Dalal Street may pink-slip 20,000

B D Narayankar

AFTER AVIATION industry, it’s the turn of the broking firms to resort to job cuts. It is reported that as many as 20,000 staffers will be shown the door soon after Diwali. Top brokerage houses are unable to fend off the challenges posed by global depression as most of the Indian bourses’ charts are bathed in red.

Angel Broking, it is reported, has already shortlisted 500 employees and is on the verge of asking them to pack off. The company is planning to serve a month’s notice on the to-be-retrenched employees. The retrenchment will begin at the branch level, mainly at the mid and lower management levels. "Performance of the staffers is the main criterion to be considered," said an officer of Angel Broking, which has the most number of retail outlets in India.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited is also planning to cut jobs. Highly reliable sources at the company accepted the scenario by saying, “Yes, we have ’non-performers’ on their way out, but they are very few in number".

After January, things have been getting tough for brokerage firms. Their income levels have been on the downslide with share orders and transactions remaining dismal at many branches. Sources revealed that almost all the brokerage houses have seen their business plummeting to 30-40 per cent. Salaries grew by 4-6 times in the last two years alone.

But with sales volume at a third of what was witnessed during the peak, revenue flow has now thinned. In this scenario, many broking firms have decided to cut employee salaries, Sharekhan being the first one to do so.

Most employees working in the sector have been preparing themselves for this scenario right from the day they realised that there would be no Diwali bonus. “Forget the bonus, we don’t even know what will happen to our jobs," said one, pointing out that layoffs had started a couple of months ago, with HSBC removing virtually the entire analysis team at IL&FS after taking over the firm.

When contacted, a spokesperson at Angel Broking denied any retrenchment plans but accepted that they had halted all recruitment. “Lower level people got the bonus as it is not a big amount. Bonus at middle and higher levels is performance-linked and our half-yearly appraisals will come only in January. Considering the pres­ent scenario, we can hardly expect anything," the spokesperson said.

Source: Meri News

Zydus drags Teva to court

B D Narayankar

ZYDUS CADILA, an Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical company, has dragged Teva pharmaceuticals, the world’s largest generic drug maker, to court in the US, seeking damages for Teva’s anti-trust violations and unfair trade practices relating to risperidone drug. The Rs 25,000 crore drug is widely used for treating schizophrenia.

In a recent filing with the Virginia district court, Zydus, through its US subsidiary Zydus pharmaceuticals, presented a lawsuit against Teva on the grounds that Teva’s patent was in violation of unfair trade practices and that Zydus was under no legal obligation to provide its classified documents to Teva for approval before manufacturing the risperidone API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) and the finished dosage forms.

The US Sherman Act of 1890 forbids any contract or combination that restraints trade or any monopoly or attempts to monopolise.

Zydus has denied any infringement of Teva’s patent claims and alleged that Teva obtained the US patents 6750341 and 7256195 wrongfully with the intent to deceive the US patent and trademark office. The company has thus filed for declaratory judgement against Teva’s patent claims. Zydus also claims that it has not infringed on any valid claim of Teva’s patents.

In its filing, Zydus also said that Teva’s representatives have been allegedly advising Zydus’ customers that a legal action by Teva against Zydus would result in unsellable stock, should they purchase API or any formulation using API from Zydus.

“Teva is also allegedly threatening both Zydus and its customers with legal action to curtail any distribution of Zydus risperidone API and API formulation.”

According to the patent petition filed on October 14, by Zydus Cadila, Teva, through a letter dated September 15, 2008, demanded that Zydus should refrain from marketing any risperidone products until Teva could complete an analysis of Zydus’ abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) and review the processes by which such products would be made.

The Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA) attached to the demand letter requires that Zydus stipulate and agree that Teva’s counsel not be disqualified from representing Teva with respect to the prosecution of the pending patent.

Source: Meri News

Double magic

B D Narayankar

If you step incorrectly, you may toss yourself off the back of the machine. It may take a while before getting used to it. Once accustomed, you will not give a miss to this wonderful machine, especially if you suffer from knee or back ailments.

The tread climber is a hybrid version of the treadmill and stair climber. "The machine is one of the newer pieces of gym equipments to hit the global market. It is yet to be officially launched in India, though it can be ordered from its US manufacturers," says Neesha Maria Bukht, fitness trainer at Talwalkars, Mumbai.

Tread climber offers an effective cardiovascular workout as the machine has two separate revolving belts that move up and down in a stepping motion. In other word, you are combining the two machines into one, which offers a low-impact workout, while burning those extra calories faster than most other exercises, says Neesha. "Another interesting feature is that you can't really run or jog on the tread climber, you can just walk," she adds.

More and more elderly people are getting hooked to the tread climber as the machine provides opportunity for them to workout without putting much strain on their backs and knees. "There are some like Chetna Desai, a Mumbai homemaker, who have lost over five kilos in two months, with just 20 minutes on the machine for five days a week," Nisha says.

As is the case with most machines, you can control the speed and resistance of the tread climber during the workout. It's advisable to start at the lower resistance levels and then progress to the maximum setting, cautions Neesha.

Initially, you ought to be careful while using the tread climber. The combo machine is difficult. If you get it wrong you will be thrown back off the machine, injuring yourself. However, there's an emergency stop button. "But once you get hold of it, it is easy to do your workouts," she says.

If somebody wants to buy this machine, the only deterrent is its cost. It is priced at anything between Rs 3 lakh to 3.5 lakh. And a superior model even costs much more. But it certainly a good investment for staying fit, Neesha argues.

It's just a matter of time before gyms in India make a beeline for this magic machine.

Source: Meri News

123Greetings: Send e-cards in a jiffy

B D Narayankar

FRUSTRATED AFTER browsing through several sites to send an e-card? Relax; this is what you should do. Visit the improved 123Greetings.com to send the choicest e-cards in a jiffy. The popular website has easier navigation mechanism that gives users a comprehensive view of their e-card choices on screen. Users no longer have to click through several pages to send a card.

123Greetings, the world’s leading provider of e-cards, recently unveiled a new and improved website. The site is refurbished in alignment with the passion of giving its 120 million users with an enhanced user experience to make it easy for them to navigate for sending e-card greetings.

The new, cleaner look and feel of 123Greetings also incorporates all the features of state-of-the-art Web 2.0 technology such as social proofing, which rates the most popular e-cards sent by users. It has also eliminated all obtrusive pop-up and pop-under advertising.

The features now available at 123Greetings.com include: A new five-star rating system tells consumers which e-card designs are most popular with users, based on the number of e-card views and cards sent. An expanded offering of e-card designs, graphics, photographs, messages and music for the more than 3,000 categories of special events and everyday occasions.

A "thumbs-up" rating system enables consumers to comment on a card’s relevancy -- elimination of all obtrusive pop-up or pop-under advertising makes a visit to 123Greetings more enjoyable. The new features are also user-friendly for advertisers of 123Greetings.

“Advertising is above the fold and at premium positions,” said 123Greetings founder Arvind Kajaria.

“It supports rich media ad units which provide marketers an opportunity to communicate their messages innovatively to our loyal and dedicated users,” he added.

123Greetings.com is the world’s leading provider of e-cards, helping more than 120 million people uses the Internet to send personal expressions to friends and family through the world’s largest offering of e-cards.

The teams of artists, designers, musicians and visualisers at 123Greetings create more than 20,000 e-cards for more than 3,000 special events and everyday celebrations. This customised content has made 123Greetings a valued destination for some of the Internet’s most popular social media networks.

123Greetings’ applications and widgets are available to users of Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Hi5 and Bebo and other social networks and blogs, which allow users ubiquitous access across multiple devices and platforms.

Source: Meri News

Kolkatans can now enjoy a drive along dirty canals

B D Narayankar

IMAGINE RIDING on a two-wheeler and ambling along a contaminated storm water canal. You will first curse yourself for having taken this route. You will be greeted with an offensive smell and wayside filth strewn all over. By the time you reach home, you will be basking for oxygen. The scenario will be opposite, if you had manicured fruit trees and medicinal herbs planted all along the canal. At the end of the journey, you would have breathed in tons of oxygen making you feel refurbished. That’s exactly what Kolkata municipal corporation (KMC) plans to do for its citizens.

The municipality, under its ADB-funded Kolkata environment improvement project (KEIP), will build green belts that will run along three key storm water canals, covering a distance of 41 km.

The three channels are - the Tollygunge-Panchannai canal that sends sewer water from Jadavpur, Santoshpur, Dhakuria and Mukundapur to the Chowbagha pumping station and finally flushes it out into the Bidyadhari; the Churial canal, which is the only canal in Kolkata that flows from east to west from Joka to the Hooghly, and Monikhali or Begor canal beyond Behala.

KEIP officials are in touch with the state forest department to select the right kind of fruit trees, medicinal plants and other eco-friendly shady trees that will be suitable for such a drive. Forest officials are excited over this unique project. Unlike other projects where lot of focus is on landscaping and ornamental planting, KEIP contemplates on raising fruit trees and other medicinal plants.

“We are very happy to help KEIP because it is only through such greening projects that we will be able to counter pollution,” said Nilanjan, Mullick, deputy conservator of forests, urban recreational forestry.

As the success of the ambitious project will depend on a number of environmental factors, KMC has roped in horticulture experts to handle the nitty-gritty. The execution will be in the hands of a private operator and tenders have been floated for this already. The work will start next month.

The green stretches have been divided into type-one and type-two forestry zones. While the former will have fruit trees and medicinal herbs, the latter stretch will be home to bigger, shady trees. A wide range of fruits that thrive in Kolkata weather — coconut, amla, jack-fruit, mangoes like Himsagar, Amrapali and Millica, guava, lemons such as batabi, kagzi and pati — will be planted.

Popular medicinal plants like aloe vera, kalmegh, sarpagandha and aswagandha have been short listed.

“What sets this project apart from other green drives is the fact that fruits will be planted. This will make the project self-sustaining, at least to an extent. We have chosen fringe areas because it is difficult to get land in the city proper. While in most places the width of the green verge will be five metres, in some places it will be three meters, as we have to ensure smooth traffic flow as well,” said Debashish Guha, administrative officer of KEIP.

As there is fear of destroying the green verge, the KEIP has imposed a condition that the executor will have to maintain the entire belt till 2010. Watering and manuring the plants, administering medicines, pruning and cleaning of weeds and, above all, protecting the trees from encroachers will be the responsibility of the executor.

Other municipalities, especially Bangalore civic body, should take a cue out of it and do something on similar lines.

Source: Meri News

Get better salaries with Gurukulonline

B D Narayankar

WORKING PROFESSIONALS, who are eager to climb the ladder of their career graph in financial sector are well aware of the certified financial planner (CFP) certification that will fetch them a starting salary of rupees three lakh per annum. But they are unable to break their schedule to attend classes for obtaining these certificates.

“There is a growing demand for financial planners (FPs) with a CFP certification. As against 350 CFPs available, there is a need of at least another 50,000. There are now about 450 CFPs in India.

Keeping this in mind, Gurukulonline Learning Solutions, listed with FPSB, has announced its first online course in CFP to enable working professionals to learn and qualify for the exam. The aspirants can access the portal 24 x 7 and from any corner of the world. Students can register at fpvarsity.com anytime of the year. The cost of the course is Rs 20,000,” said portal founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Shailesh Mehta.

Students can access online video lectures by Gurukulonline faculty. Once the lesson is loaded, the video starts streaming along with a PPT presentation. At intervals, the video pauses and related questions pop up on the screen. The student can go ahead only if he gives the right answer, this ensures attention.

This is tracked into a database and the performance of students is monitored. This data is used by faculty to help each student with his weaknesses. “The videos work perfectly with a dial up connection of 30 to 40 kbps,” said Manish Jain, head of Mandatory Training for fpvarsity.com.

The portal also offers web-based multimedia training via a ’Learning Management System.’ “Students can chat with faculty and others taking the course, post queries etc. The questions asked and answered are available to every student to refer,” Jain said.

The most interactive part of the fpvarsity is its virtual classroom. Jain explained, “Twice every month, students attend a classroom online to learn difficult concepts, solve their doubts and study case studies.” The teacher controls the mike and engages student to a structured, real time discussion. Beyond audio, one can also enable video and chat with the professors. All the virtual classes are stored in archives online that are accessible to all students.

After every module, students can go through a timed mock test—ASSESS, which replicates the real exam. Students can reach the faculty via phone, email or chat. They are also sent a study chart and reminders of virtual classes, ten days in advance, ensuring constant support.

Source: Meri News

Dental solutions for Hollywood in India

B D Narayankar

WITH VETERAN Hollywood actor Michael O’Hagan having undergone a successful dental treatment in Mumbai, it is expected that more and more Hollywood stars would come down to India for getting aesthetic dental solutions.

The 60-year-old actor is so impressed by the treatment that he has started recommending several Hollywood personalities to take advantage of the world-class dental implants and expertise available in India.

Last year, Michael had come to India for his dental implants after suffering from gum infection. Back home at Beverly Hills, he experienced an unsuccessful dental implant by his dentist and subsequently couldn’t work for 10 days. It was said that Gulshan Grover, the famous Bollywood actor, had recommended Michael to use the expertise and dental implants available in India during a shooting schedule for ’Shadow of the Cobra’ in Hyderabad. Thereafter, Michael came to India twice for the treatment. On his first trip to Mumbai, cosmetic dental surgeon, Dr Suchetan Pradhan, fitted 11 Nobel implants on both his upper and lower jaws and was given temporary denture for gums to heal. On his recent visit, Dr. Pradhan fixed Procera™ teeth with dental facelift and shaped his teeth in perfect alignment.

Nobel Biocare implants are guided by innovative solutions like NobelGuide™ that help doctors to plan and predict every aspect of implant placement in advance. The teeth implants are completely stable and strong like natural teeth roots offering a long lasting solution – often for life. The uniqueness of NobelGuide™ is that it enables a minimal invasive dentistry procedures with no cuts, no sutures, less pain and minimum time of healing. More importantly, the technology enables treatment even in the most complicated conditions such as jaw line fracture or lesser bone density, something which wasn’t possible before.

Dental treatment in India is all about world-class treatment facilities, caring staff in dental treatment centers and top-notch post-operative facilities. Expert doctors estimate that nearly 5 to 10 per cent of their patients are foreign tourists - the statistics nearly doubling with each passing year. Dental tourism in India offers better-priced dental treatment to foreign citizens with best clinical care. The cost of dental treatment provided in India is less compared to the cost of treatment abroad. But this does not affect the quality of treatment offered as several clinics like Dr. Pradhan’s use same internationally available gold standard materials in their clinics like Nobel Biocare implants and Procera.

Nobel Biocare is a world leader in innovative aesthetic dental solutions with its brands NobelActive™, Brånemark System®, NobelReplace™, NobelSpeedy™, NobelPerfect®, NobelDirect®, Replace Select (dental implants), Procera® (individualized dental prosthetics), NobelGuide™ (complete patient rehabilitation program) and NobelSmile™ (patient education and awareness programme).

Nobel Biocare is a full solution provider for restorative esthetic dentistry, offering a wide range of innovative Crown & Bridge & Implant products, as well as training and education, patient information and clinically documented treatment concepts.

Nobel Biocare has over 2,500 employees and recorded revenue of EUR 665.9 million in 2007. The company is domiciled and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. The Indian operation for Nobel Biocare India Pvt. Ltd. is headquartered in Mumbai.

Source: Meri News

BlackBerry makes things easy for its users

B D Narayankar

UNTIL NOW, smartphone users all over the globe were sweating their way out to manage, install, upgrade and purchase applications along with a wide array of choices and enhanced application discovery. But with the Research In Motion’s (RIM) plan to introduce online distribution drives for BlackBerry smartphone applications - BlackBerry Storefront and BlackBerry Application Centre, things will be easier and convenient for BlackBerry users to search for, purchase or download programmes for their handsets.

The BlackBerry Application Storefront, which is slated to be launched around March 2009, will allow developers to keep nearly 80 per cent of the revenue generated from their applications and hold the authority to decide on the price of these applications. RIM has already asked all interested developers to throw in the towel of their applications and content for inclusion in the storefront in December 2008.

“Introduction of more consumer-friendly features in BlackBerry smartphones has helped generate a groundswell of interest with new developers that has already resulted in the introduction of thousands of consumer and lifestyle oriented applications for BlackBerry smartphones. The new BlackBerry application storefront and BlackBerry application centres will further support the growing BlackBerry ecosystem and help bridge consumers with developers and carriers as more and more innovative and interesting applications arrive,” said Mike Lazaridis, president and Co-CEO at RIM.

RIM is aggressively pursuing the ’prosumer’ and casual market with the launch of the application store and by introducing new consumer-friendly devices such as the BlackBerry Curve, Flip and the touch-screen Storm. Lazaridis said that RIM’s roots and success in the enterprise market is bound to give it an edge over its competitors in the consumer market. “This platform has been developed, evolved, and perfected in the most demanding markets around the world. The consumer wireless data market is taking off, and that’s a great opportunity for all of you,” continued Lazardis as he talked to developers.

In order to give consumers a secure and convenient way to pay for applications, RIM is in works with a leading global online payment service, PayPal. The two companies plan to let you pay for applications via the new application storefront, right from your BlackBerry smartphone.

In addition to this, RIM is toiling to bring in carrier-customised on-device application centres in tandem with its carrier partners. These, RIM hopes, will allow after-market application downloads by letting each carrier offer a convenient catalog straight on the device. So customers can now discover and download new applications.

Having already worked successfully with carriers to provide this type of on-device distribution system for BlackBerry, smartphone application for individual software applications like Facebook, the new application centre will permit the carrier to build on a broader catalog. This is sure to give provide customers a very handy and hassle-free method to purchase and download applications.

Source: Meri News

India enchants small-time firangi entrepreneurs

B D Narayankar

FOR DECADES, India's best and brightest migrated to the West in search of opportunities. That changed a while ago and India has become a hot destination for foreigners who are working in the IT and BPO sector.

Now, Americans and Europeans are hooked not by the mystical India, but the heady professional opportunities available here. Of late, there are foreigners exploring India not for jobs, but for entrepreneurial ventures.

Take for instance, Sandra Samai. The 30-year-old Corsica-born entrepreneur opened a spa, Lsa Homecare, in Delhi. There are some famous names visiting her spa - Karishma Kapoor, Manish Arora and Rohit Bal. Lsa Home Care is a high-profile spa, targeting high networth individuals in Delhi. Sandra, in initial stages, wouldn't have imagined she would really open a high-profile spa.

As she faced financial problems, she hired and trained four women masseurs and started www.lsahomecare.com where people could book a spa treatment for Rs 2,000 per hour. "My service is the Disney way. The customer is a VIP and there can be absolutely no compromise on quality," said Sandra, who has developed her own training handbook for her staff.

The slightly built 30-year-old Sandra is the product of Disney Institute. She learnt the tricks of aromatherapy massages and managing spas. She hardly knew anything about India, except a few Indians aboard the ship. Her next visit to India was when a classmate from Corsica, who was doing a semester at IIM Lucknow, invited her to visit.

This visit changed everything for Sandra. She started Lsa Home Care after her friend suggested to start a spa. The rest is history. Now Sandra is running a very successful business in India, having more than 300 clients under her company's belt.

ZaaBiz.com

In August this year, a German businessman, Michael Brecht launched a business social networking site for Australians, ZaaBiz.com. Since then, ZaaBiz.com has expanded to India. "Within a few weeks of launching in Australia I figured there were 30,000 users from the Indian diaspora," explains Brecht, "I thought, why not launch it formally in India?" According to Brecht's figures, Indians could con­stitute 70 per cent of ZaaBiz.com's projection of one million members, the largest in the Asia-Pacific region.

His team back in Australia has 10 employees of which four are Indians. "I plan to set up a full-fledged office and have a separate marketing team over here," says Brecht. His members are mostly small and medium scale entrepreneurs from industrial sectors, finance, retail and real estate.

ZaaBiz.com has a popular online group called Gateway to India, for entrepreneurs abroad to discuss business op­portunities here. Brecht's clients in Mumbai include PR and travel companies like Adfactors and Blue Lotus Communications.

Auto industry will bounce back: CK Birla

B D Narayankar

THOUGH THE liquidity crisis is taking a toll on the automobile industry in India, Hindustan Motors (HM) chairman CK Birla is optimistic of the sector bouncing back by next year. "The fundamentals of the economy are strong and inflation is under control so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t bounce back. Earlier we were spending Rs 100 on the capex front, now we are spending Rs 75 due to the tight money market," he said.

The problem is that this time round the slowdown in India has coincided with a global recession. In Avtec, for instance, both Indian and overseas orders are down. So if one was trying to hedge home orders with exports, that strategy too will come unstuck in a situation like this, Birla said.

Responding to a query whether HM was looking at taking its relationship with Mitsubishi to the next level with a much deeper strategic alliance, Birla said: "When we both are happy in the current scenario, there is absolutely no need for changing things. In fact, this is the only instance where a globo-local alliance has worked, where the rest have fallen asunder. Right now we have five products from Mitsubishi stable - Lancer, Cedia, Pajero, Montero and Outlander. We are unveiling ’Montero 2009’ among many more products next year. The current set up is working for us and I don’t need to disturb it."

In the situation like liquidity crisis, a number of Asian auto companies are clamouring for partnership opportunities. Even HM is not far behind. In fact, the company had signed a memorandum of understanding with Proton seven or eight years ago, but things did not materialise thereafter. "I am told Proton has signed up with someone else," he said.

Talking about HM’s Uttarpara plant, Birla said that the company is going ahead with its plan to turn it into a component hub using excess capacity to make forging and casting components for HM’s internal use and outside business. "We are picking up more business steadily and the strategy seems to be working out," he added.

Dispelling speculations that a part of the land in Uttarpara plant was being contemplated to convert it into an IT park to unlock land value, Birla said there was no intention of the company to harm the plant. "We are 100 per cent committed to making our business strategy for the plant work. The IT Park is part of our wider strategy," he said.

Denying reports that plans were afoot to turn the Lancer plant in Chennai into a contract manufacturing facility to use its excess capacity, Birla said: "HM does not have any capacity left for licensed manufacturing of vehicles, as it was having as many as three sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in its portfolio. Currently Chennai’s capacity is 12,000 cars per annum."

Ask him about West Bengal and its business environment, unlike Tatas having to face the spectre of Singur agitation that ultimately resulted in the flight of Nano from the state, Birla is immensely is impressed with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. "The West Bengal chief minister and his ministers are eager to make things happen," he said.

Source: Meri News

Emergency medical services for Maharashtrians

B D Narayankar

MANY PEOPLE were stranded for 21 days at Supaul, a village in Bihar that shares its border with Nepal, after Kosi embankment gave way inside Nepal a couple of months ago. In another flood-affected Manganj village, as many as 11 people died of diarrhea on a school’s roof. Many others took private boats to ferry ill people for giving medical treatment out of flood-affected areas.

These were some of the flood-related hardships faced by Biharis living in rural areas. Hopefully, Maharashtrians wouldn’t have to face such difficulties in flood-related situations from January next. On October 15, Maharashtra government gave green signal for the first phase of the emergency medical services (EMS) project in association with Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI).

Pegged at Rs 103.74 crore over the next three years, the project will provide emergency medical services comprising 690 ambulances on dialing 108, a toll-free number, during emergencies and avail of free ambulance services.

According to a statement released by the chief minister’s office, a MoU between the state government and EMRI will be signed in October and services would begin in January 2009. The MoU elaborates that EMRI would operate from URO Hospital at Aundh in Pune and later operate from the land given by the state government.

The decision was taken after considering the poor medical infrastructure prevailing in rural areas as well the distances between hospitals and settlements. "This will ensure that the rural areas are not deprived of EMS especially during a natural disaster,’’ said a state official.

However, the service that aims to obtain a quick medical response in the state will not cover Mumbai (island and suburbs), Thane, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nashik areas, which have municipal corporations.

EMRI started this service in Andhra Pradesh in 2005, and now has 652 ambulances for a population of eight crore. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of the infotech giant and his brothers, have signed a MoU with eight other states. While the 108 service is already available in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa, it is scheduled to start soon in Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka.

The modus operandi

1) Dial 108 and you will be connected to a call centre.
2) The communication officer will collect facts and route the nearest ambulance to the site
3) The ambulance is well equipped to provide the pre-hospital care while transporting the patient to the desired hospital.

This same logic holds good for police and fire services.

Source: Meri News

Democracy through radio

B D Narayankar

Tune in to any radio station and you will be treated with loads of filmy music. A little later you realize you are not getting what you want and subsequently turn off your radio.

GEORGE M George, executive director, Muthoot Group, conducted a study and found out that radio was not redefining itself in a market like Chennai where about 10 radio stations are operating. So, in order to be different and relevant to listeners, Muthoot Group zeroed in on the format of talk radio. Thus was the birth of ’Chennai Live’, the first FM talk radio station in Chennai, which was launched recently.

Focused on knowledge-centric and local content, Chennai Live specifically targets the information and entertainment needs of Chennai’s intelligent people. It is a locally-involved radio station that will feature intelligent talk by way of discussions and debates with studio guests and listeners calling in. And in between, the station will play the best of Tamil and international music.

The show picks up a hot issue concerning Chennai citizens. The show has a team of presenters who are professional, challenging and provocative as well as fun and entertaining. They have the ability to engage and empathise with the city’s audience. The team is highly active and visible in the community with outside broadcasts (OBs). The idea of OBs is to reach out to people at different places in the city. "These kinds of shows showcase the advantages and disadvantages of what is happening in the city to the people as everybody has the right to know," George said.

The Muthoot Group, one of South India’s largest business conglomerates with interests in finance, healthcare, education, hospitality and real estate among others, has a strong grassroots level understanding of local environment and customers’ needs. Making full use of this knowledge, the group for the past 120 years has been making innovative products and offering services to carve a niche in the competitive business world.

"Chennai Live is another such endeavour from our group to help meet the information and entertainment needs of Chennai’s knowledge seekers and success aspirants. The show is for people having a viewpoint," said Prem Kumar, Station Head, Chennai Live 104.8 FM.

The station continuously seeks to interact with senior professionals from diverse fields such as entertainment, media, industry, government and non-governmental organisations and other leaders for their advice on the sta­tion’s programming policies.

Source: Meri News

Experiencing Swayamvars from comforts of your living room

B D Narayankar

BOTHERED OF spending huge money to find the right match for you on a foreign soil? Don’t worry. Just log on to Bharatmatrimony.com and you would have an opportunity to interact with your prospective partner belonging to your community on a chosen date and time.

Bharatmatrimony.com is offering services of ’Virtual Swayamvar’ for 50 Indian communities, a unique innovation which provides platform for prospective partners around the world to experience their own Swayamvars in the comfort of their living rooms.

According to the company, both free as well as premium members get to enjoy the benefits of the Virtual Swayamvar, with premium members getting some add-ons.

Talking about Virtual Swayamvar, Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO of BharatMatrimony.com said "We have now added a new dimension to the world of match making thus taking it to the next paradigm. Our experience of conducting 100’s of matrimony meets across the globe paved the way for this unique innovation. Unlike offline matrimony meets where participation is highly localized, Virtual Swayamvars provides a platform for people to interact with members of their particular community from around the world."

The new version has been developed using enhanced Web 2.0 technologies and a User Interface that promises significantly greater customer experience. One more innovative feature of this version is that both free as well as premium members get to enjoy the benefits of Virtual Matrimony meets, though premium members get much greater value. To participate in the Virtual Matrimony Meets Register Free at BharatMatrimony.com and for the details of the chosen community and calendar.

BharatMatrimony.com has pioneered the concept of online matchmaking since 1997. The company has created a strong foothold in the matrimony space through its innovative features and technological advancements. Today, ’matrimony’ as a word is synonymous with BharatMatrimony and it has become a place for people serious about seeking a life partner.

BharatMatrimony.com has earned the trust of more than 12 million members worldwide and has been recognized by Limca Book of Records, the Indian equivalent of Guinness Book of records, for record number of documented marriages online. The company has been profiled in NASSCOM’s Showcase of Innovation Book 2006; the book showcases the top 100 IT innovators in our country.

Source: Meri News

Economist Ranade predicts slight capital price rise

B D Narayankar

In a recently organised seminar, Aditya Birla Group chief economist, Ajit Ranade said that a slight capital price rise as compared to global standards is possible in India. Experts from various leading companies came together in Mumbai to discuss global wealth creation.

SPEAKING AT the ’Global Wealth Creation -- The Way Forward’ conference, jointly organised by Dun & Bradstreet and Deutsche Bank at Mumbai on October 16, Aditya Birla Group chief economist Ajit Ranade said, “India is a capital-scarce country. The price of capital will remain slightly high as compared to the global standards. Though there will be interest cuts all over the world, interest rates in India will be higher”.

Touching upon the topic of fundamentals of ’wealth creation’, Ranade said wealth creation was not about asset pricing, but about value creation in transactions.Chief executive officer, Proposed Asset Management Company, Motilal Oswal said, “This is the best time to stick to the basics of investment and revive investment portfolios. Wealth creation is more about buying when it’s valuable rather than when it’s cheap”.

Stressing on the needs of the PMS (portfolio management service) industry, Ashutosh Pal, business head and vice president, Reliance PMS, said, “Substantial wealth creation comes from having a large value base for a labour force. The PMS industry needs an industry an AMFI (Association of Mutual Fund Investors) for mutual fund industry to represent, safeguard and regulate its interests”.

Mrugank Paranjape, head domestic custody services, India, Deutsche Bank stressed that in the long run, if you work towards wealth creation, where it is in the interest of the customers, there is no reason why we cannot build successful sustainable wealth management business.

Delivering the welcome address, Dr Manoj Vaish, president and chief executive officer – India, Dun & Bradstreet said, “One of the reasons for the liquid crunch in the money markets is that the liquid funds were redeemed below par. The whole PMS sector is going through a sea change. India’s position in the global financial markets will become more prominent and stronger”.

Speaking on the regulatory perspective of risk factors, MS Sahoo, SEBI (Stock Exchange Bureau of India) member said, “Regulators have to forerun the financial Frankensteins. If you do not understand the product do not finance it. Make an assessment of the product, measure all its risk factors and if satisfied only then enter with it in the market.”

He further added, “short selling is not a major worry for India. No one is doing it in India at the moment”.

Highlighting the current global turmoil, Nilesh Shah, deputy managing director, ICICI Prudential AMC, said, “It’s necessary to handhold customers during this tough time. We have not performed up to their expectations. This kind of conference gives us an opportunity to comfort them, give reasons for our performance and convince them that their wealth will be created by our fund mangers”.

Dun & Bradstreet, world’s leading source of global business information, knowledge and insight, has been enabling companies to ’Decide with Confidence’ for 165 years. D&B’s global commercial database contains more than 100 million business records.

Source: Meri News

Multiplex experience for Rs 35!

B D Narayankar

NO FAMILY with even four members would like to go to a multiplex to spend Rs 120 each, have some fast food and go home with an empty pocket. Nor would they love to watch a movie on pirated DVDs by paying less and compromising on quality viewing.

All this will change soon with Cinemeta Entertainments (India) Pvt Ltd providing high quality entertainment which aims to provide complete family entertainment to masses at an affordable price.

The company, formed two years ago, is testing the concept with 20 theatres in Gujarat and Mumbai. Cinemeta takes the single-screen theatres on long-lease basis, paying rentals to owners, followed by renovating the theatre both interior wise and technology wise. The plan is tailor-made for movie buffs to experience the same ambience and facilities like recliner seats, food court, gaming zones and utility services in single-screen theatres too. Mumbai-based Cinemeta Entertainment is all set to acquire 500 single-screen theatres across the country and change them in to a complete family entertainment spots.

An outing at multiplexes today costs a couple anywhere between Rs 120 and Rs 340. Popcorn and Pepsi combo will cost between Rs 80 and Rs 120. If you choose to eat a small meal, it will cost another Rs 150. And a dinner combo will cost anywhere between Rs 350 to Rs 500.

Frustrating experiences such as this and skyrocketing ticket prices seem to be encouraging a lot more people to stay put at home and watch pirated CDs and DVDs.

Cinemeta has the potential to combat these two burning problems. It employs state-of-the-art digital technology and beam pictures through satellite connectivity rather than capturing it on hard disk and then transporting it to theatres. "This provides an ambience similar to a multiplex at 30 per cent low-ticket costs," Cinemeta chief operating officer Girish Korde said, which means that tickets could be bought for Rs 35 or Rs 50 only.

Elaborating on how the concept will be successful amid multiplexes providing high-end facilities, chief operating officer, Korde said that they will target movie lovers from all strata of the society, particularly those who can’t spend on multiplexes.

Since producers are renting out prints to distributors at the exorbitant price of Rs 60,000 per print, exhibitors are forced to increase ticket prices. "But Cinemeta will provide a wide scope for producers to save on the print cost which will bring down ticket prices," Korde said. "There is another advantage of Cinemeta. Since the analog print deteriorates after every display with scratches, digital display will have the advantage of better viewing experience for the viewers," he added.

When most multiplexes around the country are keeping prices high to stay in competition, Cinemeta is giving them tough competition. "It is simple economics. No family with seven members would like to go to a multiplex to spend thousands of rupees," Korde contends.

Source: Meri News

Certifications for better India

B D Narayankar

IT IS not money alone that makes a company distinctive from others. What’s the use of money when you have the dumbest of workforce at your disposal? Good and efficient employees play a stellar role in taking a company to new heights. This is also true for BPO companies, and Hero Mindmine Institute (HMMI), a leading training and consulting organization, is committed to help India achieve that and it is doing so with the help of BPO Certification Institute (BCI).

HMMI has been in the training business from 2000 and has trained over 2, 25,000 people. It has trained people in IT, ITeS, banking, insurance, automobile, retail, white goods, telecommunication and various PSUs.

On the flipside, BCI offers the entire range of human competence certifications for BPO aspirants—right from fresh agents to business leaders. Each of these certifications is based on nine master standards. Employees are assessed on 21 different skills areas and then evaluated for the suitability of a certification award.

At the end of the training session at one of the nine HMMI training centres, BPO aspirants who have applied for these certifications will be issued globally-accepted BCI certificates, which will open up the floodgates of better job opportunities the world over. Not only this, even the $12-billion Indian BPO industry will benefit from the certification. It will help BPO industry graduate to the next level of competitiveness, as it will get competent and best of talents, across the globe. "Only better systems and competent employees can take Indian BPO to new levels and HMMI is working towards that end," HMMI Business Head A W George said.

The cost of the programme varies from Rs 15,000 to 35,000, including certification and the number of hours would vary from 180 to 230. The certification programmes are CIP (Certified Customer Interaction Professional), CBTS (Certified BPO Team Lead Specialist) and CCIS (Certified Customer Interaction Specialist), among others. HMMI has earlier developed two fresh agent development programmes—BReady and BPOPassport, through which aspiring BPO talents are trained.

These certifications are available at over 150 centres of Hero Mindmine across 170 locations in India. "The real utility of the BCI CCIP certification for BPO freshers, is that it covers domains other than call centres and contact centres and therefore, a CCIP-certified fresh talent is fit for hiring across most types of BPOs," George stated.

"Global BPO certifications have always been well accepted in India and like in the West, are expected to create that necessary bottom line on people-quality consciousness," he added. So far, companies such as Interlace, IBM-Dash, WNS, vcustomer, Keane worldzen, Omnia BPO solutions and Dell, have expressed interest on the certification scheme.

Source: Meri News

Cinemata: First day, first show for all

B D Narayankar

WITH INDIA becoming the largest market for digital cinema in the world, the film industry is at the threshold of scripting a new chapter in distribution network. It will send film files to single-screen digital cinemas through satellite, enabling people living in remotest corners of the country to watch films first day, first show.

Cinemata, a Mumbai-based digital entertainment company, has already started such operations. Till date, it has signed over 200 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for commercial association with single-screen theatre owners across India. So far, it has launched 21 theatres in Gujarat under the brand name ‘Cinemagic’.

Cinemata plans to come up with 100 more theatres under its management by December 2008. The company aims to revolutionise the entertainment industry by setting up the biggest exhibition company in the country.

“We have a financing model whereby all cinema theatres are seeded with the digital cinema system at our own investment. The theatre owner will pay us only on a per show charge basis. There is no further expense on the theatre owner. Even all upkeep and maintenance including replacement of bulbs is at our cost,” said Cinemata chief executive officer Sameer Goswami.

“Digital distribution is beneficial for movie buffs, especially for cities where a newly released film is watched after seven to eight weeks of its release in metro cities,” says Cinemata chief operating officer Girish Korde.

For filmmakers, once the film is made, they can visit any of the digital entertainment company’s platform and need not worry about all the processing and distribution issues. “Our digital mode of delivery provides the highest level of protection to the producer’s content. The digital files are delivered via satellite directly to our servers installed at the theatres with no intervention at the human level. Cinemata is a one stop end-to-end solution right from producers till the stage of exhibitors,” Korde said.

According to estimates, celluloid film costs about Rs 60,000-70,000 to print. Because of the stiff costs involved, production houses order around 400 prints that are played in theatres in A category cities alone, while the real requirement is more than 12,000 as there are as many screens in the country. “However, a digital print is not as expensive. Through satellite, number of movies can be launched simultaneously across different theatre locations,” Goswami said.

Source: Meri News

Blue Lotus: PR with a difference

B D Narayankar

It's not just another PR agency; it's more than that. Instead of doing PR the routine commercial way, a group of ambitious young men and women, set out to change not only their fortunes, but also that of their clients -- a PR exercise that would make a difference.

One of the few fastest-growing public relations agencies in India, Blue Lotus celebrated its 6th anniversary last week with the addition of six clients. From a humble beginning, the firm has grown tremendously and matured into a professional PR agency. Referrals are a sign of maturity and Blue Lotus has won over 75 per cent of the clients through referrals.

Today, Blue Lotus has over 110 employees at its nine offices across India and handles an array of clients -- covering brands, healthcare, technology and finance. Some of the key accounts added in recent weeks are: Nobel Biocare, Design Tech Systems and i-Viz Techno Solutions. Under its brands practice, Blue Lotus was also assigned the launch of the Mitsubishi Outlander.

“Blue Lotus Communications offers what we like to call creative communication services. Our ideas and strategies follow an extremely simple thought process – they should work for our clients. In short, what we offer is a unique communication strategy for each of our clients. The factors common to all our services are the values we follow while implementing them; transparency, integrity and excellence are the common components of all our services. Our ideas are processes which we have formed through our individual and combined experiences and expertise. Add to that our motto of passion with purpose and what you get is a dedicated team of skilled and experienced professionals who are committed to the welfare of the organisation,” said Blue Lotus Communications Chief Executive Officer N Chandramouli.

In a nutshell, Blue Lotus provides services such as consultancy services, liaisons, strategic positioning, corporate relations, publications and newsletters, community relations and public affairs, direct communications, internet communications, marketing communications, internet-based communications image/brand, financial communications, corporate and brand identity development, media relations activities and events, tradeshows and seminars.

There is a philosophic side to the firm’s name. Blue Lotus is a mythical flower which blooms once in 3,000 years.

It is said that every time this flower blooms, it brings forth a period when universal welfare occurs. It is said that the last time this flower bloomed, Gautam Buddha attained nirvana. “In short, this flower stands for everything that is true, unerring and good. And since this is exactly the way we wanted to do PR, the small group gave itself the name Blue Lotus,” Chandramouli said.

Enthusiastic about the Blue Lotus model, he further averred, “We want to build an institution that is sure to outlive our human lives. Each one at Blue Lotus is completely committed to knowledge and we want Blue Lotus to be the alma mater or an organisation, which is a nourishing mother of knowledge. This extreme focus on people has helped us move to a value equation”.

Blue Lotus’ impressive array includes long-term relationships with clients like Sharekhan, Dun & Bradstreet, Bharatmatrimony.com, Pest Control of India Ltd, 123 Greetings.com , the Nasscom Foundation , Zaabiz, Ipca Labs and EMRI.

Source: Meri News

D&B records largest Index fall

B D Narayankar

The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Business Optimism Index for Q4 2008 recorded a decrease of 28.1% to 138.9 from 193.2 in Q4 2007. This is the largest magnitude of fall ever witnessed in the Index. All six sub-indices have fallen significantly as compared to the same period, last year. In fact, the resultant Optimism Index for Net Profits has experienced a decline of as much as 21 percentage points compared to Q4 2007. The resultant Optimism Index for Volume of Sales has also declined by as much as 17 percentage points on a y-o-y basis indicating subdued demand conditions. The resultant Optimism Index for New Orders stands at 68%, an 18 percentage point decline compared to the same period, last year.

"The crisis of confidence being witnessed across the world's financial markets is reflected in the deteriorating sentiment of the Indian business community. The moderation in economic growth, high inflation and deepening global financial crisis have adversely affected corporate sentiment, as is evident from the decline of as much as 28% (y-o-y) in the Composite Business Optimism Index for Q4 2008", said Kaushal Sampat, Chief Operating Officer, Dun & Bradstreet - India. "Going forward, further developments in the global financial markets, their impact on the Indian financial sector and the outlook on global economic growth will determine the expectations of business community over the next quarter. The RBI's monetary policy stance during the mid-term review is also likely to impact business sentiment in the next quarter." he added.

As compared to the previous quarter, the Composite Business Optimism Index has registered a marginal increase of 1.8%; however, this is in part due to the low base of the previous quarter. The q-o-q increase in the optimism indices can partly be attributed to a larger number of respondents anticipating no significant change from the current situation. Amongst the sectors, the services sector was the least optimistic. Since a majority of the service sector respondents belong to the IT, financial services, broking houses and trade segments, it is possible that the turmoil in the global financial markets, slowdown in global growth and the bearish sentiment in stock markets have dampened expectations of respondents from this sector.

Demand conditions are expected to remain subdued during the Oct-Dec 08 quarter. However given the forthcoming festive season not many respondents expected the demand situation to deteriorate further. Approximately 4% of the respondents expect a fall in the sales volume during the fourth quarter of 2008. While about 72% anticipate an increase in sales volume, as much as 24% of the respondents expect no significant change from the current scenario. The resultant Optimism Index for Volume of Sales stands at 68%, an increase of 9 percentage point as compared to the previous quarter. However the resultant Optimism Index for Volume of Sales has declined by as much as 17 percentage points on a y-o-y basis.

Approximately 66% of the respondents expect an increase in profits during Q4 2008, while only 5% of the respondents anticipate a fall in their net profits in the forthcoming quarter. However, as much as 29% of the respondents expect no change in the net profits during Oct-Dec 08 quarter. The resultant Optimism Index for Net Profits has experienced a decline of as much as 21 percentage points on a y-o-y basis.

While about 40% of the respondents expect selling prices of their products to increase, about 7% expect to witness a decline in their selling prices during the Oct-Dec 08 quarter. However, a majority of respondents from almost all sectors anticipate no significant change in the prevailing prices. About 53% do not expect to witness any change in selling price. The resultant Optimism Index for Selling Prices stands at 33%, reflecting a marginal decline of 3 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Approximately 72% of the respondents expect their order book position to improve and 4% anticipate a decrease in the number of new orders during Q4 2008. The resultant Optimism Index for New Orders stands at 68% marginally above 64% in the previous quarter.

While around 46% of the respondents expect to witness an increase in their inventory levels, around 10% expect their level of stock to decline in the Oct-Dec 08 quarter. As much as 44% respondents anticipate no significant change from the current situation. The resultant Optimism Index for Inventory Levels stands at approximately 36%, reflecting an increase of about 13 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The majority of respondents anticipate no change in the size of the workforce employed during Q4 2008. Approximately 59% of the respondents intend to keep the number of employees unchanged. While 37% of the respondents expect an increase in the number of employees, 4% expect a decline. The resultant Optimism Index for Employees stands at 33% for the Oct-Dec 08 quarter, an increase of around 4 percentage points as compared with the previous quarter.

The D&B Optimism Index is widely recognised as an indicator, which measures the pulse of the business community and serves as a reliable benchmark for investors. The index is arrived at on the basis of a quarterly survey of business expectations.

The survey is conducted on a sample of companies that are selected randomly from D&B's commercial credit file. The sample selected is a microcosmic representation of the country's business community and includes companies from several sectors including basic goods, capital goods, intermediate goods, consumer durables, consumer non-durables and service sectors.
Respondents to the survey are asked six standard questions regarding whether specified parameters viz., net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventories and employee levels, will register an increase, decline or show no change in the ensuing quarter as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The indices are then calculated by subtracting the percentage of respondents expecting decreases from those expecting increases.

For calculating the Composite Business Optimism Index, each of the six parameters is assigned a weight. The positive responses for every parameter for the period under review are expressed as a proportion of positive responses in the base period (Q2 1999). The parameter weights are then applied to these ratios and the results aggregated to arrive at the Composite Business Optimism Index.

Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB), the world's leading source of global business information, knowledge and insight, has been enabling companies to Decide with Confidence® for 165 years. D&B's global commercial database contains more than 100 million business records. The database is enhanced by D&B's proprietary DUNSRight® Quality Process, which transforms the enormous amount of data collected daily into decision-ready insight. Through the D&B Worldwide Network - an unrivaled alliance of D&B and leading business information providers around the world -customers gain access to the world's largest and highest quality global commercial business information database.

Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions to mitigate risk, increase cash flow and drive increased profitability, D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions to analyse markets, locate prospects and increase revenue from new and existing customers; D&B Export Marketing Solutions to gain significant insight into overseas markets and increase sales; D&B Financial Education Solutions to facilitate professional growth and excellence among their executives and D&B Economic Analysis Group to derive pragmatic and solution-oriented analyses of strategic economic and business developments, thereby aiding informed decision making.

D&B features on FORTUNE Magazine's Most Admired Companies Industry List, ranking first in the Financial Data Services category. D&B ranked first in the areas of employee talent, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of management and use of corporate assets. D&B has achieved this distinction for the second consecutive year. For more information please visit www.dnb.co.in

Contact for more details: media RSVP: Isha Mohanty Mobile - 9967412069
Blue Lotus Communications

Duggal: Making travel light

B D Narayankar
People get convinced when they are able to see and feel things. Without these attributes it's difficult to sell a dream to business partners and funders. This was exactly what Sachin Duggal underwent when he tried giving shape to his baby Nivio - the virtual computer desktop.

This young wizard is on a prowl, desiring to reach pinnacles as fast as a Cheetah could reach to kill a prey. Duggal has that thirst to do something good for himself and the society at large. What strikes you most about him is his passion, energy and vibrant personality. He has craze for excelling in whatever he does and has played all roles to perfection.

Normally, an entrepreneur achieves success in old age. But Duggal is built of different genes. He has been an environmental campaigner at 12, a youth representative who contributed to the Declaration of Youth Rights before entering college, and the founder of SMX Corporation at 15. And today he is the chief executive officer of Nivio.

Duggal, with the able support of his team, has ferried Nivio to great heights. Nivio became first company in the world to make Windows-based virtual desktop - a technology by which one can access files anywhere and anytime. There is no such need to either carry a laptop or copy data on a CD.

In a short span, Nivio has achieved a considerable number of milestones, successful alpha, successful beta, venture capital funding and a partnership with AMD. Without any doubt, Duggal has created a niche for Nivio in world market.

It's interesting to know how this wonderful idea sprung up. Believe it or not, it happened just in 20 minutes before he was to make a presentation of ideas collated by him. "All this happened when I was working for Duetsche Bank. I was then 17," Duggal said.

How could Duggal create magic fighting all odds and that too at a very tender age? "I derive strength from mother's support, which is behind me like a rock in all circumstances and eventualities. I would not have been able to get anywhere without her. Her courage, determination and persistence are something I admire. Her limitless love and limitless cushion to absorb all my catastrophic disasters is just unbelievable,” he said.

Duggal also is a terrific leader. He does not believe in individual performances, instead throws lot of weight behind team's performance. According to him, without teamwork, it's difficult to satisfy customers. He also believes that being the founder is nothing and Nivio would not have been where it is now without his team comprising people like Iqbal, Jon, Indrani, Manoj, Prabind and Saurabh.

Duggal was honored with the PricewaterhouseCoopers Leader of Tomorrow Award, the BBC Young Asian Achiever of the Year Award, and was nominated for the UNEP Global 500 Youth Award.

A self-confessed geek, Duggal makes it a point to take out time and indulge in some simulated fights at his Play Station. He also likes playing tennis and does jogging to stay fit. Austin (in Texas, US) and Sydney are his favorite travel destinations, and he can be spotted there at least thrice a year.

Mitsubishi Outlander drives into India

B D Narayankar

Leading automobile manufacturer, Hindustan Motors launched a new HM Launches SUV Outlandersports utility vehicle ‘Outlander’ on October 3 in New Delhi.

After testing the markets in North America, Japan, Australia, Canada and West Europe the `Outlander` is now forayed Indian auto market.

Mitsubishi Outlander is a proven and worldwide successful SUV. This vehicle has played a significant role in further increasing Mitsubishi Motors` credentials around the globe.

Outlander is a 'four-wheel control’ (AWC) sports utility vehicle that supports 16 valve MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve Timing and Electronic Control system) petrol engine. It supports advanced control systems, safety and luxury features. “It is based on a new platform and its 2.4-litre engine has a capability to get 7 percent extra acceleration and 10 percent extra fuel efficiency as compared to conventional engines,” Tetsuro Aikawa, managing director (products, strategy and development) of Mitsubishi Group, said.

“The car is very fuel-efficient as compared to other SUVs and has a capability of 10.3 kilometres per litre under test conditions,” said Hindustan Motors chairman C.K. Birla.


The price of the vehicle is fixed at Rs. 20.20 lakh. The company is assembling it in its Tiruvallur (Chennai) car plant. Japanese auto major, Mitsubishi would provide assistance in its marketing and manufacturing as per their agreement.

The managing director of Hindustan Motors, R. Santhanam said that the new SUV is aimed to attract the passionate people who want to enjoy new sports experience. The SUV is designed with the MIVEC technology of Mitsubishi. It would make it very eco friendly, fuel efficient and best performer. The company has set a target to sell at least 100 units of the SUV every month.

Birla said that the market conditions would become favorable for sale before the festival season. The prices of raw materials are coming down and company is expected to improve the margins.

The SUV market in India grew 32 per cent to 130,041 vehicles in FY08 from 98,086 vehicles in the previous fiscal.

In yet another instance of company's success stories, after a gap of four years, HM received a significant contract from the Centre to supply its iconic 'Ambassador' to the government.

However, HM's September sales slowed on tighter financing and margins are under pressure from rising raw material prices, according to top officials from the company.

HM has three manufacturing plants in the country. They are located in Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with a total capacity of 44,000 units.

The company has a marketing and manufacturing agreement with Japanese auto firm Mitsubishi. In India, it manufactures the Lancer, Cedia, and Ambassador and few multi-utility vehicles. The Mitsubishi Pajero and Montero are imported.

Outlander is accessible in seven vibrant colors – Cascade White, Silver Dew, Sunrise Yellow, River Blue, Pasture Green, Twilight Red and New Moon Black.

Helping your cause with virtual desktop

B D Narayankar

Imagine you have forgotten to send a file through email to your boss, which had been stored on your laptop's desk, and the boss is yelling at you to send it to clinch an all-important deal. And you are away hundreds of miles away on a sojourn for a week. God save you, if you would lose your job on that note. Chill, now there is a way out. You can access your data, files and videos, saved on your computer's desktop, anytime, anywhere. Nivio, a virtual desktop, promises you just that.

This software is developed by a team of experts, including Sachin Duggal, Iqbal Gandham of Net4India and Jonathan Roberts of PSINET Europe.

Nivio allows access only to Windows XP desktop. You can sign through a web browser and view your personal desktop and access files. It also allows you to write new files and transfer them to your desktop at home. It gives you access to programs running on another machine as it would on your own. The desktop has five giga­bytes storage capacity.

The bundle of free software tools includes Outlook Express, Internet Ex­plorer, Real Player, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Mozilla/Firefox browser, Foxit Reader and a host of other free­ware. Efforts are on to include Adobe and Tally.

With the Indian PC market not being mature for these softwares and a low PC penetration compared to the West, analysts say Nivio is great software that would help small and medium enterprises reduce infrastructure costs.

Nivio is in talks with a major internet service provider (ISP) to bundle their services with the provider. They are also looking at tie-ups with hosting companies and low-end un-branded PC makers. "We are exploring ways in which we can offer this to people who do not have a PC." Gandham said.

For details contact:
Archana Sharada
Principal Consultant
Blue Lotus Communications
archanas@bluelotuspr.com

Making ugly beautiful: Three-day workshop on choreographing light and design lighting from Oct 15

B D Narayankar

Seen Bollywood actresses in real life? Some of them even look worse than an ordinary house wife, but look stunning and sexier while dancing on the screen, enough to seduce even a sexually inactive bloke. Why? It's all because of 'choreographing light' and 'lighting designing' techniques, used by filmmakers.

Good lighting makes uncharming things charming; enactes suspense, narrates story; weaves poetry; sells dreams and makes everything irresistible. To experience all these magical moments, choreographers and designers can now participate in the three-day workshop on "Lighting Design and Choreographing Light" being conducted by National Institute of Design from October 15 to Oct 17 at NID campus in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The event anchor is Krishnesh Mehta, a faculty of Strategic Design Management.


The workshop will introduce the basic principles of choreographing light and lighting design, how to use light to create the desired moods, experiences and perceptions and
enhance the beauty and feel of any given space - indoors or outdoors.

The workshop will also discuss the basic concepts to create lighting that helps increase sales and desirability, as in the case of retail, drama and ads. It will introduce the salient secrets of lighting that can be applied anywhere, be it for interiors, exteriors, dynamics, events – like fashion shows,
award functions, etc., moving spaces, films and photography among others.

The event also will experiment the 3D-6D lighting choreography and story telling through light. It will
introduce the theoretical concepts supported by demonstrations and hands-on exercises.

Some of the important topics discussed in the workshop would be:

• Understanding Lighting
• Neurophysiology of light perception
• Difference between lighting and illumination
• The power of lighting –Lighting for special functions and needs
• Lighting Design and Choreographing light
• Neurophysiology of lighting choreography –how to create the desired lighting
• Types of lighting
• Lighting Effects and SFX lighting
• Measuring the quality of lighting
• Lighting for various applications

This tailor-made programme is aimed at Retail Businesses, Light Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Architects, Interior Designers, Exhibitors, Landscape Designers, Facade Designers, Set/Stage/Entertainment Designers, Advertising, Retailers, Visual Merchandisers, Choreographers, Event Managers, Event Visualisers, Art Directors, Service Providers, Professionals connected with hotels, restaurants and amusement parks.

For more details contact: Mansukh Patel (M) 09426329633, Rupali Rai (M) 09328136526, Programme Officer Industry Programmes & Projects (IP&P) Paldi, Ahmedabad

Popular Prakashan releases five new titles based on popular Hollywood flick Wall – E

B D Narayankar

Popular Prakashan Pvt Ltd, one of India’s leading Publishing Houses, here has released five new titles based on animated children's film 'Wall - E', in association with Disney.Pixar. The books aim at giving a strong message to children about conserving environment and planet earth, as does the film.

The film is all about a lovable and lonely robot named Wall-E. The robot falls in love with a sophisticated female robot Eve and follows her up to the outer space. As he pursues his dream across the galaxy, Wall-E learns about saving planet earth from pollution. These touching and memorable film moments are captured in these coloring and activity books, along with cool graphic illustrations.

The five new titles released by Popular Prakashan on the occasion were - Junior Novel, Graphic Novel, Activity Books, Coloring Book and Sketch Book.

Speaking on the occasion, Popular Prakashan CEO Manish Purohit said: "With stunning photographs, well-designed graphics and text features, the books will help children cultivate interest in conserving planet earth and develop scientific temperament, besides giving them an opportunity to hone their skills in drawing, coloring and sketching.”

Harsha Bhatkal, Popular Prakashan Director, said, “Our young friends will enjoy reading these Wall-E-inspired books, which teaches them to love human beings and mother earth. With the coloring and sketch books, they can add their own creative touches to a colossal collection of robots from the film. We are proud to be associated with Disney.Pixar, which makes charming, effervescent and socially relevant films. Wall-E takes many of those attributes and does them superbly. We believe in giving the best to children exactly the same entertainment from these books."

Popular Prakashan Private Limited has been in publishing business for the last 80 years, winning many state and national level awards for excellence in publishing. Popular Prakashan has always been a name associated with high standards of writing and excellence in design and production. They have pioneered Indian publishing in Medicine and Social Sciences. They have an excellent list of academic publications in the fields of Sociology, Politics, Religion, History, Philosophy, Education and Medicine. The collaboration with National Geographic only re-instates Popular’s reach and width in the field of academic publications. www.popularprakashan.com

Umesh Bhogle
Principal Consultant
Blue Lotus Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Mobile: 9820332515
Email: umesh@bluelotuspr.com
www.bluelotuspr.com
Address: 2/33, Kamal Mansion, Arthur Bunder Road,
Next to Radio Club, Colaba, Mumbai – 400 005. India

Or

Shikha Johnson
PR Executive
Blue Lotus Communications Pvt. Ltd.
Tel (Direct): 91-22-56522 827 : Mobile: +91 9820850405
Email: shikha@bluelotuspr.com
www.bluelotuspr.com
Address: 2/33, Kamal Mansion, Arthur Bunder Road,
Next to Radio Club, Colaba, Mumbai – 400 005. India

Hero Mindmine inaugurates world-class learning centre for imparting English training

B D Narayankar

Hero Mindmine Institute Ltd, India’s leading training and consulting organization, has started their state-of-the-art learning centre for imparting English training. The training will help aspirants become more competitive. With the launch of more centers in the city, the company has crossed a network of over 170 operational learning centres pan India.

Ashok George, Business Head, Hero Mindmine Institute Limited, said,” It is encouraging to have received an overwhelming response from our business partners as their centres are witnessing phenomenal number of candidates registering for English Training programs. Hero Mindmine, as an organisation, has grown exceptionally well in the last two years. Today, we have over 170 centers in India. In Karnataka alone, we have 10 centres and by year end, we will add another 20. We also are present overseas in China, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Madagascar. We also plan to add another six cities around the world by year end."

Reiterating former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s statement, George said: "It is not unemployment which is a major problem, but unemployability. Immediate structural changes should be made in the education system to address the issue of skill deficit at a priority basis. Today over 90 per cent of the country’s college and school output do not have adequate practical knowledge for joining work. Repairing this skill deficit may need 6 to 8 per cent of the GDP over the next two years. Besides, the unemployed youth will be more vulnerable to anti-social tendencies. I believe institutes like Hero Mindmine will help create youth with world-class skills to make them competitive as per industry benchmarks and global standards.”

The institute to date has helped over 20 million people across 70 countries through this program in becoming more competitive and capable of facing a challenging global work environment. The organization consciously is looking at tying up with knowledge partners across the globe to able to provide world-class learning and training modules to candidates.

Emphasizing on global learning, Mr. George said, “English is a language that transcends the barriers of territories and cultures, and is helping states in India and countries world over to stay connected, share experiences, cultural aspects and best business practices. We are proud that Hero Mindmine is playing a vital role in producing global leaders and building a competent India."

In order to enhance employability, Hero Mindmine offers programs pertaining to Call Center training, Spoken English and courses meant for students looking out at a career in the retail industry. The 'ADVANTAGE ENGLISH TM TRAINING PROGRAMME' helps beginners to start speaking English, correct basic grammar, enhance fluency in English and enrich language along with voice and accent.

Call Center Program (CCCP) is a program aimed at providing world-class training in the field of BPO training and placements. This program uses latest computer-based training techniques and provides personalized coaching to candidates. The learning centres also touch upon finer nuances of personality development, including soft skills, behavioral training, corporate etiquettes and effective communication techniques.

Hero Mindmine also has partnered with DynEd International USA, an international leader in areas of language-training technology to train students and professionals. This unique technology-based learning methodology and qualified trainers ensure world-class learning processes for spoken English.

Hero Mindmine Institute, a subsidiary of Hero Corporate Service Limited is an academic and scholastic body that has emerged as one of India’s leading Training & Consulting organization by partnering with spectrum of multinationals, Indian corporations and public sector organizations. Hero Mindmine has built proven content delivery methods in areas of communication skills, sales, customer service, leadership, people management, strategic planning, team building, cultural sensitization etc.

The $ 4.2-billion Hero Mindmine Group provides learning solutions in the area of training delivery, consulting, content development and assessments for sectors like Airlines, Automative, BPO, FMCG, IT, Pharma etc. Till date, more than 225,000 people across the country and internationally, have benefited from Hero Mindmine programmes. Hero Mindmine has worked with blue chip clients like American Express, CSC, GE, Godrej, HP, IBM, Infosys, the Tata Group, LG, EDS, Samsung, NTPC, NHPC, Standared Chartered Bank, Wipro, Alcatel and a host of others. An independent industry think tank, Hero Mindmine has renowned names like Mr. N R Narayan Murthy, Mr. Deepak Parekh, Mr Raman Roy and Mr. R A Mashelkar on its advisory board.

For any further details contact:
Karthik
Blue Lotus PR
Email: Karthik@bluelotuspr.com

Dial 139 launches radio campaigns across 30 cities

B D Narayankar

Bharat BPO has started airing radio commercials to popularize 'Dial 139 - Rail Sampark', the official national enquiry service for Indian Railways. The smart and witty commercials are being aired on Radio Mirchi, My FM and Big FM, across 30 Indian cities, including metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

Their communication partner, Leo Burnett, has scripted a couple of commercials, which use humour to get the message across. These simple yet hilarious spots convey ample information about the nature of the service. The first ad begins with a son asking his father as to why he was not in the photo album of his parent’s wedding ceremony. Just when the father is embarrassed at his son's innocence, a male voice-over cuts in, saying, "You may not get the answers to some questions, but all your questions pertaining to the Indian Railways will be answered. Dial 139 for booking railway tickets, PNR status, fare enquiry, accommodation, Tatkal seats, journey planning, concession and cancellation rules, refund rules and trains between stations and train timings. You will get all this information in a matter of minutes."

In the second advertisement, the male voice-over intervenes and repeats the same product window when the son asks his father as to ''why can't he marry his father’s mom when the boy's father could marry his mom''.

"The main purpose of these ads is to popularize DIAL 139 services among passengers who want to have access to any kind of information pertaining to train travel, without the hassle of having to wait in queues at railway stations. The service provides an easy, time saving and convenient alternative to travelers. Past experience has revealed that reservations of upper berths are mostly done online. As many as 247 sleeper-class passengers utilized Dial 139 services, out of a total of 272 passengers," Shubhendu Rajan Deb, GM (Marketing) of Bharat BPO said.

Talking about future campaigns, Shubhendu said the company was soon planning to start promoting 139 services across all media, including Internet, SMS and television.

Explaining about the theme and objective of the ad campaign, Mr. Sainath Saraban, creative director, Leo Burnett said, “The campaigns have consciously been kept simple so as to connect with people from all sections of society. Railways, as a mode of transport, is used by people throughout the country and the idea is to sensitize users of Indian Railways that information is just a call away, that too without much effort.

Bharat BPO is a Joint Venture Company of Omnia BPO Services and Spanco Telesystems & Solutions Ltd. The consortium had bagged the contract of Indian Railways for operating Integrated Train Enquiry Services (ITES) all across the country. A company under the name of Bharat BPO Services Limited has been promoted to implement this project. While the Zonal Call Centers for this project are located at the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata, the Regional Call Centres are set up at NOIDA, Ahmedabad, Mysore and Kolkata to begin with. This operation has been started with about 700 seats and 2000 persons and is likely to be scaled up to 2000 seats and 5500 persons in the next year.

Dial 139 -Rail Sampark”, Indian Railways’ telephone help line was launched in July 2007 by the Hon’ble Railway Minister Sh. Lalu Prasad Yadav with the objective of bringing high quality information services within reach of every railway passenger. The service handles enquiries pertaining to arrival, departure, schedules of trains plying between two stations, PNR and reservation of berth status, fare enquiry, availability of Tatkal accommodation, journey planning, concession and cancellation rules, refund rules and trains between stations.

For more details contact:

Archana J Sharda
Principal Consultant
Blue Lotus PR
32 - 33, Kusal Bazaar Building
Nehru Place
New Delhi
011-46517241 / 42
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