No.51948, 5,740,000,000 INR

Painted by action-painter Jackson Pollock, this inexplicable (literally!!) work of art, named just as bafflingly, “No.5 1948” is the most expensive painting to have been sold till date. Oil on canvas, and created in a drip style, the painting is an interesting mix of earth tones, black & white and holds the imagination of the greatest artists, captive. If the painting doesn’t, its price tag is sure to confuse you! And yes…this was deliberate, if you thought otherwise!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

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Community faces external pressure

Internal strife apart, the community faces external pressure as well—primarily from environmentalists who believe the heavy usage of poisonous chemical substances on the idols is polluting the Hooghly. Responding to these allegations, Bhabesh Pal retorts, “Artists do their jobs in the best possible manner. It’s for the Government to decide the aft ermath. We’ll follow whatever they instruct us to do.” Child labour issues, which are oft en raised against Kumartuli make Mintu Pal smile, “Th is is art! Unless someone starts taking interest in this art in early years, he can never be an artist! Moreover, boys below 15-16 years aren’t generally allowed to join this profession.” Babu Pal though has a diff erent view, “Yes, people talk what they hear! Can’t they see the development initiatives taken by us? We arrange personal and business loans for the artists. We take care of free education of the artists’ children here! Eye specialists visit once a week and general physicians come twice a week. We arrange all these services – absolutely free of cost! I don’t see anyone talking about these!”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
Another hogwash!
COMMUNALISM
While the mayhem continues!
Billions spent on million light years...
The art of splitting hair?
POTA? Funny!
The army’s fallen behind China
The Man of Steel gets his hands in Oil
HLL ‘Lever’ ages the power of Hindustan

Liquidity expansion

Craig Alexander, Vice President & Deputy Chief Economist, TD Bank Financial Group, comments, “This time, there are no rate cuts as we saw in 2001, so the liquidity expansion hasn’t been as broad based. The way liquidity is being injected is through repos, which means the central bank will buy them back in few days. So, the money will not remain in the system and will not fuel markets or it won’t be inflationary pressures.” But a possible cut in interest rates carries problems like markets again getting supplied with cheap money fuelling more bubbles and most excruciatingly fueling inflation. Asking for a rate cut at this point in time will bring some relief, but it will again lay the foundations for another crisis of this sort in the future, but with even more debilitating effects than what the world is experiencing now. John Hawksworth, Head of Macroeconomics, PricewaterhouseCoopers, UK, voices, “There does not appear to be an immediate need for a cut in the key Federal Funds rate, although this might be considered at the Fed’s next scheduled meeting on September 18, 2007. Any such decision to cut rates should, however, be based not just on financial market developments but on broader economic fundamentals of relevance to the outlook for growth and inflation in the US economy.” The prudence that has been displayed by the Fed and other central bankers might just go down the drain if they rope in a rate cut, which is anything but wise. At this juncture, a rate cut could well end up as our ‘fate’ cut! Period!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
Another hogwash!
COMMUNALISM
While the mayhem continues!
Billions spent on million light years...
The art of splitting hair?
POTA? Funny!
The army’s fallen behind China
The Man of Steel gets his hands in Oil
HLL ‘Lever’ ages the power of Hindustan

Retail is equally bullish

Ebony Retail is equally bullish on the prospects, based on past experiences. “We will be coming out for the first time with promotional campaigns exclusively for the festival season and there will be free gift s also as I believe these are a must to attract consumers. Last year, we have seen a jump in turnover by 15% in September to November period and this year also we have targeted 20%,” Lalit Kumar, CEO, Ebony Holdings Ltd. In the same league, Reliance Mart, which has just debuted recently, is busy chalking out some of its own promotional plans. “All our stores will definitely have promotional activities and we will be bringing in more and more brands as well. We will also come out with campaigns for various festivals,” affirms Manu Kapoor, spokesperson for Reliance Retail Ltd.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
Another hogwash!
COMMUNALISM
While the mayhem continues!
Billions spent on million light years...
The art of splitting hair?
POTA? Funny!
The army’s fallen behind China
The Man of Steel gets his hands in Oil
HLL ‘Lever’ ages the power of Hindustan

Profitable results

Profitable results for SpiceJet in the quarter ending June 2007 have brought a rare burst of good news for the sector. Moreover, with the behemoths Jet & Kingfisher putting their muscle behind JetLite & Air Deccan respectively, one could expect the ‘no-frills’ festivities to continue. And all players would want to pitch in, with promotional schemes & greater connectivity. Celebrating the spirit of the season, low cost carrier GoAir has come out with a special offer that permits customers to plan and book their tickets in advance for the season. With tickets priced as low as Rs.225, GoAir sees this festive season starting September as another opportunity after the summer holidays to celebrate with their valued flyers. Air Deccan, on the other hand, has been hiking fares owing to increase in fuel prices, but might in fact throw caution to the wind for the coming period. According to a spokesperson from the company, “Air Deccan has released 1,50,000 tickets at special low fares. These tickets are widely available across all sectors for travel in September this year.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Read More:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
Another hogwash!
COMMUNALISM
While the mayhem continues!
Billions spent on million light years...
The art of splitting hair?
POTA? Funny!
The army’s fallen behind China
The Man of Steel gets his hands in Oil
HLL ‘Lever’ ages the power of Hindustan

Greetings dear customers! ‘Present’ing...

Needless to say, celebration time evokes a heavy overdose (notwithstanding the tummy upsets!) of fooding, snacking and general munching. So around this time, global biggies like Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Cadburys and other confectionary makers leave no stone unturned to Indianise and market their products to compete with the traditional, time-honoured Indian sweet makers. Last year, if the market was loaded with exciting gift packs of soft drinks & juices in bright red bags from Cola-Cola India, arch-rival PepsiCo rolled out gift packs under its snack brand Kurkure. This year promises to be no exception, as Deepika Warrier, VP – Marketing, Frito Lay India confirms to B&E, “We have an active festive calendar for our consumers lined up, with a range of gift box offerings, that will be available at multiple price points offering choice to our consumers.” Trailing the success of Tropicana as a gift item, what with the urban Indian becoming more health conscious, Dabur India also has plans to introduce four new variants of Real & Real Activ during the festive season.


For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Also Read:-
The Sunday Indian - Greatest News weekly
IIPM, GURGAON
Maya jaal spreads far & wide!
Another hogwash!
COMMUNALISM
While the mayhem continues!
Billions spent on million light years...
The art of splitting hair?
POTA? Funny!
The army’s fallen behind China
The Man of Steel gets his hands in Oil
HLL ‘Lever’ ages the power of Hindustan

Fastive carnival

Looks like the sector is looking towards hitting a home-run this festive carnival. But the festival season does not bring in the same opportunities to everyone. While speaking to B&E, Atul Mehrotra, Director, UPPAL-S Limited, throws a different light. He says, “There is as such no big jump in demand during the festival season but consumers want the delivery of their property during this part of the year, so it is a busy time for us as we have to complete all our projects.” Nevertheless, the tempo is expected to be high amongst all and sundry. Arvind Khanna, COO, Beekman Helix, explains, “One can see a significant surge in buying activities conduring the coming festival season. The season will be mutually profitable for both customers as well as the developers.” However, developers will be hoping to catch on the decline in sales in the calendar year owing to rising interest rates. So don’t let soaring interest rates dampen your spirits as traditionally even banks have always softened their approach during this time of the year. New financing schemes are introduced. For instance, last year, SBI had offered 25-50 basis points discounts on its loans.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Reduce housing loan rates

Allahabad Bank also is planning to reduce housing loan rates by 25-50 basis points. “The situation has actually worsened from last year, as this year banks might have to reduce interest rates on deposits, so that they could offer some discounts on the lending side to attract customers in the coming festive season,” says Kashyap Jhaveri, Banking Analyst with Emkay Research. In fact, quite a few banks have reduced the deposit rates, which include SBI, ICICI, Bank of India,Bank of Baroda & Centurion Bank of Punjab. SBI had recently revised the deposit rates downwards (from 8.25% annually to 8%) on term deposits of more than one year but less than two years. Hence, for depositors too, the year long party is coming to an end. Big banks with big balance sheets can aff ord to take a hit, but not everyone is in a position to do so. However, small private sector & public sector banks (PSBs) are waiting for divine intervention (expecting that RBI might lower CRR or overnight rates in near future, which might give them some room to lower lending rates).

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Gala time

Obviously, all these launches mean nothing without the promotional offers. Even Honda Siel, which is synonymous for not offering exciting schemes to consumers even during the festive season, offered heavy discounts on the Accord last year. Gyaneshwar Sen, DGM (Marketing) Honda Siel, puts it to B&E, “Though as a matter of policy we do not comment on our future marketing strategy, in the past we did offer some discounts last year on Accord. This was mainly because of stock clearance in order to make way for the new Accord launched in January 2007.” A fact mirrored to us by Rajesh Gandotra, GM (Sales), Courtesy Honda... Since this year there are no prospective model updates coming up, Sen added “We don’t have any plans for festive discounts.” With car sales growing at an almost double digit growth trajectory, the nearing festive season is expected to be one of the best! As per SIAM, the festive season of November 2006 recorded a thumping 28.5% jump over the same time last year with cumulative sales of 88,473 units.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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