venture Capital Fund, which recently got its first CEO, who is now busy building his core team. Their first fund amounting to Rs. 500 crore is aimed at the real estate sector and will have an eye on institutional investors as well as HNIs to raise money, with a ticketsize of Rs. 5-10 crores. Next on the line in diversification is a property services subsidiary offering end-to-end property solutions at a national level. This one is also active, albeit as a division, with definitive plans to spin off as a subsidiary when momentum picks up.
R Ramachandran Nair, CEO
this high institutional interest, and the resulting side-effect of low retail shareholding of around 38%. Its relatively low and undiluted equitybase of Rs. 85 crore also helped. The strength of the company is also reflected in the fact that parent LIC had grown very confident of its prospects and decided not to throw its weight behind last year’s QIP, which nevertheless succeeded. Though it reduced LIC’s promoter shareholding to 36.54%, LIC is very much around for support with LIC Chairman TS Vijayan still heading the LIC Housing as its Chairman and the top-ranking LIC Managing Director DK Mehrotra heading the company as its MD. As a professionally run company, the Board is however giving great autonomy to LIC Housing’s top management headed by its CEO R Ramachandran Nair who is also on the Board as a Director. And LIC Housing Finance is now living up to the expectation in a truly creative way. What better way to live up to a parent’s expectation than to emulate and surpass it?
Rolls-Royce targets sale of 50 units Rolls-Royce expects to sell 50 units this year in India including the newly launched Ghost 2010 series, its authorised dealer said on Thursday. “It would take normally 2-3 months time for the delivery of the car after the firm order. We expect to sell 50 units this year,” Sharad Kachalia, director-sales & marketing, Navnit Motors, the authorised dealer for West and South region, said.
India's luxury car boom
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Sales of luxury cars produced by German marque Mercedes-Benz surged by 69 percent in India during the first six months of 2010, the automaker said earlier this week. The figures are a sign of the growing market for luxury car brands in India, where overall passenger sales are expected to grow by 12-13 percent this year by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The luxury market, although only accounting for a tiny proportion of overall sales, is rapidly gaining traction with Indians seeing a rise in income levels, thanks in part to foreign automakers making more vehicles easily accessible in the country. “We expect India’s premium segment to grow more rapidly than the market as a whole in the coming years,” said Mercedes-Benz's Dr
Joachim Schmidt. “Mercedes-Benz aims to have a corresponding share of this growth. The basis for this growth is a large number of attractive products." BMW, which lost its position as India's number one luxury car maker to Mercedes in January, said that it has seen a 25 percent growth in sales for the first six months of 2010, while Audi saw a rise of 71 percent, although from an admittedly low
base of 821 vehicles in the first half of 2009. The growth of luxury brands poses a challenge to India's domestic automakers, which have grown rapidly thanks to the loyalty of their customers to their small, low-priced products. Indian firm Tata, which produces the world's cheapest car the Tata Nano, acquired Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford in 2008, enabling it to open the first Jaguar showroom to meet demand for luxury vehicles in 2009. This week, the firm confirmed that it had beaten analysts' expectations on the back of strong luxury sales in India and overseas. Maruti Suzuki, known for its small vehicles, also posted strong June 2010 sales vehicles, reporting especially strong sales for its premium SX4 and Dzire models.
AUTO SCAN
Maruti Fighting for Market Share he market leader in the Indian passenger car market is currently facing a very tight situation where its market share has fallen below 50% for the first time in the history of the company in the domestic circuit. In fact, the company closed at 47% for the month of June and as the competition in the Indian small car segment has taken consumers mind space, Maruti is currently struggling to keep itsmarket share at a 50%+ market share level. It is to be mentioned here that it was during the late 1990s when Hyundai launched its Santro in the Indian market,
analysts claimed that Maruti will lose itsmarket share to the Korean auto major, but the company always kept its flag flying high in the Indian market. However, as the company is facing production constraints, there is very little that it can do about it as almost all the models are currently on a waiting period. Moreover, going forward, the company is very much sure that it will be able to gain a substantial growth on its numbers but analysts are favoring the fact that itsmarket share may feel a bit of heat from the competition in the Indian small car segment.
Flourishing Pre-owned Car Business
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re-owned car business is heating up after majors like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and GM are expanding their business. According to Mr Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director (marketing) at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the 5 outlets of Toyota U Trust will expand to 50 outlets in next three years. The company is planning to sell 25 percent of its new cars through used car exchange programme, as of now Altis and Innova are sold this way. With the company's yet to be launched ,Etios is on the way, the company has good hopes in the used car exchange programme thereby helping customers to buy Etios through
exchange offer. Auto Industry analysts say that, with advances in technology and a record number of new car models entering the Indian market every year, customers today typically go for an upgrade or exchange within three years of their purchase rather than sticking to the same car for 10-15 years. Due to the car makers entering the used car business, more customers are attracted in exchanging their old cars to buy the new cars simply because they trust the OEMs. Mr Sunil Gambhir, head of AutoTerrace, the used-car arm of Honda Siel, said there are 117
Honda AutoTerrace outlets across the country and they have sold 4300 pre-owned cars for new cars and liquidated them through various channels. The interesting factor is that, 70 percent cases of customers prove that, they exchange cars only at the time of buying an new car. Mr. P Balendran, VP, GM India said that GM's Chevy OK is doing a good business which sold/exchanged 1200 cars and targets to sell at least 2500 cars by 2010. As for the volume, Hyundai does around 15 percent of the total sales through those dealers who also have the Hyundai Advantage dealership. Used-car sales will grow at the same
rate as the new car sales. Santro is the most popular model sold through the exchange programme. This was said by Arvind Saxena, director, sales and marketing at Hyundai Motors India. Maruti Suzuki's True Value is a very popular used car business firm, because people buy lot of Maruti cars and hence they like to upgrade for a new one through the used car business. In fact, Maruti was pioneer in setting up used car firm than other car makers. With every second car purchased in India, being a Maruti Suzuki car, its obvious that the used car business too attracts buyers through used car exchange programmes.
etroit automakers have learned that in India, smaller is better. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. are on track to achieve record sales in India this year by offering smaller, more affordable vehicles. This marks an enlightened change in strategy. When Detroit's Big Three first approached India in the 1990s and early 2000s, the plan was to remain above the fray of the lowest price segment and offer larger, somewhat pricier cars.
Detroit's logic was that buyers of India's best-selling Maruti Suzuki 800, a car that retailed for just $6,000, would in time trade up to larger, more expensive vehicles. But more than a decade later, Indian car buyers have remained stubbornly loyal to cheap and cheerful products. Most of the
cars on offer from Maruti Suzuki, Tata and Hyundai feature prices at or under $8,000. Together, India's "Big Three" account for a whopping 72 percent of sales. In response, Ford has just launched the Figo, a subcompact hatch designed in Europe with a sticker price starting at $7,900. Ford sales in India are on track to double to about 60,000 cars this year. GM is invading India's small car segment with its Chevrolet Spark minicar and its successor, the Beat. These two models will account for 60 percent of the 105,000 cars GM plans to sell in India this year. GM formed a joint venture in Hong Kong last year with its Chinese partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., in part to ensure a pipeline of low-cost, small vehicles for India. Demand for passenger vehicles in India is growing at a clip of 20 percent this year and total sales are expected to surpass 2 million units. By 2015, the market will expand to 3 million units per year. GM and Ford are right to launch a direct attack on the heart of the market. Indian consumers will trade up to larger sedans eventually. But, for now, offering inexpensive cars is necessary to compete in a meaningful way.
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GM, Ford Take Aim at Heart of India Car Market
AUTO SCAN
Nissan Launches Small Car Micra
Honda Siel Small Car to Hit Roads by October In a bid to make inroads into the domestic market, Honda Siel Cars India has decided to launch its first small car in the country this year. Besides this, the company will be sourcing more components locally and building a strong engineering and dealership base to increase overall sales. Meanwhile, the company is targeting to double its sales to over 1 lakh units in the next 12 months from the current 60,000 units. The move comes post its January-March sales set back and the company's desperate urge to clock volumes in a market that grew 20% plus in the last fiscal.
The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Nissan Motor India, will roll out the new Micra from its recently inaugurated facility at Oragadam near Chennai. The industry sources put the likely price of the base version of the hatchback below Rs 4 lakh. The company has earlier said that it will pit the new Micra, which comes with a 1.2 litre petrol engine, against Maruti's Swift, Hyundai's i10 and i20. These cars are priced between Rs 3.44 lakh and Rs 6.95 lakh. Nissan Motor India, which recently roped in Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador, had started bookings of the car in end of May and has so far received 1,049 orders. "We are delighted with this encouraging initial response. With the launch of the new Nissan Micra next month, Nissan will begin an exciting journey in India aiming to provide Indian customers with a full range of products and services," Nissan Motor India Managing Director and CEO Kiminobu Tokuyama said.
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The company has announced to produce 80,000 units of the new Micra, for both domestic and export markets, in its first year. Nissan will export Micra to over 100 countries, including Europe, Middle-East and Africa, by later half of 2010. The new Micra will be produced in five countries including Thailand, India, China and Mexico. The fifth location is yet to be decided. The Japanese carmaker had earlier said that it was targeting to sell 1,00,000 vehicles in India by 2013, for which it will launch nine models in the next two years, including the sedan version of Micra
During the January-March 2010 quarter, Honda Siel Cars India sales dipped 3% to 21,764 units against 22,376 units in the corresponding period last year. The company was banking on the yet-to-be-named small car to expand its customer base and increase overall sales. Honda Siel Cars India president & CEO Takashi Nagai said, “We want to make Honda the best car brand in India that gives hope to 1 million customers in the next five years...optimistically, our operation maybe doubled from next year with the launch of the small car,” he said. However, Nagai did not share the incremental volumes he expected from the small car. According to a senior company official, the small car would hit the Indian roads by October 2011 and would be priced anywhere from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh. “We have realised that Honda Jazz has not performed up to our expectations because of the price factor. However, the small car would be priced competitively,” he said. When asked whether the company had any plans of introducing a strip down model of Jazz, the official said, “We cannot scale down Jazz to bring down prices. We can remove the airbags that would bring down the costs substantially, however, we cannot compromise with safety,” he said.
AUTO SCAN
South Korea’s Kia to Drive in into India with Major Versions of Cars The South Korea’s second largest car maker Kia Motors is muscling its strength in India by installing a manufacturing unit. Kia is jointly owned by Hyundai, the foremost car maker of South Korea. Kia will roll down hatchbacks, entry-level sedans, compact cars followed by compact SUVs. Kia is synonymous for its high cost range and equally high esteemed versions till recently doing good show in Europe. Of late its market in Europe is on the decline and hence the diversion to Asian market, particularly India. Kia has been searching for the potential source since the economic recession. However, anything will materialize only after a comprehensive feasibility study, said an official of the company. The anticipated models may include Picanto and Proceed hatchbacks and Rio and Forte sedans.
the sale of 1.6 million vehicles made from 14 major units spread worldwide including Australia, China, Germany and the US. Kia’s earlier attempt to roll down its products in India, four years ago, could not materialize due to poor response to it. The present venture is to have a concrete feasibility study by a global consultancy firm. Kia took the leaf of entering the Indian market based on the consistent show of Hyundai, which has become the second largest car maker after Maruti Suzuki. Kia believes that the entry into India will boost its global trade along with the product range from Hyundai. The Hyundai Kia Automotive Group is ranked as the fourth largest car maker in the world, along with Toyota, Chevrolet and Volkswagen. Hyundai, for its own sake, hopes to overtake Maruti if Kia’s entry materializes.
Kia intends to counter Honda City in sedan range while the target for small cars will be Maruti Ritz [images] and Hyundai i10 [images]. In SUV range there will be Soul and Sorento to face Mahindra Scorpio [images] and Maruti Grand Vitara [images]. The year 2009 promised some good signs to the Indian car market with 25% growth and sale of 15.26 lakh units and the market seems to grow further this FY. Kia, as the global partner for Hyundai, has grabbed
Skoda India Keen on Launching Small Car at Rs 3-4 lakhs Skoda India is keen on entering the ever-growing small car segment soon. The Volkswagen owned Czech carmaker which entered the Indian market in the year 2001 with the rock solid Skoda Octavia, cemented its position as premium car maker in India. Now Skoda India is getting more ambitious as it has hinted that it would be making more affordable cars (small cars) for the Indian market.
also compete with the Tata Nano Europa in the future, as Skoda is perceived as a ‘value’ brand in the Europe. The Skoda small could share the small frugal 1.0l TDI diesel engines and a sub 1.0l petrol with the VW UP!. As both the smallc ars are based on the same platform the Skoda small car could be built at VW’s high capacity plant at Chakan, Pune. The car could be priced between 3 to 4 lakh Rupees. It would be interesting to see how VW manages the Skoda Joyster and the VW UP! selling in the same market at a close price range. VW India says both the brands complement each other rather than eating into each others sales, but would they still be complementing each other even in the small car segment?
All this while, we have been in the high level of the lifestyle. People like our cars (but) we need to be a little more affordable. Skoda is in the process of developing the small car and this could be sold both in the Indian market as well as the European market. The new small car which could be christened the ‘Joyster’, would be built on Volkswagen’s upcoming UP! small car platform. The Skoda Joyster could
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Thomas Kuehl, Sales and Marketing, Skoda India -
JOYALUKKAS IPO
Coming,
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World’s Favourite Jewellery Stock?
Joy Alukkas, Chairman
India’s listed universe has over 110 sectors officially, everything from ‘Abrasives’ to ‘Vanaspati’. Still, it is not enough to contain an upcoming IPO. That is what is riddling Joy Alukkas, the entrepreneur behind Joyalukkas, one of the largest jewellery retail chains in the world with 80 showrooms now. One look at BSE’s concerned sector – ‘Diamond Cutting / Precious Metals / Jewellery’ – is enough to convince any one of this problem. While meeting Joy Alukkas for this story at his Indian headquarters in Kochi – a scenic affair from where he can watch the sea always so that he never forgets the need to think big we suggest alternative sectors. How about the catch-all ‘Miscellaneous’ sector that is home to Tanishq? “No Joyalukkas is quite different from Tanishq”, says Joy. “Titan is into so many things other than jewellery like watches, eyewear, gifts etc and besides that, theirs is a pure franchise model.” Then we point him to the recently listed Thangamayil Jewellery which comes under the sector ‘Diamond Cutting / Precious Metals / Jewellery’ itself and his face lights up, signaling that this is something that had already crossed his mind. “True, they run a pure retail
operation, but the problem is that there is no comparison with us on scale.” He seems to have a point, because in FY’10, Thangamayil did around 500 crore, which is not bad at all, occupying the 10th spot among the 26 listed players, but still it is no match to Joyalukkas’ worldwide sale of around Rs. 3700 core. But, of course, all of the Group is not being offered under the planned IPO. Only the Group’s flagship company in India, Joyalukkas India Pvt. Ltd., that is responsible for all of the Indian operations, will be going for the IPO now. But even this company is estimated to have an annual turnover of Rs. 2500 to 3000 crore. At such a scale, Joyalukkas post-IPO will be ahead of most of the listed players, that is, ahead of even heavyweights like Asian Star, Shrenuj, Suashish, & Renaissance. But Joy Alukkas is not concerned with comparisons, as much as he is about the basis of comparisons. “It is like the proverbial apples-withoranges comparison. Where is the brand in these smaller or bigger companies that you mention? All of them are unbranded bulk operators for whom gold is a commodity business.” Indeed, the listed jewellery space is now dominated by exporters to US & Europe, and investors are really spoilt for choices
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lose your eyes and imagine the most profitable business you have seen. Readily, gold and diamonds come to your mind. Now, if you are an investor, close your eyes and imagine the most profitable business to invest into. Why are gold and diamonds not turning up now? Because, the country’s capital markets still doesn’t have a listed large cap jeweller that is into pure retail. Now Joyalukkas aims to fill this precious gap, with an IPO of its highly-branded and value-added Indian operations. While this story was in the making, Joyalukkas has been selected as a Superbrand in UAE. Founder & Chairman Joy Alukkas is planning the IPO much like his larger-thanlife showrooms, but on reasonable valuations that will leave money on the table for its investors, as it aims to double itself from 21 to 40 showrooms and from Rs. 1825 to Rs. 3000 crore sales in an year’s time.
if export business is what they are looking at. But gold exports, especially to Western markets have a problem. Business booms when gold is affordable, and withers when gold booms. Americans and Europeans turn to silver in a big way when gold prices go through the roof. Even diamonds can be crafted in silver for Westerners. That is why 17 out of the 25 jewellery scrips lost money for investors during the last six months, with top player Rajesh Exports losing more than 11% of investors’ money, and the next bigger player Suraj barely scraping through to make a tiny profit for its investors. And know what these biggies are planning to tackle the
export slump? For some, the strategy is beefing up domestic sales, and for others it is planning to begin domestic sales for the first time. That is where Joyalukkas already has a huge edge. Almost all of their turnover is coming from the 21 showrooms spread across the country. The Group recently opened its first showroom in Bangalore, and in the inimitable Joyalukkas style, it is a four-floor 40,000 sq ft affair which is Karnataka’s biggest and the Group’s second-biggest, after their Chennai Showroom which is also the country’s largest jewellery showroom. With a sharp focus now on the resurgent diamond sector, Joyalukkas never misses the pulse of
is Way Ahead of All in Branding, “Joyalukkas Volumes, & EBITDA ”
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Chairman Joy Alukkas in conversation with Seasonal Magazine:
Joyalukkas is finally planning for an IPO. Can you explain your main motivations? Well, first of all, let me clarify one point – it is not definite that we will be going for an IPO. What we have announced is that we are looking to raise money from investors, and yes, IPO would be a preferred mode for that. But we will also be open to other modes like PE funds and the like. Now, coming to your question, there are several common motivations for all companies going for an IPO – like finding money for further expansion, expanding visibility in the capital markets and the like. All such motivations are there for Joyalukkas too, plus a few of our own. Prime among them is to take this transparently governed business and brand to the next stage of corporate governance and excellence. We also want to be the first jewellery brand to go public. But servicing debt has also been one prime motivator these days for IPOs. As a brand that has expanded rapidly, is correcting the debt-equity ratio a motivation for Joyalukkas? Not really. We may service a part of our debt using IPO proceeds, but that is not the main thing, as we have not
run up such a debt in the first place. Some people might mistake that our rapid expansion was being powered solely by debt, but it is not true at all. Our core edge is that despite such expansion, we remain lightweight as we don’t buy showroom properties and we don’t have much manufacturing facilities of our own. Because of these unique factors, our book is very conservative. How can you be the first jewellery brand, when we have listed players like Rajesh Exports, Gitanjali, or Tanishq? Well, what I meant was the first retail jewellery brand. Today, if you look at the listed players, almost all of them are mainly exporters or manufacturers, with little or no domestic retail operations. The only exception is Tanishq, but it should be treated separately for three reasons – one, it is a pure franchise operation; two, they do not just jewellery; and three, they are part of the Tata enterprise. I can find only the recently listed Thangamayil Jewellery as a retail player, but then you can’t really compare us with them, sizewise. We will be the first major jewellery brand to go public, and in all
probability the only one to go public for a long time. Why are you not expecting the other players to join in? It is just a feeling, of course, but it is very very difficult for a conventional jeweller to go for IPO. The traditional jewellery business, by convention, is not done very transparently with the public or with the taxman. In contrast, we had always done things in black & white with world-class auditing by firms like KPMG for the most part of
H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai awarding the ‘Certificate of Appreciation’.
our existence. This is one edge that our competitors just can’t create overnight. How do you see the ongoing gold boom? Is this going to last or are we set for a correction? No boom goes on like that endlessly. We have seen both real estate and stocks correct drastically. Maybe gold may not fall that much due to its current safe haven status. There are several studies that show that gold boom may extend at least for another two years. But all of us – jewellers and customers – must be prepared for minor corrections. The only major risk that can happen is China succeeding in producing massive quantities from its new mines, which is something nobody can predict at this stage. No manufacturing, no real estate, and no exports mean Joyalukkas is a pure retail operation. How will it translate to a better investment proposition? Yes, we are pure retail, and we are all about value addition. We have precise design specifications and we have stringent quality controls, and we custom-source from hundreds of manufacturers – big and small – from all over India. Since we are a highvolume buyer, we are able to buy at excellent prices, and sell at attractive prices for our customers. Secondly, all our showrooms are on long-term leases, meaning that we can pay for them from our cash flow, with no high-risk capital
the company into a more professionally managed setup with former World Gold Council Chief Executive Rolf W Schneebeli inducted as CEO, and Nandakumar T joining as CFO. But Chairman Joy Alukkas remains a hands-on leader scripting the next stage that will see apart from this IPO and possible PE deals, three new large-format showrooms and around 17 smaller format ones, making their Indian network a 40 showroom one. If Joy Alukkas can get his game right in the IPO space with right pricing and right valuation, there is no reason why this shouldn’t be your favourite jewellery stock.
Trichur Showroom investment involved. Being India focused, Joyalukkas is also shielded from downturns in Western markets due to the high gold prices. The end result of all these is that our margins are industry leading, and honestly speaking, I was surprised when I came to know that no player can match our EBITDA. But isn’t Joyalukkas employee intensive? You have one of the largest workforces in the industry. True, Joyalukkas is home to around 2300 employees. But they are not a liability but an asset as they are dominated by sales professionals who deliver the brand to our customers through our world-class showrooms. Because of such an outlook, I am considering many among them for
ESOP, though it is not customary for a pure retail operation. Joyalukkas has excellent HR practices, and pays above average salaries, but still, the cash flow can accommodate all that. Being a pure retail play, are you planning to diversify into retailing more products, maybe like apparels as you have done in Kerala? Textiles is definitely something we are bullish about, and we want to take it to the next level by launching the unique concept of Wedding Malls, where everything for the Great Indian Wedding will be available. Initially we are planning three such Malls in Kerala, one each in Kozhikode, Thrissur, & Ernakulam. We also have a target of around 8 textile showrooms in Kerala, and if the going is good will expand it
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Bangalore Showroom
the customers, as, for many of them diamonds are now more attractive due to the gold boom. Group Founder and Chairman Joy Alukkas, is a dynamic second-generation jewellery entrepreneur who successfully spun off this company from the family concern, Thrissurbased Alukkas Jewellery. Under his leadership, the Group has won the coveted Dubai Quality Award from Sheikh Mohammed, Ruler of Dubai. Joyalukkas was recently conferred the coveted Superbrand status in UAE, with Chairman Joy receiving the status from Mike English, Director of Superbrands Middle East. Joy has recently turned around
to a pan-India operation with 100 shops. But having said all these, let me also clarify that our mainstay will remain jewellery. As of now, textiles accounts for only Rs. 150 crore in sales. Recently you launched your Bangalore showroom, which is a large-format one. Is this going to be the practice from now on? For the metros and big cities, yes, large format is the way to go I think. But we will also launch medium and small format shops in the tier-2 cities in each state, especially in South India. Out of the 20 showrooms we have planned with the IPO proceeds, three will be of large format. But large or small, the brand is such that the footfalls are incomparable, which is something that still riddles our competitors. Organizationally, how are the preparations for IPO going on? Well, we do things well in advance, and have already reconstituted the Board to have management and stock market experts like KP Padmakumar and CJ George with us. The induction of banker, economist, and former World Gold Council Chief Executive Rolf W Schneebeli as our CEO, and finance professional Nandakumar who has handled an IPO as our CFO was also done well in advance. Despite having operations in 8 countries, why are you opting for the IPO of only the Indian operations? Yes, as of now, we will go only for the IPO of Joyalukkas India Pvt. Ltd. Showroom wise and turnover wise this company is roughly half of the Group, but, of course, it comprises the full India operations. We decided on such a strategy as both structurally and execution wise, this is the right way for
Superbrands Middle East Director Mike English handing over the “Super Brand” recognition in UAE to Joy Alukkas, Chairman Joyalukkas Group
Chennai Showroom the Group, the brand, as well as its prospective investors. Our overseas operations, headquartered in Dubai, has diverse means of raising funds on its own. Though it is difficult to pin down a figure now, can you provide some approximations on the issue size, dilution, pricing, and valuation? Yes, it is quite difficult for figures to come by at this stage, as we have just now only initiated talks with merchant bankers. Still, we hope to have an IPO of around Rs. 600 crore. About the pricing I think I can’t tell anything much at this stage as it will depend on so many factors still to be decided. On the valuation front, we don’t intend to price it on a hefty P/E, but only reasonably, something that befits our industry status. I want our IPO investors to definitely make money within the first year itself. It is very much possible as we are planning to double our showrooms from 21 to 40, as also double our turnover from around 1825 crore to 3000 crore. If you were to name one USP of the brand that it shares with you the founder, what will it be? Without doubt, it is thinking big. Our Chennai showroom is India’s largest, and our Bangalore showroom is Karnataka’s largest. We run the largest and fastest growing branded retail jewellery chain. It is an ethos the brand learned from me. I believe in sourcing jewellery at the best-possible prices for our customers, as much as I believe in the larger-than-life shopping experience our showrooms deliver. Even our CSR initiatives like ‘My0.50’ deliver larger-than-life objectives, and my personal philanthropic ambition is to build a charitable cancer hospital.
CEO Rolf W Schneebeli in conversation with Seasonal Magazine: Can you tell us something about your background and how it came to your current role? Well, I hail from Switzerland, was trained as an economist, worked as a banker for many years, before assuming charge in 1995 as the Chief Executive of World Gold Council’s Middle East & South East Asia operations. That stint continued till 2000, and this was the time that I really got familiar with India. Relationship with Joyalukkas dates back to this stage. How do you assess the gold market in India? The way gold industry has flourished in India is nothing but spectacular. When I assumed charge of WGC in 1995 the annual imports was around 300 tonnes, and by the time I left office, it was around 900 tonnes. In other words, gold business just tripled in this country within those five years. And ever since that, and even now, gold business is still growing at an amazing pace. Do you mean to say that the ongoing gold boom has not much had an impact on consumption? To what do you attribute that? Exactly, not in this country. This is the phenomenon that makes India a special gold country, and operations like Joyalukkas a high-
is in Sync with the India Growth “ Joyalukkas Story Driven by Domestic Consumption
Why did you choose to associate with Joyalukkas? There are several reasons. First of all, despite being an economist, I had fallen in love with gold business during my stint with WGC. Secondly, Joyalukkas has always had a unique business model in this industry, which I had discovered while in WGC. I don’t know whether even the Kerala market realizes this strength of Joyalukkas. To put it in a nutshell, this Group’s strengths are value addition, branding, rapid expansion, and focusing only on retail. There is no
reinventing the wheel by dabbling in manufacturing or non-value additive concerns like bulk exports. How do you view the ongoing gold boom? Will there be corrections in the short-term or long-term? The boom is going to continue at least for a few years, but not for the reasons that are often portrayed like gold’s safe haven status. The real driver behind gold prices is the quantum of money supply that has hit the world market post 2008. Western governments solved the Lehman crisis and its aftermath in the only possible way, that is by pumping in excessive liquidity. Unfortunately, that was not the best of ways, and now they are struggling to remove a part of it. But sucking out that excess liquidity is practically impossible, and inflationary trends is going to reign, which will also drive up the gold prices. Of course, the rapid rise also gives room for minor corrections in
”
the short-term. But the long trend for gold is definitely up. How do you view the Indian situation then, and prospects for stocks like Joyalukkas when it is listed? India is going to be a handful of exceptions to the world scenario, one of the nations that is expected to tame the inflation healthily in the coming quarters and years. You have to thank Dr. Manmohan Singh for that vision. On such a healthy platform, India will again lead in growth, driven by domestic consumption rather than exports. That is why we are bullish on a stock like Joyalukkas. It fits perfectly with the India growth story. According to you, what are Chairman Joy Alukkas’s strengths? He is a visionary in this business, so much so that while I was in WGC, the Joyalukkas model of expansion was presented as a case study in India as well as in other emerging markets. Early on, he understood the importance of value addition and rapid expansion. While value addition by way of custom-sourcing from all over India and the world helped in developing the brand, his focus on high volumes ensured that the business is consistently healthy with good cash flow and margins, even while satisfying the widest range of customers. Are you enjoying your India visits? Where are you based these days? Definitely. I am impressed with all the progress India has made over the last years. I am now a resident and tax payer in India, but I visit Dubai frequently as my family stays there.
Rolf W Schneebeli, CEO
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growth one, going forward. I would attribute this Indian bullishness for gold, irrespective of the prices, to the event driven model of buying gold. Most Indian family events involve gold as ornaments or gift. Coming from Europe, I had trouble realizing this factor during my early years with India. But now I know the power of the Great Indian Wedding on this industry.
NOT JUST A
Bank of Maharashtra Bank of Maharashtra is hogging the limelight in the public sector banking space with all the right moves at the right times. While the bank was all set for a major re-rating by international agencies following a Rs. 588 crore capital infusion by the Government, Mahabank also came up with impressive first quarter results that registered a 58.25% rise in net interest income. The capital markets have responded enthusiastically with a 52-Week High of 67.90 on 3rd August, and now gunning to breach the all-time high
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of 96.50. The bank, which is already well on its way to be more than a Bank of Maharashtra, will expand panIndia more to achieve its FY’11 targets, in tune with Chairman Allen CA Pereira’s vision.
he capital infusion of Rs. 588 crore by Government came as not only an enabler for business expansion, but as a strong confidence building measure for more reasons than one. The figure was more than Mahabank’s existing equity base of Rs. 430.52 crore, and signaled more than doubling of capital. Moreover, this was despite Government of India having a high promoter stake of 76.77%. The new infusion is by way of perpetual non-cumulative preference shares (PNCPS) forming a part of Tier I Capital, and will strengthen the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), just in time for the big way in which credit is expected to pick up in the coming quarters. Not too long back it was the smallest public sector bank by market cap. But in this Platinum Jubilee year, Mahabank’s upward climb has finally begun. Already, two heavyweights from the SBI Group – State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Bikaner – as well as United Bank of India have been overtaken by this Pune headquartered PSB.
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Allen CA Pereira, Chairman
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Next in sight by market cap are majors like Dena Bank & Vijaya Bank – a target that may happen this fiscal itself, if the market wakes up to the fact that Mahabank already outperforms these two in total assets. Bank of Maharashtra’s first quarter results shows healthy growth with 16.30% growth in net profit year-onyear and net interest income up by an impressive 58.25% YoY. Q1 net profit stands at Rs. 118.4 crore while NII is at Rs. 410.5 crore. Sales is also up sequentially to reach Rs. 1280.21 crore. The Mahabank scrip has had an impressive price performance of nearly 58%, by which it upstaged a few peer public sector banks. However, the scrip has much room to appreciate with an attractive price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.16. The bank’s turnaround in 2009-10’s third quarter precisely coincided with its entry into 75th year of operation, in September 2009. The secret seems to be a reinvention of itself from being just a Bank of Maharashtra to a panIndia bank. With around 1500 branches and 350 ATMs spread over 25 states and Union Territories of the country – all of them integrated through 100% CBS – this is the strategy that delivered for Mahabank. For Chairman Allen CA Pereira, this should be a matter of pride as this was a core element of the vision that he spearheaded since assuming charge of Mahabank in June 2008. The bank is on a major recruitment drive of over 500 clerks to drive
Scenes from two villages in Karnataka and Maharashtra that have been adopted by Bank of Maharashtra. The bank is sponsoring 75 villages to mark their 75th year of operation.
The Mahabank scrip has had an impressive price performance of nearly 58%, by which it upstaged a few peer public sector banks. However, the scrip has much room to appreciate with an attractive price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35 and a price-tobook ratio of 1.16.
Chairman and Managing Director Shri Allen C A Pereira receiving the Rajbhasha Shield from the Governor of RBI – Dr D Subbarao on 26.5.2010.
Chairman and Managing Director, Shri Allen C A Pereira receiving the 9th 'Indira Marketing Excellence Awards' 2010
The recent performance of Bank of Maharashtra is commendable as it also excels in social banking, financial inclusion, and priority sector lending, with around 40% of its branches based in rural areas. In September 2009, MAHABANK had entered its 75th year of operation.
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expansion, and has adopted a novel recruitment method to fast track it. Bank of Maharashtra was established in the year 1936 as a private bank. It was listed on BSE as far back as 1958. In 1969, the bank was nationalized. As a good omen of the good days to come, in 1984 MAHABANK’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations was flagged off by none other than Dr. Manmohan Singh, the then RBI Governor. In 2004, the bank came up with its IPO, and by March of this year, MAHABANK became a 100% implementer of Core Banking Services (CBS), across its 1500 odd branches, and over 350 ATMs, spread over 25 States and UTs in the country. True to its roots in Maharashtra and its headquarters in Pune, the bank leads with most branches in the State, compared with all other PSBs. Bank of Maharashtra is also the Convener of the State Level Bankers Committee. MAHABANK is headed by Allen CA Pereira as its Chairman & Managing Director. A Post Graduate in Social Work (MSW), he was a Syndicate Bank veteran for over three decades, and was later the Executive Director of Oriental Bank of Commerce. He has also worked as an advisor to Indian Banks Association. Executive Director of MAHABANK, MG Sanghvi, is a Chartered Accountant by training, and is also a public sector banking veteran who started off in Bank of Baroda and spent much of his career in Dena Bank.
Bank of Maharashtra’s first quarter results shows healthy growth with 16.30% growth in net profit year-on-year and net interest income up by an impressive 58.25% YoY. Q1 net profit stands at Rs. 118.4 crore while NII is at Rs. 410.5 crore. Sales is also up sequentially to reach Rs. 1280.21 crore.
AUTO SCAN
List of 2010 upcoming bikes in India he year 2010-11 is full of joy for bike enthusiasts as a number of new bike models are ready to Introduce in the Indian auto market. One of the major twowheeler maker, India Yamaha Motor is all set to launch its New premium motorcycles and scooters in India including Yamaha SZ, Yamaha BWs(premium scooter) and Yamaha YZF R125. The new Yamaha SZ will be pitted against newly launched Bajaj Platina 125, Honda CB Twister, Bajaj Pulsar 135LS and Bajaj Discover 100cc. Yamaha Motor has not yet announced on the launch date and price tag of the company's upcoming bike, Yamaha SZ. But, according to the some news sources that it is expected to be launched in the month of September 2010 and will be available around Rs.55,000. Other leading two-wheeler major like Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has recently launched
a new sportier version of its flagship bike model, Honda Unicorn. The new version of Unicorn is named as Honda CB Unicorn Dazzler. It is priced at Rs. 62,500 (ex-showroom Delhi). Besides, the company is also planning to launched another superbike Honda VFR 1200F soon in India. Apart from HMSI, Suzuki Motorcycles has also rolled out its two new high end capacity spuerbikes in the auto market that include Suzuki Bandit 1250S and Suzuki GSX-R1000 with comes at an expansive prices. Piaggio, India's leading commerical vehicles manufacturer, will not be behind and geared up to launch new Piaggio Vespa LX125 scooter in India in the next two year. TVS Motor has launched India's first made gear-less motorcycle, TVS Jive in India. While the company introduced another cutting-edge gearless scooter in India, called as TVS Wego.
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Piaggio Vespa LX125
TVS-Jive
Bajaj Pulsar 135LS
Yamaha-YZFR125
TVS Wego
Honda CB Twister
Bajaj Platina
Yamaha BWS
Yamaha-SZ
ALTERNATE MEDICINE
Yoga Therapy
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Sandrine Jonckheere
Yoga therapy is an abridged form of Ashtanga Yoga; it is not separate from it. Yoga Therapy could be called a system of health care that helps treat human indispositions as naturally as possible, to alleviate pain and suffering through a set of exercises, both physical and mental. Ideally, yoga therapy is preventive in nature, as is Yoga itself, while being curative in many instances, soothing in others, and restorative in most. Rather than prescribe treatments, yoga therapy encourages awareness. Through age-old yogic techniques, we get to know ourselves better. Yoga therapy classes includes some breathing techniques, relaxation, guided meditation as well as specific postures adapted to each disease according to the capacity of the patient. On a physical level, therapeutique Yoga influence the innervations, vascularisation and the oxygenation of the sick organ, and optimize his metabolism, which is the curative process. On a psychological level, it re-balances the emotional sketch with the help of diverse postures, boost the nervous system trough breathing and relaxation, and sharpen the cognitive functions with the help of meditation. Few most commons pathological examples:
Digestives Diseases: Gastritis, reflux, ulcer, colopathie, chronique constipation, and indigestions. Any massage on the internal organs is beneficent: Kapalabhati, Nauli, Sasankasana (child pose with closed feast on the abdomen area) A lot of relaxation to help the patient releasing his stress (main causes of unbalanced digestive system)
Breathing Difficulties and ORL: Asthma, loss of voice, weak eyesight, disequilibrium. Any awareness & opening of the chest is beneficent. Floor Breathing: lower, middle, upper body Rib cage percussions (giving small tapes on the chest area to soften the tensions). Matsyasana (fish pose).
Orthopaedic Trouble and Neuro-muscular: Arthritis, scoliosis, and lumbago, sciatic, hernia. Any stretching of the vertebral spine is beneficent. Seating,
standing and laying down with back straight Light spine twist. Halasana (inverted postures). FOR GENERAL CALMNESS: Samavritti pranayama (square breathing) sitting or laying down. Start by listening to your breathing. Give equal time to inhalation and exhalation. Observe the suspension of breath between those 2 movements (up & down). Give equal time to those 4 sides: inhalation, suspension, exhalation, suspension. Start with a comfortable number 4 or 5, and then increase with practice. What counts is to look at each patient individually, the same disease might not have the same treatments, regarding of the age, the body constitution, the strength of mind, the physical ability, food habit, lifestyle etc. It is a long process, and only with patience, determination, positive thinking and regularity, the condition will improve.
DISINVESTMENT BONANZA: PSU FPOs GET READY
WHY PSU FPOS CAN BE
hen it comes to IPOs, public sector has always outplayed private sector. And that is why PSU IPOs are still a major draw. But when these same companies go for their follow-on public offers, the results have been, at best, mixed. Reasons are simple enough, the main being the excitement of pricediscovery missing. The FPOs have also been a challenge to these PSUs due to the pressure to price it lower than the volatile market price. But the upcoming FPOs of around eight public sector giants might have a silverline in the clouds if their main promoter, Government of India, as well as their managements play their cards right. Of these, Engineers India FPO has already been concluded. While GoI is selling a part of its stake in these companies to the public through the FPOs, most of these PSUs are also issuing fresh equity to fund their capex plans. Though the word monopoly is anti-competitive, there is no doubt that many of the upcoming FPOs are from monopolies and near-monopolies, which is a huge advantage when it comes to capital markets. Secondly, most of these PSUs mulling FPOs have extremely high promoter holding as of now, and as such enjoys
irrational valuations. This can provide for a kind of pricediscovery during the run-up to the FPO as well as during the FPO. Expect some short-term volatility over this, but in the long run the public might be fortunate enough to hold some of these scrips at more realistic valuations and attractive price points. Secondly, though these eight FPOs seem to appear as a pack now, due to the pressure to meet 2010 disinvestment targets, the fact of the matter is that for most of them the timing couldn’t be luckier. For example, while the definite up-tick in industrial growth will lift a scrip like Engineers India, a good monsoon is sure to help RCF and National Fertiliser, the gold boom is enough to help MMTC, the petroleum de-regulation is sure to help IOC, the upward direction of crude should help Shipping Corporation, the nation’s growing power needs should help Power Grid, and the resurgence in metals should help SAIL & Hind Copper. But even all these climatic factors will be put to test if the FPOs don’t provide much discount to retail investors as per the disinvestment vision. But the widespread thinking in retail circles is that the Governments and managements have learned from the recent debacles in the FPOs of NTPC, REC, & NMDC. Investment banking circles are also signalling for more rational valuations to offset for the low floats. Due to the sheer combined size of the upcoming FPOs, even the support of bail-out specialists like LIC may not be enough, if the pricing is unattractive for the value these scrips deliver. Seasonal Magazine brings an in-depth analysis on the upsides and downsides of two upcoming FPOs.
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LONG TERM WEALTH CREATORS FOR INVESTORS
SAIL FPO
Mega Capex Ahead, Expect Significant Value Unlocking
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Nobody can doubt SAIL’s sales or production capacity that easily dwarfs private sector giant Tata Steel. Nor can anyone fail to be impressed by its 100% adequacy in captive iron ores. The only trouble spots are its high labour cost and the need to import 70% of its coking coal, that makes it less profitable than it should be. But with a new Chairman in place – the youngest ever in its history and brought in from outside – Steel Authority
CS Verma, CMD
of India Ltd is tackling its challenges with a fresh vigour. By shifting more focus to value-added and speciality steels, and creating a new technology platform in alliance with global players like Posco and ArcelorMittal to use the domestically available non-coking coal, Steel Authority seems to be right on track. It is leveraging the newfound autonomy coming from the Maharatna status, as well as planning to power its expansion through an FPO of around Rs. 16,000 crore, at least half of which will be equity expansion. But investors will be weighing the peculiarity of last two years’ financial performance - with profits dipping for the first time in 200809 and sales dipping for the first time in 2009-10, ever since the decisive turnaround that star ted in 2006. However, with a comfortable price-toearnings of around 12, and trading at only 2.5X the book, the SAIL scrip is not severely overpriced, taking into account the capex ahead.
IOC FPO
Many investors mistake Reliance Industries as India’s top selling refinery. But the country’s top player continues to be Indian Oil Corporation and by a margin that RIL can’t easily bridge. But when it comes to profits, it is another story altogether. Still, nobody is lost on IOC’s potential
BM Bansal, CMD
if free market prices for petrol is extended to diesel, kerosene, and gaseous fuels. That is why market waits with bated breath on counters like Indian Oil, and their FPOs. And unlike cousin IOC is not a constituent of Nifty, and such low visibility can be a huge advantage in capital markets, going forward. Even if full free pricing remains unachievable, a further restructuring of the price regime can positively affect Indian Oil. Quantitatively, it is difficult to write off India’s largest business enterprise, ranked 105th on Fortune 500. However, due to the uncertainties with the price-control regime and the government subsidies, IOC has a track-record of springing nasty surprises, as it happened in 2007-08 and 2008-09, when profits dipped drastically. Retail investors considering the FPO route should be cautious on this front, as international crude prices and government policies have a telling effect on this counter. But with a P/E less than 8 and a P/B less than 2, there is no doubt that IOC is now available at a bargain.
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Bargain Price, But Long Wait Needed
MCA RECREATION CENTRE
MORE THAN A CLUB MORE THAN A SCHOOL MORE THAN AN OFFICE MORE THAN A HOME
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Mumbai Cricket Association’s Recreation Centre (MCA RC) is racing towards completing two years of existence. Even within this short span, the elite club has evolved into a lifestyle hub that enriches the life of all at home and office. No wonder then that MCA RC had to recently hike its membership to Rs. 15 lakhs to manage the hundreds of upperclass families and bluechip corporates that come searching for a membership here. The credit for the success of this joint venture goes to the influential Mumbai Cricket Association and the visionary infrastructure player, Shirke Group. Rajiv Wagh, Vice President of MCA RC, explains to Seasonal Magazine why this 14-acre British Raj themed luxury club in BKC, Mumbai, is truly one of its kind in the country.
More Than a School
More Than an Office If you thought MCA RC is all play and no work, you got it wrong. Harvard Business Review is coming to MCA RC with an HR event. The Businessworld Leadership Series is also happening, thanks to the initiative of MCA RC. Bureaucrats and local businessmen will have many things to cheer when the exhibition ‘Maharashtra Marches Ahead’ is staged in BKC. In the past too, MCA RC has taken the leadership role in promoting business interactions with events like CNBC Storyboard and ET CEO Chair being hosted at the club. A two-day corporate rink soccer was also held among advertising and media industries with teams coming from NDTV, Ogilvy, BBH, FCB Ulka, Group M, and many more.
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Imagine getting to celebrate Harry Potter’s Birthday on July 31st. Other upcoming events at MCA RC - by the kids, for the kids, and of the kids - include Friendship Day, Independence Day, Tourism Day, Teachers Day, Chess Championship, Squash Camp, and many more. The kind of variety and fun involved in these events are difficult to be there in any school, as MCA RC members’ children and their guests from different schools across the city make these occasions memorable, thanks to the great infrastructure and the greater planning. Past events at MCA RC that thrilled children include Sachin Tendulkar’s Birthday, the Cyclothon on World No Tobacco Day, and planting saplings on World Environment Day. The summer camp for 4-14 year olds was memorable with children learning a host of arts, crafts, sports, grooming lessons, and martial arts.
More Than a Club
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If a club is just about recreation, MCA RC is also about learning and self-development, even in sports. Major championships or training sessions are all set to happen in chess, snooker, & squash, not to mention the ongoing sessions at the MCA Indoor Cricket Academy. Ar t doesn’t take a backseat with all these sports however, with ‘Heartistic Expressions’ all set to highlight art based on festivities, in sync with the festival season that is about to kick off. Doctors’ Day celebrations will highlight the often overlooked medicine, a good laugh. MCA RC also distinguishes itself from other Mumbai clubs in its celebrity membership and celebrity participation with events from the recent past throwing up celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Bose, Ritesh Deshmukh, Prahlad Kakkar, Gaurav Kapoor, Mahesh Manjrekar, Bharat Dabolkar, and not to mention the Miss India contestants and winners.
More Than a Home There is nothing like home-sweet-home, but it is ironic that some domestic days of importance are better celebrated not in homes but in close-knit groups of friends and relatives. Take Mothers’ Day or Family Day, for instance. Both were celebrated with aplomb at MCA RC and it was no wonder that many emotions that are normally not shared in between our four walls were shared here to
Association Recreation Centre’s commitment to social causes, a First Giver’s Club is also being organized for facilitating serious donations to NGOs.
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laughter and joyful tears. In the coming weeks too MCA RC will host many a thankful event like Friendship Day, Independence Day, and Teachers Day, not to mention festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi. In tune with Mumbai Cricket
Residents to pool money, build their own homes A
As the realty rates soar making homes un affordable, a group of housing activists have taken an initiative to construct lowcost houses using the old model of cooperative society. Under the fourdecade-old model, a group of people come together, pool in money and build houses themselves. The first
project will be launched on August 15 in Vasai under the banner of Affordable Housing Welfare Organisation Of India (AHWOI).
includes common areas such as staircase, elevators and garden.
Ramesh Prabhu, chairman, AHWOI, said the scheme is a boon for homebuyers who cannot afford to buy in the current market. "The flats will be cheaper than those from private builders while we would also arrange for loans," said Prabhu.
The houses will range from Rs 7.5 lakh-10 lakh for 300-sq ft house and Rs 20 lakh for a 500-sq ft apartment. The cooperative society was started in 1920 with Talmakiwadi at Tardeo being the first such society to adopt the model. It becames a rage from 1960 till the 80s where about 10,000 societies built 5 lakh flats in Mumbai and Thane.
He said the 100 apartments would be sold on the basis of carpet area unlike private builders who sell on the basis of super built-up area. The buyers will save 40 per cent on the flat's cost. Carpet area is the usable area in the apartment between the walls. The super built-up area
In this scheme, AHWOI will purchase the plot and buyers will have to deposit 20 per cent of the total amount as the booking amount. AHWOI will arrange for a loan to fund the rest of the 80 per cent payment and the also stand a guarantee for the buyer. The homes
will be constructed within two years after which it would be given to the buyers. The buyers will pay 20 per cent of the total cost of the flat to AHWOI as professional fee for the project. In this scheme, 50 flats will be sold to Maharashtrians and the rest to others. Real estate experts termed this move an alternative method to create housing stock. "The idea seems good and the best thing is one does not have to depend on builders," said Pankaj Kapoor, MD, Liasas Foras, a leading real estate research firm. He cautioned that though everything looks good on paper, the actual implementation is a challenge.
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Mobile banking may soon get additional facility studs T
he Indian government may soon allow mobile operators and corporate bodies to offer services other than checking account status on mobile phones as a part of its efforts to bring banking facilities to the weaker sections of the society at affordable costs. Reserve Bank of India has been
asked to look into the feasibility issue of the prospect by a multi ministerial government panel led by the cabinet secretariat.
In case RBI gives its nod to the proposal, then NokiaMoney and other services of the kind can gain entry into the financial services sector of India and and entities such as the Bharti Airtel-Western Union
joint venture can offer mobile money transfers without utilising bank networks. Currently all tie ups of corporates and banks make money transfers using banks' networks. The first multi ministerial meeting held on July 2 also decided to allow opening of ‘mobile-linked-no-frills account' for all kinds of financial transactions to all citizens.
Cell phone advertisers’ cash registers to ring on 3G launch W
Advertisers are willing to exploit the medium, but lack of appropriate technology had pegged them back. 3G could be the technology that allows advertisers to showcase their wares in a cost-effective manner. So far, companies have not been too excited about mobile advertising as the complete brand experience cannot be delivered through SMSs and plain-vanilla WAP banner ads. However, 3G will allow much better
delivery of more advertising content.
creative
The Rs 20,000-crore advertising industry is poised for exponential growth as corporates have increased ad spends nearly 13% for the calender year 2010, say analysts. Compared with other advertising media like the internet and out-ofhome, mobile advertising is in nascent stages, but has the potential to garner 10% share of the advertising pie with the advent of 3G. Once 3G services are activated, users with 3G handsets will be able to download streaming video content on to their mobile devices and enjoy music videos, full-length movies and even live cricket matches. “Brands will get an additional platform to reach out to users with increased interactivity and acceptance. Mobile advertisements will get greater mileage as the smart phone device is just 6 inches away, compared with 12-14 inches for computers and 120 inches for television,” says Debadutta Upadhyaya, VP, India, Vdopia. With 3G, rich media advertising like video ads, will become a viable proposition and gain popularity among a critical mass of mobile users. Most ad delivery opportunities that the mobile provides, whether it is internet advertising or SMS advertising, would be enhanced by 3G networks. “With high data usage and availability of innovative services like live video based and MMS based advertising, rich content embedded ads would be practical,” said Rohit Dadwal,MD, mobile
marketing association. Mahesh Narayanan, country manager, AdMob, has observed an incremental rise in the time spent browsing web the over mobile phones and that presents a great opportunity for advertisers to engage with their customers. “3G will not only further increase mobile internet penetration and usage in the country, it will also allow advertisers to distribute richer content thereby enhancing user experience,” he added. A recent Ficci-KPMG report stated that 80% of Indians are open to receiving ads on their mobile phones in exchange for music downloads while 53% would view ads in exchange for free games. Moreover, with increased competition in the mobile services market, free minutes in return for advertisement on the mobile phone could be a market differentiator. “3G phones are very top-of-the-line. Unless 3G phones come out with a format to reach out to millions of customers, I don’t think it will make a vast difference to brand marketing, except for SMSs and irritating calls that we’re all familiar with,” says Divya Radhakrishnan, president, TME.
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ith 3G services likely to be introduced by the year end, advertisers are keen to capitalise on the new platform mobile phones to reach out to consumers efficiently.
Indus Students Start a School Students of Indus International School, Bangalore, display extreme capabilities by starting a new fullfledged international school for less fortunate cousins, under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray PVSM, CEO of Indus Trust, and powered by microfinance. The model has been appreciated by even HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
Structured on a microfinance platform, the students even ensured that their new school got sponsors and building designers. Says Lt. Gen Ray, “We felt that if any technology or curriculum claims to be the best in the world, it should not be exclusive to the rich.” This much decorated former General had even presented this model before Kapil Sibal, Central Minis-
ducation at international schools like Indus costs upwards of Rs. 15,000 a month. Education at the new international school started by Indus students cost Rs. 120 a month.
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And it is no ramshackle, poor kids’ school. How about Smart Board equipped classrooms? Or one laptop per child? Or a Wi-Fi campus? In fact all the core elements that make up Indus International School are there, including the IBO syllabus in primary school. The size is also impressive at 300 students. The school starts functioning from June 18th. However, the structure of the school has so many practical, down-toearth innovations that make this miracle possible for economically less fortunate students. Like its three-shift structure, its feel-athome cottage architecture, its teachers from lower middleclass backgrounds who have been trained by Indus in IB curriculum, peer tutoring by Indus students, and a shift to the more affordable CBSE curriculum in higher classes.
But the care goes deep. In order to ensure that there are no dropouts due to difficult situations at home, all students are being provided educational insurance and even medical insurance in association with Bangalore’s leading hospitals. The most unbelievable charm of the project is that the idea for the school, the detailed plans for the school, and even monitoring the execution of the project were by Indus students in classes 9 to 12.
ter for Human Resource Development, and won appreciation. Indus International School’s Unique Value Proposition is leadership development. Their motto – In Omnia Paratus – meaning ‘Prepared for All Challenges’ reflects this philosophy. Such ideas are not just educational jargon at Indus, but actively pursued frameworks. With around 1000 students from 28 countries, imaginative co-curricu-
lar programs, and excellent performance in international exams, the School is surging ahead in its mission to create better leaders for tomorrow. Imagine study tours to Leh & Ladakh. Climbing atop battle tanks, and river rafting in the Indus River. Or imagine assisting less-privileged students in other schools, with camps and training. Or imagine writing science articles for the inhouse Science Magazine. These are just samples of the kind of ‘beyond the classroom’ education being followed at Indus International School, Bangalore. The Indus Trust operates on a powerful idea – that those who are aspiring to groom future leaders should be exceptional leaders themselves. Indus International School
Kapil Sibal, The Union Human Resource Development Minister
highest award in Indian Armed Forces, has an exceptional academic & military track record behind him. Together with an equally illustrious group of Trustees & Executive Team, they created an exceptional school in every sense – ranging from outstanding values to sheer architectural beauty.
Sarojini Rao - Advisor ITARI Principal - Indus International School, Bangalore
embodies this towering vision in promoters like high-flying Silicon Valley technocrat Kumar Malavalli, noted industrialists HB Jairaj & Sushil Mantri, and a CEO like soldier-scholar-author-speaker Lt. General Arjun Ray. While Malavalli was the first Indian to be inducted into the celebrated ‘Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame’, a select club of 48 outstanding engineers; Lt. Gen. Ray, a recipient of Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM), the
Indus is a full-spectrum IB School. The Principal of Indus, Mrs. Sarojini Rao, is a University Gold Medallist and a double postgraduate in Education & Economics. She is trained in all the three IB Programmes (PYP, MYP, & DP). Admission to the Indus International School for grades 6 and above is based on written aptitude tests. Indus believes that all children possess specific intelligences in
which they are strong. Consequently, admissions will be based on the proclivity of the student especially mental organization, creativity and critical thinking skills. This concept is based on the idea of multiple intelligences. Indus has developed assessment yardsticks which will be applied to determine the proclivity of each child. The school accepts both boarders and day scholars.
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Shouquot Hussain - Officiating Director ITARI Vice Principal Indus International School, Bangalore.
Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray, CEO, Indus trust
SKS MICROFINANCE IPO:
Listing Gains or Long Term Gains?
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On one hand it was the IPO of the most aggressive player in the most promising market, and backed by legendary VCs like Sequoia, but on the other hand it was not only fully priced, but presented some confusion regarding how far will it go with a potentially lesser role for Founder Vikram Akula who reportedly fought hard with Sequoia regarding their proposal that SKS start the lucrative gold loan business. Will investors look to book profits post-listing or wait for longer value appreciation is the billion dollar question before SKS. Many investors might also be concerned about how politically motivated mass defaults can affect the long-term prospects of microfinanciers like SKS. The deciding factor is likely to be the presence of respected investors like NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys and Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
SKS Microfinance Ltd’s initial public offer was one of the keenly watched IPOs not only in India, but in many parts of the world, where either microfinancing or microfinance investments are in vogue. But investors, especially retail investors and HNIs are still mulling over whether to book profits post-listing or wait for a longer time-frame. Both the keen interest and the continuing investor doubts have strong reasons behind. The IPO enjoyed a grading of 4 that signaled above average fundamentals, while the company is backed by high profile investors like NR Narayana SKS Founder & CEO Vikram Akula with Silicon Valley Microfinance Network Interim ED April Newman & SVMN Founder and Microplace Founder Tracey Pettengill Turner
Suresh Gurumani, CEO Sangam (SKS) as a non-profit NGO, he shifted to McKinsey, and later came back to reinvent SKS as a for-profit NBFC that enabled the significant scaling up. However, there are several reasons behind continuing investor doubts regarding SKS Microfinance’s IPO. At the higher end of the offer price band of Rs. 985, SKS is offering its share at a price-to-earnings (P/E) of 35.37 and price-to-book-value of 4.76, with both ratios signaling high valuation. But such hefty pricing is the norm rather than the exception when industry leaders go for their IPOs, and considering the unique industry and growth model that SKS is pursuing, there will be investors who will be comfortable with this kind of pricing. But many investors will also be wary and might book profits soon after listing. Troubling such investors are recent price points like Rs. 300 and Rs. 636 at which key investors like Bajaj Allianz and Catamaran invested in SKS. Murthy’s Catamaran is expected to rake in three-fold profits after the IPO, though it won’t be selling the stake due to a two-year lock-in period. Another point of confusion for investors is Chairman Vikram Akula’s hold over the company. Since he has cashed out most of his stake prior to the IPO, and holds only around 6% stake now, there is some uncertainity regarding the future direction of SKS. Even with his earlier stake, a reportedly more socially conscious Akula had trouble balancing his vision for the company with that of the Board appointed CEO Suresh Gurumani who is a high profile banker aiming at maximizing the profits. Interestingly, Sequoia and other PE funds had to turn into promoter role to make this IPO possible as Vikram Akula’s stake was deemed too small a promoter stake by SEBI.
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Murthy of Infosys and Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. The IPO is making waves in the US too for a different reason. The recent closure of high-profile philanthropic microfinance accelerator company Unitus and their PE arm getting ready for windfall profits through the IPO is behind the controversy. SKS has benefited from larger-than-life philanthropists like Bill Gates through Unitus. Though microfinance shot into limelight thanks largely to Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus founded Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, SKS Microfinance is all set to upstage it shortly to become the largest microfinance institution (MFI) in the world. SKS, founded by Vikram Akula, has been moving up at a high growth rate of 200% in 2007 and 2008, and even now is estimated to have a growth rate of over 100%. Though both organizations are all about small loans to poor lenders who form self-help groups, their growth strategies have been quite different. While 94% of Grameen Bank’s equity is still held by its poor borrowers, SKS has leveraged private capital from West to scale up, resulting in significant dilution for the original small-scale equity holders. But the result of this SKS strategy is quite impressive – it has achieved similar milestones as Grameen Bank in less than onefifth of the time. If this sums up the main reason behind the keen investor interest, the second reason is even more appealing. India is the largest microfinance market in the world estimated to have a demand of over Rs. 2.5 lakh crore – due to its high population, high poverty levels, and high percentage of unbanked citizens. Thirdly, SKS Microfinance has been consistently satisfying the transparency requirements of high-profile institutional investors through internationally accepted accounting and reporting standards, as well as a stateof-the-art MIS, which is now being upgraded to a fullfledged ERP solution. All these factors combined have helped in attracting investors like Sequoia, Sandstone, Vinod Khosla, and Infosys Cofounder NR Narayana Murthy’s VC fund, Catamaran. Murthy agreed to fund SKS after his condition of creating an advisory council headed by him was met by the company. The council advises SKS on better corporate governance, better disclosure standards, and helps in charting the next stage of growth. The profile of founder and current Chairman Vikram Akula has also helped the company, as he is seen as a worldwide authority in scaling up microfinance. Akula, a Fulbright Scholar like Dr. Muhammad Yunus, took his Bachelors from Tufts, Masters from Yale, and his doctorate thesis at University of Chicago was on the impact of microfinance. After founding Swayam Krishi
FILM REVIEW
Most popular film of last year in festivals circuit. ‘Red Alert-The war within’
produced under the banner of Star Entertainments was released on 26th July. This film has already been highly appreciated at international levels in various film festivals. It is produced by T.P Aggarwal and Rahul Aggarwal. Directed by Anant Mahadevan, this film has already received two awards. First, from Stuart Film Festival, Germany, ‘’The Director Vision Award’’. And second, ‘’Best Actor Award’’ to actor Suniel Shetty from South Asian International Festival, New York. Other than this, at ‘’IFFI’’, Goa, the film was liked so much, that the audience literally stood up and started clapping. Based on a real story, this film has a big bunch of actors such as Naseerudin Shah, Suniel Shetty, Sameera Reddy, Seema Biswas, Ayesha Dharkar, Vinod Khanna, Makrand Deshpandey, Gulshan Grover, Zakir Hussain and Bhagyashree. The screenplay is written by Aruna Raje and Anant Mahadevan. Action is done by Allan Ameen. Cinemtography is by K.Rajkumar. Lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar and the music directors are Monti Sharma and Lalit Pandit.
Mr.singh Mrs.mehta Recently, Special show of film ‘Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta’ was held in PVR Cinemas, Juhu, Mumbai. For this Special show, the film’s heroine, Aruna Shields had specially flown back to India as she was in abroad. Aruna is being discussed all over because of her controversial nude scenes in the film.
First entries were made by the film’s director, Pravesh Bhardwaj, Boney Kapoor, Ashwini Chaudhary, Piyush Jha, Ramesh Sippy with wife Kiran Juneja, Karan Oberoi, Satish Kaushik, Rajesh Khattar with his soulmate, Anil Kapoor, one of the Bollywood’s known villain, Shakti Kapoor with Wife looking gorgeous in a long dress.
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Aruna Shields was the centre of attraction wearing a black backless gown. On this visit of Aruna Shieds to India she was very excited while saying “I hope people in India like my film” The other guests who engraced the show were producer Tutu Sharma with actress-wife Padmini Kolhapure and sister-in-law Tejaswini Kolhapure, actor Prashant Narayanan, Sudhir Mishra, producer Manu Kumaran who came all the way from to attend this show and Vashu Bhagnani. At last came the ever-shining Poonam Dhillon looking beautiful in a light green anarkali.
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HISTORY
WHAT INDIRA GANDHI'S EMERGENCY PROVED FOR INDIA Jayaprakash Narayan
No one with any claim to rationality would dispute that the Emergency in the mid-seventies of the last century was a sordid chapter in modern Indian history. With a single stroke of the President's pen on the night of June 25, 1975, the world's largest democracy was reduced to a tin-pot dictatorship, one of the many then infesting the Third World. To those of us who lived through it, the Emergency was a 19-month nightmare. It took an excruciatingly long time to flush out of the system the poison it had pumped into the body politic. In my biography of Indira Gandhi, published in 1989, I had called it 'her worst mistake, indeed cardinal sin.' There is no reason to change that opinion. No fewer than 100,000 people were arrested and detained indefinitely without trial; many times that number was harassed mercilessly. What a hammerblow it was to people's liberty as democratic decencies were chillingly underscored in the Supreme Court, by then totally pliant to the prime minister. The bold and lone dissenter on the bench, Justice H R Khanna, asked Attorney General Niren De whether a citizen had any remedy against being shot by a policeman for no rhyme or reason. 'My Lord,' replied De, 'my conscience is revolted, but under the law at present there is no remedy.' Yet I would be lacking in objectivity if I fail to take note of how the perspective on the Emergency has changed over the 35 years that have elapsed since then. This process may have been gradual but its outcome was brought home to me vividly at the time of Indira Gandhi's 25th death anniversary on October 31 last year.
From the late sixties up to long years after her assassination the bulk of the Indian intelligentsia was unwilling to listen to any good word about her. Last October its attitude was remarkably different. To be sure, in the talkathon on television channels and articles covering acres of newsprint, a few commentators did consider her 'irremediably evil' just as an equally small number held that she had done no wrong because she could do no wrong. However, the majority opinion of her was notably positive. Even those who declared that they would never forgive her for imposing the Emergency conceded that though she had indeed sinned, politically speaking, she was also sinned against. Indeed, there are signs of a growing consensus that the Emergency was 'scripted jointly' by her and JP, as Jayaprakash Narayan was called by one and all. The country's premier sociologist, Andre Beteille, historian Bipan Chandra and scholar Ramchandra Guha agreed that the 'anarchy' that JP was promoting and the 'authoritarianism' of Indira Gandhi and her son, Sanjay, were the 'two sides of the same coin.' Some others ask whether the saintly JP was justified in 'inciting' the armed forces and the police to disobey the government. There are other reasons for the changing view of the Emergency. A very important one is that much more than half the country's population was born after 1975. It knows little about the Emergency and cares even less. Moreover, with the passage of time, people are realising that governments are capable of doing terrible things without a formal proclamation of the Emergency. After all, what is the difference between what happened at Singur and Nandigram recently and the Turkman Gate incident in Delhi during the Emergency, or between the officially tolerated depredations of Haryana's khap panchayats today and the forced vasectomies during the Emergency's 'dark days'? There is no doubt that Indira Gandhi did use the Emergency to inflict lasting damage on the institutions that provide the underpinning to democracy by suborning or subverting them. Ironically, these were founded and nurtured by her even more illustrious father. But the question is whether she alone has to be blamed for this depressing development.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
L K Advani
In the first place what did the heads
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hirty five years ago, June 25, 1975, when most Indians today were not born, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency on the country. Democracy was suspended for 19 long months and India was reduced to a tin-pot dictatorship.
told his captors that the capital city was burning but the censors were suppressing the news. They seated him in a luxury car with windows made of one-way glass and drove him through most parts of Delhi. He returned to his hospital bed a dejected man.
of the august institutions, whose job it was to safeguard the integrity and autonomy of the organisations they presided over, do. They happily succumbed and bent over backwards to comply with the Emergency regime's dictates. In 2005, eminent lawyer Fali S Nariman wrote an article in which he pitilessly exposed the highest judiciary's feet of clay. A week before the Emergency was clamped down, as additional solicitor general (a job from which he resigned immediately after June 26) he appeared in a detention case on behalf of the government. The threeman bench, headed by A N Ray, who had just become chief justice by superseding three brother judges senior to him, lectured him sternly on the 'citizen's rights and liberties.' After the Emergency all three changed their lofty stand 180 degrees. As for the press, the nation's watchdog, it is impossible to improve upon the remonstrance to it by L K Advani, information minister in the Janata government: 'You were asked only to bend but you chose to crawl.'
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It is even more worrisome that though there have been ten prime ministers after Indira Gandhi, including Morarji Desai and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, none of them has done anything to restore the autonomy of languishing institutions. On the contrary, the current plight of these is much worse today than in her time.
Morarji Desai
For instance, the Vajpayee government cynically used the CBI for its political and partisan purposes. Under Manmohan Singh Morarji Desai the premier investigative agency has earned the nickname (Congress Bachao Institution). A vital fact we must all ponder is that when the Emergency was announced (though it had gone into force in secrecy on the previous midnight) there was absolutely no protest against it, never mind resistance to it. For a whole year, thanks to the JP Movement, almost the entire country, from one end to the other, was screaming that Indira Must Go. The press was also baying for blood. But when the hammerblow actually fell, there was dead silence. No wonder, the prime minister told a confidant: 'Not a dog barked.' In custody at New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, JP
On the Emergency's overview, I cannot do better than quote a friendly and objective foreign observer, Granville Austin, who has written a seminal book on the working of the Indian Constitution. In it he candidly states that the Emergency was imposed for the purpose of 'saving one individual's office,' and goes on to say that its imposition was 'not utterly without justification. Opposition parties' frustration had boiled over. The two sides' behaviour had combined to stretch democracy until it snapped.' He also wrote: 'Ugly as the Emergency was, New Delhi in 1976 was not Berlin under Adolf Hitler,' to which one might add, 'Nor Moscow under Stalin, Beijing under Mao, Santiago under Pinochet or Islamabad under Zia-ul Haq.' Also it is a comment of sorts on the Emergency, because of which Indira Gandhi suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1977 general election that she was back in power spectacularly in 30 months flat although in Vajpayee's words, she had been 'consigned to the dustbin of history.' The final and reassuring point about the Emergency is that it cannot be repeated. Leave aside the Constitutional safeguards and the hugely changed configuration of political forces. The material fact is that if Indira Gandhi's Emergency proved anything at all, it established that India would be governed, to the extent it can be governed, democratically or not at all. By Inder Malhotra, a distinguished journalist and the author of Indira Gandhi: A personal and political biography.
AUTOMOTIVE
M&M Eyes Twin Proton Deals Mahindra & Mahindra is in talks with Malaysia’s Proton for two India-specific projects that can lead to the launch of the Lotus range of sports cars and a joint venture to make Proton’s small cars. Sources close to the negotiations said Anand Mahindra had recently visited Indonesia where Proton manufactures the Lotus. The brand was bought over by Proton in the mid-1990s from Bugatti when the latter went bust.
Besides the racing car T127, Lotus makes the Elise, Exige, Europa and Evora sports cars. The Elise, with a Toyota engine, and the Exige have reported good sales in the US. The 2-seater Europa, also called the Grand Tourer, has not done well, with critics carping about the high price. Sources said the Indian company was looking at both the low and high-end segments to complete its range of vehicles, and Lotus fitted in vis-à-vis the premium range. In line with this strategy, the
Mahindras are also in talks for a joint venture to make certain Proton models.
simultaneously; M&M just now was keeping the negotiations separate for the small car and Lotus.
The car most suitable is the Proton Savvy and its variants. This is a super mini car with a 1200cc Renault engine. It can go 24km per litre of fuel under test conditions and 16-18 km in normal situations.
Korea moves
The Mahindras’ earlier talks with Proton in 2007 got scuppered. Proton had since held talks with Ajay Singh-promoted Argentum Motors, which owns the former Daewoo plant, to produce the car. However, the talks did not yield results. The sources said discussions on the two projects were being held
It would take stock of the two talks after assessing the outcome of its bid for SsangYong Motors. The Mahindras are doing due dilligence before submitting its final bid for the South Korean company. Earlier this month, Korea’s SsangYong had shortlisted six companies that had submitted letters of intent to buy the car maker, which has been under a court-led restructuring since early last year. The deadline for the bids is July 20. SsangYong is owned 10 per cent by China’s SAIC Motor Corp. Though M&M has cash balances worth Rs 1,700 crore and a debt-toequity ratio of around 0.4:1, it does not want to strain itself by entering into too many deals. Sources close to the deal said, “A lot will depend on whether the SsangYong deal goes through.” The Mahindras are also picking up a 51 per cent stake in a joint venture based in Ras Al Khaimah that sells armoured cars in West Asia and Africa. M&M’s defence division has experience in building such cars.
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The talks on the Lotus could be confined to just buying the rights to make certain models under a licence or result in a joint venture for the business.
The Mahatma's
Blood Report to Go on Sale Mahatma Gandhi's haemoglobin level, blood colour index and red blood cell count, as recorded 10 days before his assassination, will see the light of day when Los Angelesbased billionaire James Otis puts the blood report up for auction within a week. A yellowed sheet of paper containing the results of a blood test conducted on the Mahatma on January 21, 1948, at Irwin Hospital ( now known as the LNJP Hospital) lies in a bank locker owned by Otis, who is a descendant of the man who invented the elevator.
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Otis last made headlines in March 2009 when he put up for auction Gandhi's iconic spectacles and Zenith pocket watch dating back to 1910, for which liquor baron Vijay Mallya coughed up $ 1.8 million ( Rs 9.3 crore at rates prevailing last year).
With the money Otis raises from the present auction, he says he will fund the non-violent overthrow of the dictatorial regimes of El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The announcement by the maverick art collector and documentary filmmaker was met with predictable anger by the more vocal descendants of the Mahatma. Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, vice chairperson of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti and Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, says, "The blood report is a personal document. I really don't know how to react to this. Otis says he is very wealthy. If so, why
Otis was in the thick of controversy last year over his decision to place five personal items of Gandhi up for auction at Antiquorum Auctioneers, New York.
doesn't he use his own money to fund non- violent struggles, instead of resorting to such auctions?" The place for the blood reports, says Bhattacharjee, is a museum and not an auction. But the Mahatma's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, says he couldn't be bothered about the auction. "Otis is sitting on many more Gandhi items. He is going to keep doing this," says the man who had been most vocal in his opposition to the March 2009 auction. Otis has in his possession "hundreds" of Gandhi items with letters to establish their authenticity. He has been sourcing these for over a decade now. He declined from
saying where he picked up the blood report from and when and where it will be auctioned, saying he will make an announcement soon. "I would like the proceeds of the auction to go to three or four peace organisations using nonviolent means to oppose the governments in Latin America," is all that he is prepared to disclose at the moment. All of last year, claims Otis, he has been delivering talks on non- violent ways of overthrowing the governments in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Otis was in the thick of controversy last year over his decision to place five personal items of Gandhi up for auction at Antiquorum Auctioneers, New York. These included a sterling silver keyless Zenith pocket watch with an alarm used by the Mahatma between 1910 and 1915, and a bowl and plate he had gifted to his grandniece Abha. The items come with a letter of authentication from Gita Mehta, Abha Gandhi's adopted daughter.
" My job is to promote his work and raise more money to spread his message." The blood reports, he says, are " yellow and crinkly", but he has taken care to preserve them in acidfree plastic to make sure that the paper is not oxidised further. includes two letters, " a beautiful photograph of Gandhi in a big British automobile" and a cotton shawl worn by him, which he had acquired at a Boston auction. He says he used to take the items to private dinners to spread Gandhi's message.
Otis maintains that he has decided to go for another auction because it is time to bring Gandhi's message into the My job is to promote spotlight yet again. " Few are speaking of Gandhi's hard work," his work and raise more he says. money to spread his
"
Guiding him closely on his Gandhi collection is Prof Lester Kurtz, his teacher whom he met over 20 years " My job is to promote his work message." The blood ago at the University of Texas in and raise more money to spread Austin, when they were arrested reports, he says, are " his message." The blood reports, together during a non- violent protest. yellow and crinkly he says, are " yellow and crinkly", Since then, Otis and Kurtz have but he has taken care to preserve worked together them in acid- free plastic to make on a range of projects on non- violent sure that the paper is not oxidised further. movements. Kurtz is now a professor in the Department of Sociology and " I don't want his items to sit in my private collection. Anthropology at George Mason They don't help anybody by lying in safe deposits," University, Fairfax (Virginia). he says. On a visit to India last year - he had then been advised to wear a bullet- proof jacket - Otis had apologised for angering Indians, and said, " I would never try to make profit of a man who has guided me spiritually all my life." He now says the proceeds from the Antiquorum auction have gone to the USbased Albert Einstein Institution, and other organisations promoting non- violence, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Office of the Americas.
Kurtz, says Otis, possesses a vial of Gandhi's blood and ashes - but he would never sell it. " It would be disgraceful to sell it, though he would consider donating it for a worthwhile cause," says Otis. He himself is willing to donate his Gandhi collection to the Government of India - provided it promises to help fund non- violent causes and exhibits the items across the world.
Otis's extensive collection of Gandhi memorabilia
He may draw flak from the descendants of the Mahatma but Otis is in no mood to back down from his selfproclaimed mission.
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"
In Good Momentum Now Punjab National Bank has come out with good first quarter numbers, and considering its giant size, the results are impressive. On a year-on-year basis, net profits rose 28.37% to clock Rs. 1068 crore. The performance is note worthy as it was a quarter in which non-core income declined for the bank from Rs. 1031 crore to Rs. 871 crore. The real driver was net interest income that rose more than 40% to reach Rs. 2619 crore. However, the bank experienced a sequential dip in net profit, which comes across as largely due to the high base in net profit formed in the last quarter. The PNB scrip has had an average price-performance of around 55% year-to-date, but has lately started accelerating. For its size and potential PNB still trades moderately with a price-earnings multiple of just 8.35 and just slightly more than twice its book value.
Signs of an Emphatic Turnaround
Outperforms, But Needs to Steady More
Central Bank of India has come up with one of the best first quarter results among all banks in the country, with net income and net profit up significantly, both yearon-year and sequentially. Q1 net profit touched Rs. 337 crore, while net interest income was up 94% to touch Rs. 1119 crore. Other highlights include healthy rises in advances and net interest margin and a healthy dip in gross NPAs. The Central Bank scrip has had an impressive price-performance of 65% year-to-date, but there is enough room left for appreciation. The PSB has one of the most valuefor-money scrips available in the market today, trading barely above 6 by way of price-to-earnings and barely above 1.5 times its book value.
Bank of Baroda has come up with 25.33% year-on-year growth in the first quarter. The bank reported a net profit of Rs. 859 crore. The highlights of this quarter include deposits increasing by 27%, advances rising by 25%, net interest income rising by 54.23% to Rs. 1858 crore, and both domestic and global net interest margins rising. However, BoB has registered a sequential dip in net, and a YoY dip in treasury income. The stock has a year-todate price performance of over 73%. But the BoB scrip is still attractively trading for investors with a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68 and and price-to-book ratio of 1.76.
Outperforming, Yet Again Union Bank of India has come up with an excellent set of first quarter numbers, that is good by most counts. Net profit is up by 35.91% to touch Rs. 601 crore. The profit growth is on strong core performance with net interest income up by 68.16% to reach Rs. 1348 crore. The Q1 results are all the more healthier as sequentially also the income and profits have grown, even though moderately. With this Union Bank has continued its un-dipping profit growth for five sequential quarters. Union Bank scrip has had only a moderate priceperformance of 36.87% year-to-date, and it is all the more reason for significant price appreciation in the coming days, as it trades at a price-earnings ratio of just 7.24 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.84. Union Bank should command much better valuation as despite being a public sector bank, it has implemented many cutting-edge practices of new-generation private sector banks.
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Lives Up to its Promise UCO Bank’s first quarter results have come in as healthy, especially on a year-on-year basis. Net profit is up by 45.25% to reach Rs. 260 crore. This performance is robust as the main driver has been net interest income itself which vaulted by an impressive 119.44% to reach Rs. 937 crore. However, the bank dipped in net profit sequentially. This is more likely due to the large base formed in net profit during the last quarter, and in any case, net interest income is up sequentially too. The UCO Bank scrip has had an impressive year-to-date price performance of around 122%, but the stock is still one of the most attractive PSB equities, trading at a very low priceearnings multiple of 4.87 and a modest price-to-book ratio of 1.48.
Karnataka Bank’s first quarter results show good performance year-on-year with net profit up by over 16% to reach Rs. 46.5 crore. The growth is based on fundamentals as the rise in net interest income is more impressive. However, the sequential growth has slowed down, with net profit dipping, but the traditional private sector bank managing to avoid a dip in net income. The bank has announced a 2:5 rights issue to raise capital and has also negated rumours about being a takeover target. The Karnataka Bank stock has had a moderate year-to-date priceperformance of around 22%, but the rights issue can build momentum going forward. For a healthy private sector bank, Karnataka Bank trades rather attractively with a price-toearnings of only 13.15 and a priceto-book of only 1.24.
Near Impressive Milestones Karur Vysya Bank’s first quarter results signal that the private sector bank is continuing its out performance not only for its customers and employees, but for its shareholders. Net profit is up by
Breakout Matches Results Dena Bank’s first quarter numbers have come in as healthy, signaling bright prospects in the quarters to come, with net profit rising by over 20% year-on-year, and the midsized PSB continuing an undipping run in net profit for the last six sequential quarters. The net profit rise was robust, backed by an over 15% rise in net income, which now stands at Rs. 1114.68 crore. Aided by a recent major breakout in prices, Dena Bank today registers an impressive priceperformance of around 85%. Still, Dena Bank remains one of the most attractive PSB investments with a very low price-earnings ratio of 5.51 and an equally low price-tobook ratio of 1.23. more than 20% on a year-on-year basis to touch Rs. 84.4 crore. This performance is solid as net interest income is also up by nearly 20%, signaling stable margins. Net interest income for the quarter stands at an impressive Rs. 490 crore, a tad short of the 500 crore mark. However, net profit has dipped sequentially, owing more to the outperforming last quarter. The KVB stock, which has from long back caught the fancy of celebrity investors like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has had an impressive price-performance of over 95% year-to-date, but is still available attractively at a price-earnings multiple of 9.54 and just above twice its book value. This valuation is attractive for a private sector bank, which even while having the safety of a traditional bank, has implemented the best practices of new generation banks.
Good Sequential and Interest Performance Indian Overseas Bank’s first quarter results is a mixed affair, with both sequential income and profits up significantly. But on a rather high base in June 09, the first quarter net profit of Rs. 200.44 crore is a dip. Still, the income is also up year-on-year. Further, the net interest income has surged significantly from Rs. 768 crore to Rs. 906 crore. The IOB scrip has a moderate price-performance of around 32% year-to-date, but the scrip is attractively placed now, trading at nearly its book value, and a not so high price-toearnings ratio of 10.63.
Rebounding From the Dip Andhra Bank’s first quarter result is not only about a decent year-onyear growth but a strong sequential rebound after last quarter’s dip. The Q1 net profit has touched Rs. 320 crore. The performance is fundamentally good with net interest margin improving significantly to 3.72% from 2.85%. The Andhra Bank scrip has had an impressive price-performance of nearly 58% but the stock has not run up too much, with room left for investors. The scrip is trading at an attractive price-to-earnings of 6.36 and a notso-hefty price-to-book of 1.60.
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Rights Issue Can Take Growth Further
Steady Move Up the PSB Rungs
Grows Further, But More Pace Needed
Bank of Maharashtra’s first quarter results shows healthy growth with 16.30% growth in net profit yearon-year and net interest income up by an impressive 58.25% YoY. Q1 net profit stands at Rs. 118.4 crore while NII is at Rs. 410.5 crore. Sales is also up sequentially to reach Rs. 1280.21 crore. The Mahabank scrip has had an impressive price performance of nearly 58%, by which it upstaged a few peer public sector banks. However, the scrip has much room to appreciate with an attractive price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.16.
Steadily Moving Up
Corporation Bank is continuing its growth pattern with first quarter net profit up both year-on-year and sequentially. The bank reported a net of Rs. 333 crore which is up by almost 27.50%, and seque ntially by 6.62%. The growth in net interest income, year-on-year, is impressive at 49.30% to reach Rs. 698 crore. The Corp Bank stock has a year-on-year price perfor mance of nearly 67%. Still, the scrip is attractively available at a price-to-earnings ratio of 7 and a price-to-book ratio of 1.42.
Oriental Bank of Commerce is continuing on its growth curve with first quarter net profit up 41% yearon-year and 14.49% sequentially. The bank reported a net profit of Rs. 363 crore. OBC hasn’t dipped in sales or profits for the last five five quarters. One highlight of this quarter’s result is that net interest income is up by 118% at Rs. 1057.2 crore. The stock has a year-to-date price performance of over 123%. But the OBC scrip is still attractively positioned for investors with a priceto-earnings ratio of 8.18 and priceto-book ratio of 1.27.
Healthier and Steadier Than Before Vijaya Bank has come up with a robust performance in the first quarter, which is better than many of its bigger peers. Net profit has risen from Rs. 143 crore to touch Rs. 173 crore on a year-onyear basis. Signalling health in core operations, net interest income is also up by a similar margin to touch Rs. 446 crore from the yearago figure of Rs. 341 crore. Making the results noteworthy is the fact that sequentially it has been an even better performance in net profit, while net income growth also held ground in a quarter-onquarter analysis. Vijaya Bank stock has had an above-average price performance of 68% year-to-date. But the scrip remains very attractive for investors as its price-earnings ratio is a low 6 and it trades just above its book value with a 1.21 P/BV.
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Results a Mixed Bag Federal Bank’s first quarter results presents a mixed bag. The bank’s net profit of Rs. 131.86 crore is down year-on-year but up sequentially. In contrast, Federal’s sales of Rs. 951.79 is up yearon-year but down sequentially. Though it signals that growth is yet to stabilize, the down percentages are much less than the up percentages. The Federal stock which had a run-up during the past several weeks, now trades rather heftily compared with public sector banks, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, but which is still at a discount to private banks average P/E. The price-to-book value is also reasonable at 1.24.
Kunnath Pharma's Musli Power X-Tra Passes Fifth Test for Viagra, Cialis, Steroids Maharashtra Government’s Drug Testing Lab has become the fifth in the country to fail in finding any alleged allopathic molecules in the rapid selling ayurvedic product, Mulsi Power X-Tra, manufactured by Kerala based Kunnath Pharmaceuticals. Earlier, the NIPER Institute in Chandigarh, Sargam Laboratories in Chennai, and Government Drug Testing Labs in Trivandrum & Ernakulam had failed to find the presence of allopathic drugs in this ayurvedic formulation. Specifically tested molecules were erectile dysfunction drugs like Sildenafil (Viagra), Tadalafil (Cialis), and synthetic steroids. A couple of foreign labs had also yielded similar results on Musli Power X-Tra. Speaking on the development, Kunnath Abraham told Seasonal Magazine, “Some of
tests have failed prove that Musli Power X-Tra is
these tests were voluntary and some based on
a pure ayurvedic herbo-mineral formulation that
samples randomly confiscated through raids
doesn’t need adulteration with harmful allopathic
and other means. The fact that both kinds of
molecules to be effective.”
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Pharma founder and Managing Director KC
JSS MAHAVIDYAPEETHA
Learning From Real World Leaders
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Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam with His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji.
Sam Pitroda
Nandan Nilekani
India’s largest educational organization in the nongovernmental sector had its Golden Jubilee 6 years back. But the celebrations continue at JSS Mahavidyapeetha, that uphold their track-record in providing real world education. The latest came in the form of a Golden Jubilee Memorial Lecture by Scientist CNR Rao, President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. The earlier Golden Jubilee lectures were by Nandan Nilekani, President of Unique BN Betkerur
aimed at protecting native seed varieties, and in creating valueadded agro products. Prof. BS Basavarajaiah, a senior civil engineer working at JSS Research Foundation, was recently appreciated by the Karnataka public for undertaking the installation of a 200 tonne Bahubali statue in Dakshina Kannada District for free. JSS Mahavidyapeetha is an initiative of Mysore’s Suttur Mutt, currently headed by Pontiff His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Sri Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Mahaswamiji. JSS is home to 300 institutions, 5000 teachers, and 60,000 students. JSS institutions range from a
Identification Authority and co-founder of Infosys, and by Sam Pitroda, India’s telecom visionary. The lectures were truly befitting this organization that has none other than former President of India and ace scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in its faculty. Mysore headquartered JSS is truly hands-on in its programs and in the approach of its teachers. In association with key ministries and departments of Government of India, JSS is now implementing an ambitious agricultural program across Karnataka,
community of schools, to a medical college, and even a University. The Group also has operations in Dubai and Mauritius, and is professionally managed by a team headed by BN Betkerur, former IAS officer. JSS has strategic tie-ups with some US Universities, as well as a few noted global technology companies.
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CNR Rao
Portable fuel cell powers gadgets with water new handheld fuel cell system can power or charge your phone or GPS using hydrogen extracted from water. Yes, water.
$US10 each and a USB flashlight module thrown in for those who order before June 30. We don't have Australian availability information yet, but will update this story when we receive it.
You may have some trouble convincing airport staff to let you fly with it, but Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has achieved a long-awaited gadget milestone with the launch of a handheld fuel-cell device the company claims will deliver as much power as 1000 AA alkaline batteries over its lifetime.
Perhaps the coolest part of the Horizon solution comes in the form of the Hydrofill Personal Hydrogen Station, an AC-powered device that fills the HydroStik with hydrogen sourced from – yes, seriously – tap water.
Fuel cells have been posited as an alternative source of power for years, with extensive ongoing research working on ways to miniaturise and stabilise fuel-cell technology to provide the first real alternative to good old AAs.
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Horizon’s solution relies on a purpose-built cartridge, called a HydroStik, which is refilled from a “desktop hydrogen supply”. HydroStiks are inserted into the MiniPak, a handheld conversion unit that produces 1.5W to 2W of continuous power and includes a standard 5V USB port to enable direct plugging-in of any USBdependent device. Adapter tips support a variety of smartphones and GPS units from Motorola, LG, Sony, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, BlackBerry, HTC, and Garmin (here’s the official video complete with 80s-styled synthpop ambient music). The $US99 starter pack comes with the MiniPak unit and two HydroStiks, with additional HydroStiks costing less than
The device appears to use your garden-variety electrolysis to separate the hydrogen gas from good old haych-too-owe, then store it in what Horizon calls “a solid metallic state” within a metal hydride sponge that lets each cartridge store up to 12Wh of energy. To produce power, the cell draws in oxygen in measured amounts, creating a controlled combustion reaction that produces electricity for the USB port, and a small amount of water vapour. Whether or not they can singlehandedly stem the torrent of billions of discarded batteries dropped into our landfills every year remains to be seen, but with fuelcell technology like this now readily available – and higher-powered versions in the works for other devices (read: laptops) – consumer-level fuel cells are no longer the stuff of science fiction.
Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and Visitor, IDRBT, presented the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards for the year-ended December 2009 on June 18, 2010. Speaking on the occasion,Dr. Subbarao focused on the importance of financial inclusion, the role of technology, and the way forward for technology in Banking. Pointing to the catalytical role of financial inclusion, he stressed that the focus now clearly has to be to facilitate “inclusion” first and “Interoperability” can follow. Further, mobile telephony has an important role and mobile service providers collaborate with banks to provide value added services.
Dr. K. C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, dwelt upon the importance of the awards and the crucial role being played by IDRBT in adding technology absorption in banks. Complimenting the efforts of the Institute, he said that the Reserve Bank of India has set up many organizations and Institutions, but IDRBT is the “jewel” among all of them.
Outlining a way forward for technology in Banking, he stressed that “the deepening of the use of technology in banking requires that it be accompanied by good IT governance which is a sub-set of good corporate governance. Banks must put in place robust risk management systems encompassing effective infrastructure, security policies, incident reporting and
The Institute, with a view to infuse a spirit of healthy competition and accelerate the process of technology implementation and innovation among various banks in the country, instituted the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards in the year 2001. These Awards from the Institute are meant to act as catalysts by recognizing and rewarding the efforts of banks aimed at better use of technology, greater levels of technology absorption, and improved levels of customer service and satisfaction through innovative use of technology.
Shri. P.Jayarama Bhat , MD & CEO, Karnataka Bank Ltd receiving the award from Dr. K.C.Chakrabarty, Dy.Governor, RBI
Mr. Vikram Sud, Group COO ,Kotak Mahindra Bank receiving the award from Dr. K.C.Chakrabarty, Dy.Governor, RBI
Dr. D.Subbarao, Governor, RBI presenting the award to Shri P.T.Kuppuswamy, Mg. Dir & CEO, Karur Vysya Bank Ltd
Mr. K.R.Kamath, CMD, Punjab National Bank receiving the award from Dr. D.Subbarao, Governor, RBI.
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business continuity management. Also, these management systems must be subject to regular review and monitoring. The second priority issue on the way forward is the quality control of data and its use for improving banking efficiency. The next priority is protection of information and customer confidentiality. Last and possibly the most important is the need to guard against what can be called a technology barrier between the bank and the customer.”