Companies Profiles

Council of Ministers:Govt of India

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Serial Number	Portfolio	Name of Minister
1.	Prime Minister and also In-Charge of the Ministries/Departments viz: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions; Ministry of Planning; Ministry of Water Resources; Department of Atomic Energy; and Department of Space	Dr. Manmohan Singh
2.	Minister of Finance	Shri Pranab Mukherjee
3.	Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution	Shri Sharad Pawar
4.	Minister of Defence	Shri A.K. Antony
5.	Minister of Home Affairs	Shri P. Chidambaram
6.	Minister of Railways	Km. Mamata Banerjee
7.	Minister of External Affairs	Shri S.M. Krishna
8.	Minister of Steel	Shri Virbhadra Singh
9.	Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises	Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh
10.	Minister of Health and Family Welfare	Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad
11.	Minister of Power	Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde
12.	Minister of Law and Justice	Shri M. Veerappa Moily
13.	Minister of New and Renewable Energy	Dr. Farooq Abdullah
14.	Minister of Urban Development	Shri S. Jaipal Reddy
15.	Minister of Road Transport and Highways	Shri Kamal Nath
16.	Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs	Shri Vayalar Ravi
17.	Minister of Textiles	Shri Dayanidhi Maran
18.	Minister of Communications and Information Technology	Shri A. Raja
19.	Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas	Shri Murli Deora
20.	Minister of Information and Broadcasting	Smt. Ambika Soni
21.	Minister of Labour and Employment	Shri Mallikarjun Kharge
22.	Minister of Human Resource Development	Shri Kapil Sibal
23.	Minister of Mines and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region	Shri B.K. Handique
24.	Minister of Commerce and Industry	Shri Anand Sharma
25.	Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Panchayati Raj	Shri C.P. Joshi
26.	Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism	Kum. Selja
27.	Minister of Food Processing Industries	Shri Subodh Kant Sahay
28.	Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports	Dr. M.S. Gill
29.	Minister of Shipping	Shri G.K. Vasan
30.	Minister of Parliamentary Affairs	Shri Pawan K. Bansal
31.	Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment	Shri Mukul Wasnik
32.	Minister of Tribal Affairs	Shri Kantilal Bhuria
33.	Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers	Shri M.K. Alagiri

President of India: Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil
Vice President of India:Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Lok Sabha Speaker: Smt. Meira Kumar
Rajya Sabha Chairman: Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Chief Justice of India:K.G.Balakrishnan

For more information go through the following:
http://india.gov.in/govt/whoswho.php

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Welcome to the depths of the ocean...an ocean which have been created by strategies. The book Blue Ocean Strategy is the brain child of W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The authors tries to segregate the markets into two parts the first being the Blue Ocean and the latter being the Red Ocean. Blue Ocean Strategy is a way to make the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for both the company and its customers. The terms red and blue oceans to describe the market universe. Red oceans are all the industries in existence today—the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of existing demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities, and cutthroat competition turns the red ocean bloody. Hence, the term “red” oceans.

Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored. Like the “blue” ocean, it is vast, deep, powerful, in terms of profitable growth, and infinite.

But the question here lies that how does blue ocean strategy fundamentally differ from red ocean strategy?

To sustain themselves in the marketplace, red ocean strategists focus on building advantages over the competition, usually by assessing what competitors do and striving to do it better. Here, grabbing a bigger share of a finite market is seen as a zero-sum game in which one company’s gain is achieved at another company’s loss. They focus on dividing up the red ocean, where growth is increasingly limited. Such strategic thinking leads firms to divide industries into attractive and unattractive ones and to decide accordingly whether or not to enter. Blue ocean strategists recognize that market boundaries exist only in managers’ minds, and they do not let existing market structures limit their thinking. To them, extra demand is out there, largely untapped. The crux of the problem is how to create it. This, in turn, requires a shift of attention from supply to demand, from a focus on competing to a focus on creating innovative value to unlock new demand. This is achieved via the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low-cost. Under blue ocean strategy, there is scarcely an attractive or unattractive industry per

se because the level of industry attractiveness can be altered through companies’ conscientious efforts. As market structure is changed by breaking the value/cost tradeoff, so are the rules of the game. Competition in the old game is therefore rendered irrelevant. By expanding the demand side of the economy new wealth is created. Such a strategy therefore allows firms to largely play a non–zero-sum game, with high payoff possibilities.

Blue and red oceans have always coexisted and always will. Practical reality, therefore, demands that companies understand the strategic logic of both types of oceans. At present, however, competing in red oceans dominates the field of strategy in theory and in practice. Part of the reason traces back to the historical foundation of business strategy—war—where territory is defined and limited and opponents compete to protect and enlarge their share of limited and existing terrain. This focus on beating the competition in existing market space was exasperated by the meteoric rise of the Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s. Faced with mounting competition in the global marketplace as, for virtually the first time incorporate history, customers were deserting Western companies in droves, the center of strategic thinking gravitated further towards the competition. A slew of competition-based strategies emerged which argued that competition is at the core of the success and failure of firms, and that competition determines the appropriateness of a firm’s activities that can contribute to its performance.

What BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY seeks to do is to make the creation and capturing of blue oceans as systematic and actionable as competing in the red waters of known market space. For although blue ocean strategists have always existed, for the most part their strategies have been largely unconscious. Blue ocean strategy seeks to remedy this by not only decoding the pattern and principles behind the successful creation of blue oceans, but also providing the ana lytical frameworks and tools to act on this insight.

Now let us understand the fact that whether this strategy is actually helpful or not in the present context.

Prospects in most established market spaces—red oceans—are shrinking steadily. Technological advances have substantially improved industrial productivity, permitting suppliers to produce an unprecedented array of products and services. And as trade barriers between nations and regions fall and information on products and prices becomes instantly and globally available, niche markets and monopoly havens are continuing to disappear. At the same time, there is little

evidence of any increase in demand, at least in the developed markets, where recent United Nations statistics even point to declining populations. The result is that in more and more industries, supply is overtaking demand. This situation has inevitably hastened the commoditization of products and services, stoked price wars, and shrunk profit margins. According to recent studies, major American brands in a variety of product and service categories have become more and more alike. And as brands become more similar, people increasingly base purchase choices on price. People no longer insist, as in the past, that their laundry detergent be Tide. Nor do they necessarily stick to Colgate when there is a special promotion for Crest, and vice versa. In overcrowded industries, differentiating brands becomes harder both in economic upturns and in downturns.

Is blue ocean strategy applicable to all types industries including businesses that are several steps upstream from consumers?

Yes, blue ocean strategy applies across all types of industries from the typical suspects of consumer product goods to b2b, industrial, pharmaceutical, financial services, entertainment, IT, and even defense. BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY drives this point home by highlighting a rich array of companies creating blue oceans across diverse, and unexpected, industry domains from NetJets in jet travel, to NABI in the municipal bus industry, to Cemex in cement, to Joint Striker Fighter in defense, to Cirque du Soleil in entertainment. Our experience further suggests two interesting findings with respect to businesses several steps removed from the final consumer. First, companies in these industries tend to view their businesses as commodity businesses with little room to offer innovative value. This has effectively created a self- fulfilling prophecy in that the more these companies view their businesses as commodities, the more they treat their businesses as such. Secondly, we observed that the more removed companies are from the final

customer, the more levers there are to unlock innovative value as every company in that chain can be viewed as a customer. If a company can’t see an opportunity to unlock innovative value for the next direct customer in that chain, there are still opportunities to unlock innovative value for that customer’s customers, and so forth.

Last but not the least lest us ask that whether Blue Ocean Strategy new one or not?

Although the term blue oceans is new, their existence is not. They are a feature of business life, past and present. Look back one hundred years and ask yourself, how many of today’s industries were then unknown? The answer: many industries as basic as automobiles, music recording, aviation, petrochemicals, health care, and management consulting were unheard of or had just begun to emerge at the time. Now turn the clock back only thirty years. Again, a plethora of multibilliondollar industries jumps out—mutual funds, cell phones, gas- fired electricity plants, biotechnology, discount retail, express delivery, minivans, snowboards, coffee bars, and home videos to name a few. Just three decades ago, none of these industries existed in a meaningful way. Now put the clock forward twenty years—or perhaps fifty years—and ask yourself how many now unknown industries will likely exist then. If history is any predictor of the future, the answer is many of them.

What is the difference between merger and amalgamation and acquition related to accounting point of view?

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:30:00 +0000

"Very often, the two expressions "merger" and "amalgamation" are taken as synonymous. But there is, in fact, a difference.

Merger is restricted to a case where the assets and liabilities of the companies get vested in another company, the company which is merged losing its identity and its shareholders becoming shareholders of the other company.

Co. A <--Co.B ==Co. A . ie., Co. B is swallowed by Co. A

On the other hand, amalgamation is an arrangement, whereby the assets and liabilities of two or more companies become vested in another company (which may or may not be one of the original companies) and which would have as its shareholders substantially, all the shareholders of the amalgamating companies."

Just like:

Co.A + Co.B == Co.C

10 questions to ask in an interview

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

When you are called for an interview, remember not to appear too focused on yourself, money or the TA/DA that you would need to be reimbursed. Honesty and frankness is appreciated, in the right dosage. Be prepared to ask your own set of questions during the interview to help decide whether you want to join or not.

What will my scope of work, roles and responsibilities be?
It's important to have an idea of the requirements as an employee. Nivedita Ghosh, consultant and client manager, ABC Consultants advises, "Seek clarity on the duties and responsibilities for that position so that it does not come as a surprise package to you."

What are the skill sets required for effective performance in the given role?
Understand what is required of you, if analytic ability or thinking out of the box are needed, you need to be able to deliver on the same count. According to Nishant Mohan, director, VentureBaron Technology, a Mumbai-based company, "This helps in understanding if the company is aligned similarly or if you will find it difficult aligning yourself to the organisation's goals and objectives."

What is the guidance offered in the initial stages in the organisation?
This will decide how smooth your transition will be into the company. If efforts are made to help you fit in, chances are the
effort will reflect in other aspects as well. The more willing the organisation is to train you during the initial period, the better your reults and the more the intention of the company to make the relationship work. It is like the company is investing in you.

Is there an acclimatising camp to get used to the systems, work culture of the organisation?
Many companies place high importance on this, reflecting the organisation's ability to deliver on its promises and investment
in human resources. Srinivasan, HR director, HCL Technologies, says, "It's important to know this so that you have a clearer idea about whether you will find the right fit, whether the atmosphere is formal or informal."

What are the KRAs on which I would be assessed?
All employees are evaluated based on key result areas. Know how your contributions will be rated, be prepared and be willing to deliver.

Is there an annual appraisal system where my deficiencies would be discussed for self improvement?
Be open to appraisal and always strive towards self improvement. Remember that this is not personal and a process,
be willing to change and mould yourself into your job.

What is the salary structure and other benefits?
Most employers will make an offer, so you rarely have to broach the topic. Be careful in your negotiation process, don't appear to be too money-minded. Mohan warns, "Try and understand the salary break-up because an unfavourable break-up may result in lower income and more taxes."

How much does the company invest in their employees through learning and development programmes?
Srinivasan feels that your career landscape is also determined by the kind of career development programmes that are offered. Know what you can expect, be aware of whether you will get it or not if you join.

What is the reporting structure?
It's important to understand this process early so that you avoid making any blunders as part of the company. Many companies state there is no hierarchy, but it is better to understand that it does exist in some manner. Openness should not be taken as a given, be sure to maintain a certain decorum and ethical approach at work.

What does the organisation think about work-life balance?
At a personal level this is important to be kept in mind. Srinivasan shared, "It will not be a question that puts to rest your doubt in terms of deliverables but it will give you a sense of how flexible the company is in terms of other needs."

An interview is a two-way process, be prepared to be able to respond to an opportunity to ask questions. Remember, each work space is a learning experience, be open to change and handling challenges as part of your work. Give it your best shot and don't be scared to accept your limitations, work hard to learn at work and achieve success.

Source

How is Sensex Calculated??

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Introduction

SENSEX, first compiled in 1986, was calculated on a "Market Capitalization-Weighted" methodology of 30 component stocks representing large, well-established and financially sound companies across key sectors. The base year of SENSEX was taken as 1978-79. SENSEX today is widely reported in both domestic and international markets through print as well as electronic media. It is scientifically designed and is based on globally accepted construction and review methodology. Since September 1, 2003, SENSEX is being calculated on a free-float market capitalization methodology. The "free-float market capitalization-weighted"methodology is a widely followed index construction methodology on which majority of global equity indices are based; all major index providers like MSCI, FTSE, STOXX, S&P and Dow Jones use the free-float methodology.

The growth of the equity market in India has been phenomenal in the present decade. Right from early nineties, the stock market witnessed heightened activity in terms of various bull and bear runs. In the late nineties, the Indian market witnessed a huge frenzy in the 'TMT' sectors. More recently, real estate caught the fancy of the investors. SENSEX has captured all these happenings in the most judicious manner. One can identify the booms and busts of the Indian equity market through SENSEX. As the oldest index in the country, it provides the time series data over a fairly long period of time (from 1979 onwards). Small wonder, the SENSEX has become one of the most prominent brands in the country.

SENSEX Calculation Methodology

SENSEX is calculated using the "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology, wherein, the level of index at any point of time reflects the free-float market value of 30 component stocks relative to a base period. The market capitalization of a company is determined by multiplying the price of its stock by the number of shares issued by the company. This market capitalization is further multiplied by the free-float factor to determine the free-float market capitalization.

The base period of SENSEX is 1978-79 and the base value is 100 index points. This is often indicated by the notation 1978-79=100. The calculation of SENSEX involves dividing the free-float market capitalization of 30 companies in the Index by a number called the Index Divisor. The Divisor is the only link to the original base period value of the SENSEX. It keeps the Index comparable over time and is the adjustment point for all Index adjustments arising out of corporate actions, replacement of scrips etc. During market hours, prices of the index scrips, at which latest trades are executed, are used by the trading system to calculate SENSEX every 15 seconds. The value of SENSEX is disseminated in real time.

Dollex-30

BSE also calculates a dollar-linked version of SENSEX and historical values of this index are available since its inception. (For more details click 'Dollex series of BSE indices')

SENSEX - Scrip Selection Criteria

The general guidelines for selection of constituents in SENSEX are as follows:

1. Listed History:The scrip should have a listing history of at least 3 months at BSE. Exception may be considered if full market capitalization of a newly listed company ranks among top 10 in the list of BSE universe. In case, a company is listed on account of merger/ demerger/ amalgamation, minimum listing history would not be required.
2. Trading Frequency:The scrip should have been traded on each and every trading day in the last three months at BSE. Exceptions can be made for extreme reasons like scrip suspension etc.
3. Final Rank:The scrip should figure in the top 100 companies listed by final rank. The final rank is arrived at by assigning 75% weightage to the rank on the basis of three-month average full market capitalization and 25% weightage to the liquidity rank based on three-month average daily turnover & three-month average impact cost.
4. Market Capitalization Weightage:The weightage of each scrip in SENSEX based on three-month average free-float market capitalization should be at least 0.5% of the Index.
5. Industry/Sector Representation:Scrip selection would generally take into account a balanced representation of the listed companies in the universe of BSE.
6. Track Record:In the opinion of the BSE Index Committee, the company should have an acceptable track record.

Understanding Free-float Methodology

Concept

Free-float methodology refers to an index construction methodology that takes into consideration only the free-float market capitalization of a company for the purpose of index calculation and assigning weight to stocks in the index. Free-float market capitalization takes into consideration only those shares issued by the company that are readily available for trading in the market. It generally excludes promoters' holding, government holding, strategic holding and other locked-in shares that will not come to the market for trading in the normal course. In other words, the market capitalization of each company in a free-float index is reduced to the extent of its readily available shares in the market.

Subsequently all BSE indices with the exception of BSE-PSU index have adopted the free-float methodology.

Major advantages of Free-float Methodology

* A Free-float index reflects the market trends more rationally as it takes into consideration only those shares that are available for trading in the market.
* Free-float Methodology makes the index more broad-based by reducing the concentration of top few companies in Index.
* A Free-float index aids both active and passive investing styles. It aids active managers by enabling them to benchmark their fund returns vis-Ã -vis an investible index. This enables an apple-to-apple comparison thereby facilitating better evaluation of performance of active managers. Being a perfectly replicable portfolio of stocks, a Free-float adjusted index is best suited for the passive managers as it enables them to track the index with the least tracking error.
* Free-float Methodology improves index flexibility in terms of including any stock from the universe of listed stocks. This improves market coverage and sector coverage of the index. For example, under a Full-market capitalization methodology, companies with large market capitalization and low free-float cannot generally be included in the Index because they tend to distort the index by having an undue influence on the index movement. However, under the Free-float Methodology, since only the free-float market capitalization of each company is considered for index calculation, it becomes possible to include such closely-held companies in the index while at the same time preventing their undue influence on the index movement.
* Globally, the Free-float Methodology of index construction is considered to be an industry best practice and all major index providers like MSCI, FTSE, S&P and STOXX have adopted the same. MSCI, a leading global index provider, shifted all its indices to the Free-float Methodology in 2002. The MSCI India Standard Index, which is followed by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to track Indian equities, is also based on the Free-float Methodology. NASDAQ-100, the underlying index to the famous Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) - QQQ is based on the Free-float Methodology.

Definition of Free-float

Shareholding of investors that would not, in the normal course come into the open market for trading are treated as 'Controlling/ Strategic Holdings' and hence not included in free-float. Specifically, the following categories of holding are generally excluded from the definition of Free-float:

* Shares held by founders/directors/ acquirers which has control element
* Shares held by persons/ bodies with "Controlling Interest"
* Shares held by Government as promoter/acquirer
* Holdings through the FDI Route
* Strategic stakes by private corporate bodies/ individuals
* Equity held by associate/group companies (cross-holdings)
* Equity held by Employee Welfare Trusts
* Locked-in shares and shares which would not be sold in the open market in normal course.

Determining Free-float Factors of Companies

BSE has designed a Free-float format, which is filled and submitted by all index companies on a quarterly basis. (Format available on www.bseindia.com). BSE determines the Free-float factor for each company based on the detailed information submitted by the companies in the prescribed format. Free-float factor is a multiple with which the total market capitalization of a company is adjusted to arrive at the Free-float market capitalization. Once the Free-float of a company is determined, it is rounded-off to the higher multiple of 5 and each company is categorized into one of the 20 bands. A Free-float factor of say 0.55 means that only 55% of the market capitalization of the company will be considered for index calculation.

Index Closure Algorithm

The closing SENSEX on any trading day is computed taking the weighted average of all the trades on SENSEX constituents in the last 30 minutes of trading session. If a SENSEX constituent has not traded in the last 30 minutes, the last traded price is taken for computation of the Index closure. If a SENSEX constituent has not traded at all in a day, then its last day's closing price is taken for computation of Index closure. The use of Index Closure Algorithm prevents any intentional manipulation of the closing index value.

Maintenance of SENSEX

One of the important aspects of maintaining continuity with the past is to update the base year average. The base year value adjustment ensures that replacement of stocks in Index, additional issue of capital and other corporate announcements like 'rights issue' etc. do not destroy the historical value of the index. The beauty of maintenance lies in the fact that adjustments for corporate actions in the Index should not per se affect the index values.

The BSE Index Cell does the day-to-day maintenance of the index within the broad index policy framework set by the BSE Index Committee. The BSE Index Cell ensures that SENSEX and all the other BSE indices maintain their benchmark properties by striking a delicate balance between frequent replacements in index and maintaining its historical continuity. The BSE Index Committee comprises of capital market expert, fund managers, market participants and members of the BSE Governing Board.

On-Line Computation of the Index

During trading hours, value of the Index is calculated and disseminated every 15 seconds. This is done automatically on the basis of prices at which trades in Index constituents are executed.

Adjustment for Bonus, Rights and Newly Issued Capital

SENSEX calculation needs to be adjusted for issue of Bonus or Rights shares If no adjustments were made, a discontinuity would arise between the current value of the index and its previous value despite the non-occurrence of any economic activity of substance. At the BSE Index Cell , the base value is adjusted, which is used to alter market capitalization of the component stocks to arrive at the SENSEX value.

The BSE Index Cell keeps a close watch on the events that might affect the index on a regular basis and carries out daily maintenance of all the 19 Indices.

* Adjustments for Rights Issues
When a company, included in the compilation of the index, issues right shares, the free-float market capitalization of that company is increased by the number of additional shares issued based on the theoretical (ex-right) price. An offsetting or proportionate adjustment is then made to the Base Market capitalization (see 'Base Market capitalization Adjustment' below).

* Adjustments for Bonus Issue
When a company, included in the compilation of the index, issues bonus shares, the market capitalization of that company does not undergo any change. Therefore, there is no change in the Base Market capitalization, only the 'number of shares' in the formula is updated.

* Other Issues
Base Market capitalization adjustment is required when new shares are issued by way of conversion of debentures, mergers, spin-offs etc. or when equity is reduced by way of buy-back of shares, corporate restructuring etc.

* Base Market capitalization Adjustment:

New Market Based Capitalisation Method: Old Based Market Capitalisation*(new based market capitalisation/old market capitalisation)

To illustrate, suppose a company issues right shares which increases the market capitalization of the shares of that company by say, Rs.100 crores. The existing Base Market capitalization (Old Base Market capitalization), say, is Rs.2450 crores and the aggregate market capitalization of all the shares included in the index before the right issue is made is, say Rs.4781 crore. The "New Base Market capitalization " will then be:

2450*(4781+100)/4781=Rs.2501.24 crores

This figure of Rs. 2501.24 crore will be used as the Base Market capitalization for calculating the index number from then onwards till the next base change becomes necessary.

Index Review Frequency

The BSE Index Committee meets every quarter to discuss index related issues. In case of a revision in the Index constituents, the announcement of the incoming and outgoing scrips is made six weeks in advance of the actual implementation of the revision of the Index.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:25:00 +0000

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) gained recognition in the mid-1990s, primarily driven by its perception as information technology (IT). However, not enough attention has been given to the fundamental drivers of CRM success: strategy, metrics and its organization.

Successful CRM is about competing in the relationship dimension- not as an alternative to having a competitive product or reasonable price- but as a differentiator. CRM can succeed by being SMART: defined a customer-centric Strategy, use appropriate Metrics; ensurining the organization is Aligned with the objectives of the company itself; Redesign work process as needed; and use appropriate Technology tools as enablers.

At a conference in London in May 2004, business strategy guru Michael Porter delivered a simple but a powerful message. Effective business strategy means being distinctive. How? Business strategy experts say that you can differentiate based on:

1. The core product service offering

2. The price or total cost of ownership; or

3. The total relationship and customer experience.

Staying ahead of competition solely through product leadership is becoming more and more difficult. In an interview with Fast Company, Porter stated, “It’s arrogant for a company to believe it can deliver the same sort of product that its rivals do and actually do better for very long. That’s especially true today, when the flow of information and capital is incredibly fast”.

CRM is a business strategy to acquire, grow and retain profitability customer relationship, with the goal of creating a sustainable competitive advantage. Product/price – based differentiation is waning because of four broad trends: maturing markets, global trade, effective manufacturing and the internet.

Now CRM is emerging as a critical strategy simply because relationships are coming to the forefront of the competitive battleground. CRM should mean creating mutual wins for customers and all the company stakeholders, including employees and business partners.

Frederick Reichheld, author of This Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules, found that loyalty leaders grow, on an average, more than twice as fast as the industry average across a wide variety of industries. And they do it more cost- effectively. The reason for this so-called “loyalty effect” is that loyal customers tends to spend more, cost less to serve and refer others. The net result is that loyalty leaders are head and shoulders above their competitors in growth and profitability. Leading examples according to Reichheld range from Harley Davidson to Enterprise Rent-A- Car.

The key question is: How does a company create loyalty relationship? Reichheld and other loyalty experts have studied this issue for years and concluded that loyalty attitude and behavior are driven by the customer’s perception of value, which is an amalgamation of what the customers receives; how it’s sold, delivered and supported; and how much it costs- the price or total cost of ownership. Experts in customer psychology say that customers’ emotional sates influence about 50 percent of the value them percent of the value they perceive.

Loyalty guru Reichheld had found one simple metric to be highly related to growth in most industries: the willingness of a customer to recommend the company (supplier or brand) to a friend or colleague. Using a 0 to 10 scale, a ‘net promoter’ score is calculated by taking the percentage of customer giving the company a score of 9 or 10 (promoters) and subtracting the percentage giving the company a score of 6 or below (detractors).

THE CUSTOMER VIEW OF VALUE

To be successful with CRM, a company must start by understanding and listen to their customers. In most cases the customers do not complain they just abandon the brand, the product, the supplier or the company itself. When a customer is dissatisfied the on an average he tells around 8-10 people about his bad experience thereby effecting the profits of the company. In this situation the customer stops giving any further business to the company and in-turn diverts to the competitor. On the other hand if a customer feels that he is listened to, the same customer might not only go for repurchases but even provide 3-5 referrals to the company. Then there is the third type of customers the ones who are delighted these are ones who helps the company to grow. These are the customers who provides the company with around 17-20 referrals over their lifetime.

Allow Foreign Direct Investment in Retail

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:28:00 +0000

Allow Foreign Direct Investment in Retail.

FDI has been opened up in other sector of industry and the number of government approvals has been on the increase steadily. During the 1^st seven months of 2004, there has been a net inflow of Rs. 9503 crores which is approximately 80% of total FDI inflow 2003. 2005 has also seen a lot of reform in this sector. With reforms like the increase of FDI cap in aviation from 40% to 49% the overall growth rate in 2005 has also been on similar lines. Press note 18-the restrictive regulation which required a foreign partner in an Indian joint venture to get the Indian partner’s no objection to start a new venture in the same field, has been abolished. In the retail industry however, the picture is not very rosy. According to an A.T. Kearney report, the market in India is estimated at around $225 billion out of which only a dismal 2% or $4.5 billion amounts for organized retailing. With the demography of IndiaIndia indicating a young population and an overall booming economy the spending power of the populace has increased. The need for new shopping environs and increased spending is bound to fillip the growth in this sector by 15% to 20% in the coming two to three years. Retail in is amongst the largest industries accounting for 10% of GDP and around 8% of employment.

With India on the global map for foreign investors around the world, there is a large amount of foreign capital waiting to pour in. India is listed 5^th in the UNCTAD survey of favorable investment locations. In the retail scene, global conglomerates like Wal-Mart from US, Shoprite from South Africa have been eyeing the Indian market keenly. METRO GmbH, the German retail bigwig has opened shop inBangalore. Although fraught with regulatory restrictions, the METRO group with their “Cash & Carry” format has started business selling for resale and corporate purchases. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board of FIPB allows foreign investors to enter the market under the banner of test marketing products for a period of two years. Under these norms the FDI is allowed in wholesale cash & carry but not under the retail trade. With the similarities in the test marketing route to actual retail trading the commerce ministry is hoping to scrap this test marketing route to plug FDI in retail trading.

The entry of METRO GmbH had sparked of protests from the left wing. The company has been accused of starting retail trading directly at their outlets in the name of wholesale. The propaganda machine has been blaming the government of looking the other way by allowing the company to continue operations even when there have been reports of METRO selling products not essentially meant for resale which is stipulated under norms. The Indian retail industries share a large market, which is mainly unorganized. The entry of these large foreign conglomerates is set to usher in an era of large scale organization in this market with modern strategies and newer technology. The left parties are willing to downplay these constructive features by mooting concerns over the so called predatory pricing regimes followed by such companies sounding a death knell to the smaller Indian retail companies.

Predatory pricing practices have been a common feature in arguments against large retail chains around the world like Wal-Mart. Although companies like Wal-Mart have in the past engaged in such practices, it is a case in point to note that such practices have failed and been the bane of these companies. To further allay such misconceptions it might be worthwhile to look into the rates of inflation which are a key index to the struggle in pricing. In fact trying to decrease rates of inflation by practices like monetary infusion, or increase in the stock of country’s money can prove counterproductive. There has been a debate over this issue in economic circles recently with Ben Bernake, the successor to Alan Greenspan as the chairman of US Federal Reserve being in support of such a policy of monetary infusion. The capitalist frame of thought on this issue propounded by none other than Ludwig Von Mises, the famous economist of yesteryear is that trying to increase the stock of money when the inflation rises above a certain level and decreasing it when there is deflation at a certain level, in other words,inflation targeting, cannot be achieved without misleading economy with an illusory boom. This would in simple common sense mean that, practices like predatory pricing will not be successfully possible if there is no indulgence of the Reserve bank of India in socialist practices like monetary infusion.

With India targeting a GDP growth rate of 8% there is definitely a need for more capital investment in retail, it being among the largest industries of the country. The influx of new technology like RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Tags) in the retail industry which is bound to follow any FDI in retail will make businesses more efficient. Also the organization which this capital is bound to bring will actually play in favor of the Indian retail scene. A survey by FICCI indicated that there also needs to be a reform in the FDI policy guidelines set up by FIPB. A whopping majority of surveyed foreign investors have indicated that one of the most obvious deterrents for investing in India is the unstable nature of these policy guidelines. It has to be acknowledged that FIPB has put up online a manual which allays the fears of foreign investors by clearly indicating the guidelines and restrictions to foreign investment in India. But a rethink on increasing the cap of investments is required. Economic policy under socialist pretexts tends to be perfunctory in terms of dealing with illusory booms which lead to recessions by calling for more government control, thereby threatening the ideal of a free economy. The caprice by successive Indian governments with regard to reform in FDI policy is a case of a lack of will to weed out communist influence from economic polity. With countries like China being ranked higher than India in the UNCTAD survey of profitable investment locations one is bound to see that there is definitely a trend in favor of a capitalist economy around the world. Ludwig Von Mises, the noted economist strongly voiced his support for lassiez-faire capitalism as the most advanced economic theory; whether India can move, albeit slowly, towards such a system would in part depend on how it deals with this contentious issue of allowing private capital to flow into one of India’s largest industries.

STATE BANK OF INDIA

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:07:00 +0000

The origin of the State Bank of India goes back to the first decade of the nineteenth century with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in Calcutta on 2 June 1806. Three years later the bank received its charter and was re-designed as the Bank of Bengal (2 January 1809). A unique institution, it was the first joint-stock bank of British India sponsored by the Government of Bengal. The Bank of Bombay (15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (1 July 1843) followed the Bank of Bengal. These three banks remained at the apex of modern banking in India till their amalgamation as the Imperial Bank of India on 27 January 1921.

Primarily Anglo-Indian creations, the three presidency banks came into existence either as a result of the compulsions of imperial finance or by the felt needs of local European commerce and were not imposed from outside in an arbitrary manner to modernise India's economy. Their evolution was, however, shaped by ideas culled from similar developments in Europe and England, and was influenced by changes occurring in the structure of both the local trading environment and those in the relations of the Indian economy to the economy of Europe and the global economic framework.

Establishment

The establishment of the Bank of Bengal marked the advent of limited liability, joint-stock banking in India. So was the associated innovation in banking, viz. the decision to allow the Bank of Bengal to issue notes, which would be accepted for payment of public revenues within a restricted geographical area. This right of note issue was very valuable not only for the Bank of Bengal but also its two siblings, the Banks of Bombay and Madras. It meant an accretion to the capital of the banks, a capital on which the proprietors did not have to pay any interest. The concept of deposit banking was also an innovation because the practice of accepting money for safekeeping (and in some cases, even investment on behalf of the clients) by the indigenous bankers had not spread as a general habit in most parts of India. But, for a long time, and especially upto the time that the three presidency banks had a right of note issue, bank notes and government balances made up the bulk of the investible resources of the banks.

The three banks were governed by royal charters, which were revised from time to time. Each charter provided for a share capital, four-fifth of which were privately subscribed and the rest owned by the provincial government. The members of the board of directors, which managed the affairs of each bank, were mostly proprietary directors representing the large European managing agency houses in India. The rest were government nominees, invariably civil servants, one of whom was elected as the president of the board.

Business

The business of the banks was initially confined to discounting of bills of exchange or other negotiable private securities, keeping cash accounts and receiving deposits and issuing and circulating cash notes. Loans were restricted to Rs.one lakh and the period of accommodation confined to three months only. The security for such loans was public securities, commonly called Company's Paper, bullion, treasure, plate, jewels, or goods 'not of a perishable nature' and no interest could be charged beyond a rate of twelve per cent. Loans against goods like opium, indigo, salt woollens, cotton, cotton piece goods, mule twist and silk goods were also granted but such finance by way of cash credits gained momentum only from the third decade of the nineteenth century. All commodities, including tea, sugar and jute, which began to be financed later, were either pledged or hypothecated to the bank. Demand promissory notes were signed by the borrower in favour of the guarantor, which was in turn endorsed to the bank. Lending against shares of the banks or on the mortgage of houses, land or other real property was, however, forbidden.

Indians were the principal borrowers against deposit of Company's paper, while the business of discounts on private as well as salary bills was almost the exclusive monopoly of individuals Europeans and their partnership firms. But the main function of the three banks, as far as the government was concerned, was to help the latter raise loans from time to time and also provide a degree of stability to the prices of government securities.

India witnessed rapid commercialisation in the last quarter of the nineteenth century as its railway network expanded to cover all the major regions of the country. New irrigation networks in Madras, Punjab and Sind accelerated the process of conversion of subsistence crops into cash crops, a portion of which found its way into the foreign markets. Tea and coffee plantations transformed large areas of the eastern Terais, the hills of Assam and the Nilgiris into regions of estate agriculture par excellence. All these resulted in the expansion of India's international trade more than six-fold. The three presidency banks were both beneficiaries and promoters of this commercialisation process as they became involved in the financing of practically every trading, manufacturing and mining activity in the sub-continent. While the Banks of Bengal and Bombay were engaged in the financing of large modern manufacturing industries, the Bank of Madras went into the financing of large modern manufacturing industries, the Bank of Madras went into the financing of small-scale industries in a way which had no parallel elsewhere. But the three banks were rigorously excluded from any business involving foreign exchange. Not only was such business considered risky for these banks, which held government deposits, it was also feared that these banks enjoying government patronage would offer unfair competition to the exchange banks which had by then arrived in India. This exclusion continued till the creation of the Reserve Bank of India in 1935.

TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY IN STATE BANK OF INDIA

The State Bank of India, the country’s oldest Bank and a premier in terms of balance sheet size, number of branches, market capitalization and profits is today going through a momentous phase of Change and Transformation – the two hundred year old Public sector behemoth is today stirring out of its Public Sector legacy and moving with an agility to give the Private and Foreign Banks a run for their money.

The bank is entering into many new businesses with strategic tie ups – Pension Funds, General Insurance, Custodial Services, Private Equity, Mobile Banking, Point of Sale Merchant Acquisition, Advisory Services, structured products etc – each one of these initiatives having a huge potential for growth.

The Bank is forging ahead with cutting edge technology and innovative new banking models, to expand its Rural Banking base, looking at the vast untapped potential in the hinterland and proposes to cover 100,000 villages in the next two years.

It is also focusing at the top end of the market, on whole sale banking capabilities to provide India’s growing mid / large Corporate with a complete array of products and services. It is consolidating its global treasury operations and entering into structured products and derivative instruments. Today, the Bank is the largest provider of infrastructure debt and the largest arranger of external commercial borrowings in the country. It is the only Indian bank to feature in the Fortune 500 list.

The Bank is changing outdated front and back end processes to modern customer friendly processes to help improve the total customer experience. With about 8500 of its own 10000 branches and another 5100 branches of its Associate Banks already networked, today it offers the largest banking network to the Indian customer. The Bank is also in the process of providing complete payment solution to its clientele with its over 8500 ATMs, and other electronic channels such as Internet banking, debit cards, mobile banking, etc.

With four national level Apex Training Colleges and 54 learning Centres spread all over the country the Bank is continuously engaged in skill enhancement of its employees. Some of the training programes are attended by bankers from banks in other countries.

The bank is also looking at opportunities to grow in size in India as well as Internationally. It presently has 82 foreign offices in 32 countries across the globe. It has also 7 Subsidiaries in India – SBI Capital Markets, SBICAP Securities, SBI DFHI, SBI Factors, SBI Life and SBI Cards - forming a formidable group in the Indian Banking scenario. It is in the process of raising capital for its growth and also consolidating its various holdings.

Throughout all this change, the Bank is also attempting to change old mindsets, attitudes and take all employees together on this exciting road to Transformation. In a recently concluded mass internal communication programme termed ‘Parivartan’ the Bank rolled out over 3300 two day workshops across the country and covered over 130,000 employees in a period of 100 days using about 400 Trainers, to drive home the message of Change and inclusiveness. The workshops fired the imagination of the employees with some other banks in India as well as other Public Sector Organizations seeking to emulate the programme.

The CNN IBN, Network 18 recognized this momentous transformation journey, the State Bank of India is undertaking, and has awarded the prestigious Indian of the Year – Business, to its Chairman, Mr. O. P. Bhatt in January 2008.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

r. No.
Name of Director
Sec. of SBI Act, 1955
1.
Shri O.P. Bhatt
Chairman
19(a)
2.
Shri S.K. Bhattacharyya
MD & CC&RO
19(b)
3.
Shri R. Sridharan
MD & GE(A&S)
19(b)
4.
Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala
19(c)
5.
Shri Dileep C. Choksi
19(c)
6.
Shri S. Venkatachalam
19(c)
7.
Shri. D. Sundaram
19(c)
8.
Dr. Deva Nand Balodhi
19(d)
9.
Prof. Mohd. Salahuddin Ansari
19(d)
10.
Dr.(Mrs.) Vasantha Bharucha
19(d)
11.
Dr. Rajiv Kumar
19(d)
12.
Shri Ashok Chawla
19(e)
13.
Smt. Shyamala Gopinath
19(f)

FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES

SBI International (Mauritius) Ltd.,
Offshore Bank

(A subsidiary of State Bank of India)

State bank of India International (Mauritius) Ltd is one of the first offshore banks to be established in Mauritius in 1990, with a paid up capital of USD 10 Million. The Bank has had a consistent record of having earned profits since its very first year of operations.
SBIIML, with the expertise of its management and personnel, is customer focussed, and offers to all its clients, all over the world, high quality, cost effective professional services and innovative products. The Bank lays emphasis on technology, which is an integral part of its operations having a significant impact on services rendered. It has, presently, clients spread over 40 countries.
STATE BANK OF INDIA (CALIFORNIA)
State Bank of India (California), a wholly owned subsidiary in California is a California State Chartered Bank and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. With four full service branches and a money transfer office, the Bank caters to the Banking needs of the community, ethnic and non-ethnic alike, through various deposit and loan schemes. The Bank also provides Internet Banking, Tele-Banking, ATM service and Credit Cards.
STATE BANK OF INDIA (CANADA)
State Bank of India (Canada) - a wholly owned subsidiary of State Bank of India - has been operating in Canada at four locations Toronto ,Vancouver, Surrey and Mississauga , extending various facilities to the Indians settled in Canada such as remittance of funds through a network of over 9000 offices of State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank in India and through the branches of its Associate Banks. SBI(C) has also been instrumental in fostering trade ties between India and Canada by extending financial, advisory and logistic support to Canadian and Indian corporates.
INMB BANK LTD, LAGOS
A subsidiary of SBI, INMB Bank Ltd, (formerly Indo-Nigerian Merchant Bank Ltd) was incorporated on 26/11/1981 under the Banking Act, 1969. The principle activity of the Bank is providing Banking Services, mainly to corporate clients. Such services include the granting of loans and advances, equipment leasing, corporate finance activities, financial advisory services.

PRODUCTS:
Loans
Credit Cards
Savings
Investment Vehicals
SBI Life (Insurance) etc.
REVENUE:
▲ US$ 24.577 billion (2008)

NET INCOME:

▲ US$ 2.25 billion (2008)

TOTAL ASSETS:

▲ US$ 257.183 billion (as of 31st March 2008)

EMPLOYEES:

205,896

SOURCES:

www.statebankofindia.com

www.wikipedia.org

What is viral marketing or Word of Mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:55:00 +0000

Viral marketing is an idea that spreads--and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause.

Two kinds of viral marketing: The original classic sort in which the marketing is the product and which a self-amplifying cycle occurs. Hotmail, for example, or YouTube. The more people use them, the more people see them. The more people see them, the more people use them. The product or service must be something that improves once more people use it.

A second kind has evolved over the last few years, and that's a marketing campaign that spreads but isn't the product itself. Shepard Fairey's poster of Barack Obama was everywhere, because people chose to spread it. It was viral (it spread) and it was marketing (because it made an argument--a visual one--for a candidate.)

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create Viral Messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being passed along.

The term "viral marketing" has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on-line combined with undermarket advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.
In response to its use, many sites have started up trying to describe what viral marketing is.

Here you can see the one of the popular Viral Ads that has been made by Monster.Com.

For More viral ads visit : WEBCHUTNEY.
Source:Seth's Blog,Wikipedia

UNITED BREWERIES GROUP

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:17:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

United Breweries Group or UB Group, based in Bangalore, is a conglomerate of different companies with a major focus on the brewery (beer) and alcoholic beverages industry. The group is headed by Dr.Vijay Mallya who is also a member of the Indian Parliament. United Breweries now has greater than a 40% share of the Indian brewing market. Recently UB financed a takeover of the spirits business of the rival Shaw-Wallace company giving it a majority share of India's spirits business. The group owns the Mendocino Brewing Company in the United States.

United Breweries is India's largest producer of beer with a market share of around 48% by volume. The company markets most of its beer under the Kingfisher brand and has also launched Kingfisher Airlines, an airline service in India, with international flights operating recently. The Group is the third largest manufacturer of spirits products in the world, only after Diageo PLC and Pernod Recardo. In addition, USL is one of only three in the world to own seven millionaire brands and at least five brands rated by Drinks International, UK, to be amongst the ten fastest growing brands in the world in their respective categories. The market share of the Spirits Division in India is currently 60% and exports to the Middle East, Africa and Asian countries are growing rapidly. The UB Group’s Brewing Enity - called United Breweries Limited (UBL) - has also assumed undisputed market leadership with a national market share in excess of 50%. Through a process of aggressive acquisition and market penetration, The UB Group today controls 60% of the total manufacturing capacity for Beer in India. The flagship brand, Kingfisher is now sold in over 52 countries worldwide having received many accolades for its quality. With plans to becoming a global player United Spirits Ltd. (USL), the flagship of the UB group, purchased the Scottish distiller Whyte and Mackay in May 2007 for £595 million (Rs. 4,800 crore). This would bring the brands of W&M like The Dalmore, Isle of Jura,Glayva, Fettercairn,Vladivar Vodka, and Whyte & Mackay Scotch under its portfolio.

The group company Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers ( MCF ) has factory at Paramburin Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka. It has a manufacturing capacity of 2,17, 800 MT of Ammonia and 3,80,000 MT of Urea.

UB Engineering Limited is the group's engineering business arm. It undertakes EPC Projects, Infrastructure, On-site fabrication of structures, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of Electrical and Mechanical Equipments, Piping etc. for large Industrial projects such as Power, Refineries, Steel, Cement, Fertilizer, Petrochemical and Desalination Projects. The company was initially established as Western India Erectors in 1963 and came under the UB Group in 1988.

The Group's company UB Global Limited is a recognized export house engaged in the export of Beer, Spirits, Leather Footwear and Processed Foods. The Company also exports Pharmaceutical Products and customized perfumeries.

The group entrance to the IT sector had also been marked by the formation of UBICS, Inc. The company provides IT consulting, services and professional IT products to business companies.

In August 2007, the group made a first-of-its-kind media alliance for the promotion of NDTV Good Times, a lifestyle television channel run by NDTV. The UB Group also has a shareholding in Asian Age Holdings Ltd, the company that owns and manages daily newspaper, The Asian Age.

The group's company Aventis Pharma Limited is the second largest pharmaceutical multinational in India. It develops and markets branded prescription drugs and vaccines.

Vittal Mallya Scientific Research Foundation (VMSRF) was established in 1987 with the objective of developing newer and novel technologies that will have substantial application in industry and health care. The foundation is it is recognized by the Departments of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Dept. of Biotechnology (DBT), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.

United Spirits Limited has 144 brands under its umbrella, including White Mischief Vodka, the market leading brand in India.

HISTORY
The UB Group was founded by a Scotsman, Leishman in 1857. The Group took its initial lessons in manufacturing beer from South India based British breweries. At the age of 22, Vittal Mallya was elected as the company's first Indian director in 1947. After a year, he replaced RGN Price as the chairman of the company. United Breweries made its initial impact by manufacturing bulk beer for the British troops, which was transported in huge barrels or "Hogsheads". Kingfisher, the Group's most visible and profitable brand, made a modest entry in the sixties. During the 1950's and 60's, the company expanded greatly by acquiring other breweries. First was the addition of McDowell as one of the Group subsidiaries, a move which helped United Breweries to extend its portfolio to wines and spirits business. Strategically, the Group moved into agro-based industries and medicines when Mallya acquired Kissan Products and formed a long-term relationship with Hoechst AG of Germany to create the Indian pharmaceutical company now known as AventisPharma , the Indian subsidiary of the global Pharma major Sanofi-Aventis.
FINANCIALS
In July 2007, United Breweries Limited reported volume growth of 16.3% compared to the previous year, which is a huge task in the economy low down period.

AUTHORISED CAPITAL – 30 CRORES INR

ISSUED CAPITAL – 21.6 CRORES INR

PAID UP SHARES (NOS.) – 216043430

PAID UP FACE VALUE – 1.00 INR

INVESTORS RETURNS – 1:9

OPERATING INCOME (MARCH ‘09) – 1691.75 CRORES INR

OPERATING PROFIT – 220.74 CRORES INR

ADJUSTED PAT – 71.56 CRORES INR

REPORTED NET PROFIT – 62.49 CRORES INR
RETAINED EARNINGS – 45.40 CRORES INR
KEY PEOPLE
Dr. VIJAY MALLYA (CHAIRMAN)
MR. KALYAN GANGULY (MANAGING DIRECTOR)
MR. GOVIND IYENGAR (CO. SECRETARY AND COMPL. OFFICER)

DIVISIONS
UNITED BREWERIES LTD., UNITED SPIRITS LTD., KINGFISHER AIRLINES, MANGALORE CHEMICALS AND FERTILISERS LTD., UB GLOBAL (TRADING COMPANY), UBICS INC., UB ENGINEERING LTD.

We humbly thank Mr. Debdut Pramanick for taking out time and contributing this write-up. We will be grateful to him for his gesture.
The information stated above are subject to change please visit the official web-site to keep yourself updated: www.theubgroup.com
Sources:
www.financialexpress.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.theubgroup.com

MERCK

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:18:00 +0000

CORPORATE PROFILE:

Merck, incorporated in 1967, was the first Merck subsidiary company in Asia and at present it has a manufacturing base at Goa. Merck Limited manufacture and market pharmaceuticals, specialty fine chemicals, life science products and pigments for their clients.

ACTIVITIES

Merck is the only Indian company to manufacture Vitamin E and Guaiazulene. The other products and services offered by the Merck to satisfy their clients are:

Pharmaceuticals - 1. Vitamin Formulation

2. Anti-oxidants

3. Cardiologicals

4. Dermatologicals

5. Neurologicals

6. NSAIDS

7. Haematinics

8. Anti-diabetics

Bulk Drug like Vitamin E

Pigments,Cosmetic Ingredients and Life Science products - Cosmetic active ingredients like Allantoin, Sun Screen agents and Rona Cosmetic Pigments.

PERFORMANCE

The sales of the company fell by 31% to Rs.704 million and the profit before taxes fell by 26% to Rs. 229 million. This reduction in the Sales & Profit was due to sale of Life Science and Analytics, other than the Bulk Drug, Vitamin E, business in 2006. however, Rs.22.1 million was added to the fixed assets during Jan-Mar 2007.

The Pharmaceutical business comprises of formulations used in area of cardiovascular, metabolic diseases and vitamins. There is a rise in the sales in this sector from Rs.524 million in Jan to Mar 2006 to Rs. 561 million in Jan to Mar 2007. about 80 % of the Merck's total sales depends on the Pharma sector.

Incorporated in 2006, the Chemical business of Merck comprises Bulk Pharma Compounds and Specialty Pigments. Sales in the Chemical business fell by 48% from Rs. 490 million in Jan to Mar 2006 to Rs.143 million in Jan to Mar 2007 due to the Sale of LSA business.

IN NEWS

20.06.09: Drug firm Merck Ltd reported a net profit of Rs 11.88 crore for quarter ended on June 30, 2009, a decrease of 34 per cent over the same period last year.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 18 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2008, Merck said in a statement. During the quarter under consideration, the total income of the company stood at Rs 135.39 crore registering an increase of 28 per cent compared to Rs 105.06 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

23.02.09: MSD India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US drug maker Merck & Co, plans to hire 300 people this year as it looks to expand its presence in the Indian market, where it intends to introduce more vaccines.

The company plans to introduce vaccines for Rotavirus, Hepatitis A and Herpes in the next two years in the country. The new hirings will be for all areas of its operations, he said, adding the company has identified five segments - oncology, neurology, metabolics, cardio-vascular and critical care - for growth in the country.

The informations stated above are subject to change, to keep yourself updated please visit the official website of the company: www.merck.com

Sources:

www.merck.com

www.financialexpress.com

Think Out of the Box

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Think Out of the Box

Below are the Interview Questions, which were once asked in HR Round in TCS.....

Be careful while you answering, No one will GET second chance to impress....

Very very Impressive Questions and Answers..... ...

Question 1: You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:

An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to,
knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.

* You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first;

* or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to ! pay him back.

* However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. Guess what was his answer?

He simply answered:

"I would give the car keys to my Old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital.
I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to "Think Outside the Box."

Question 2: What will you do if I run away with your sister?"

The candidate who was selected answered " I will not get a better match for my sister than you sir"

Question 3: Interviewer (to a student girl candidate) - What is one morning you woke up & found that you were pregnant.

Girl - I will be very excited and take an off, to celebrate with my husband.

Normally an unmarried girl will be shocked to hear this, but she managed it well. Why I should think it in the wrong way, she said later when asked

Question 4: Interviewer: He ordered a cup of coffee for the candidate.
Coffee arrived kept before the candidate, then he asked what is before you?

Candidate: Instantly replied "Tea"

He got selected.

You know how and why did he say "TEA" when he knows very well that coffee was kept before.

(Answer: The question was "What is before you (U - alphabet)
Reply was "TEA" ( T - alphabet)

Alphabet "T" was before Alphabet "U"

Question 5: Where Lord Rama would have celebrated his "First Diwali"?
People will start thinking of Ayodya, Mitila [Janaki's place], Lanka etc...

But the logic is, Diwali was a celebrated as a mark of Lord Krishna Killing Narakasura.
In Dusavataar, Krishnavathaar comes after Raamavathaar.

So, Lord Rama would not have celebrated the Diwali At all!

Question 6: The interviewer asked to the candidate "This is your last question of the interview.
Please tell me the exact position of the center of this table where u have kept your files."

Candidate confidently put one of his finger at some point at the table and told that this was the central point at the table.
Interviewer asked how did u get to know that this being the central point of this table,
then he answers quickly that sir u r not likely to ask any more question, as it was the last question that u promised to ask.....

And hence, he was selected as because of his quick-wittedness. ....

This is what Interviewer expects from the Interviewee. ....

Think Out of The Box

NESTLE (INDIA)

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:49:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

Nestlé India is a subsidiary of Nestle S.A. of Switzerland. With seven factories and a large number of co-packers, Nestlé India is a vibrant Company that provides consumers in India with products of global standards and is committed to long-term sustainable growth and shareholder satisfaction.

The Company insists on honesty, integrity and fairness in all aspects of its business and expects the same in its relationships. This has earned it the trust and respect of every strata of society that it comes in contact with and is acknowledged amongst India's 'Most Respected Companies' and amongst the 'Top Wealth Creators of India'.

HISTORY

Nestlé was founded in 1867 on the shores of Lake Geneva in Vevey, Switzerland and its first product was “Farine Lactée Nestlé”, an infant cereal specially formulated by Henri Nestlé to provide and improve infant nutrition. From its first historic merger with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company in 1905, Nestlé has grown to become the world’s largest and most diversified food Company, and is about twice the size of its nearest competitor in the food and beverages sector.

Nestlé’s trademark of birds in a nest, derived from Henri Nestlé’s personal coat of arms, evokes the values upon which he founded his Company. Namely, the values of security, maternity and affection, nature and nourishment, family and tradition. Today, it is not only the central element of Nestlé’s corporate identity but serves to define the Company’s products, responsibilities, business practices, ethics and goals.

In 2004, Nestlé had around 247,000 employees worldwide, operated 500 factories in approx. 100 countries and offered over 8,000 products to millions of consumers universally. The Company’s transparent business practices, pioneering environment policy and respect for the fundamental values of different cultures have earned it an enviable place in the countries it operates in. Nestlé’s activities contribute to and nurture the sustainable economic development of people, communities and nations.

Nestlé’s relationship with India dates back to 1912, when it began trading as The Nestlé Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company (Export) Limited, importing and selling finished products in the Indian market.

After India’s independence in 1947, the economic policies of the Indian Government emphazised the need for local production. Nestlé responded to India’s aspirations by forming a company in India and set up its first factory in 1961 at Moga, Punjab, where the Government wanted Nestlé to develop the milk economy. Progress in Moga required the introduction of Nestlé’s Agricultural Services to educate, advise and help the farmer in a variety of aspects. From increasing the milk yield of their cows through improved dairy farming methods, to irrigation, scientific crop management practices and helping with the procurement of bank loans. Nestlé set up milk collection centres that would not only ensure prompt collection and pay fair prices, but also instil amongst the community, a confidence in the dairy business. Progress involved the creation of prosperity on an on-going and sustainable basis that has resulted in not just the transformation of Moga into a prosperous and vibrant milk district today, but a thriving hub of industrial activity, as well. For more on Nestlé Agricultural Services.

OPERATIONS

Nestlé has been a partner in India's growth for over nine decades now and has built a very special relationship of trust and commitment with the people of India. The Company's activities in India have facilitated direct and indirect employment and provides livelihood to about one million people including farmers, suppliers of packaging materials, services and other goods.

The Company continuously focuses its efforts to better understand the changing lifestyles of India and anticipate consumer needs in order to provide Taste, Nutrition, Health and Wellness through its product offerings. The culture of innovation and renovation within the Company and access to the Nestlé Group's proprietary technology/Brands expertise and the extensive centralized Research and Development facilities gives it a distinct advantage in these efforts. It helps the Company to create value that can be sustained over the long term by offering consumers a wide variety of high quality, safe food products at affordable prices.

Nestlé India manufactures products of truly international quality under internationally famous brand names such as NESCAFÉ, MAGGI, MILKYBAR, MILO, KIT KAT, BAR-ONE, MILKMAID and NESTEA and in recent years the Company has also introduced products of daily consumption and use such as NESTLÉ Milk, NESTLÉ SLIM Milk, NESTLÉ Fresh 'n' Natural Dahi and NESTLÉ Jeera Raita. Nestlé India is a responsible organization and facilitates initiatives that help to improve the quality of life in the communities where it operates.

PRESENCE IN INDIA

Beginning with its first investment in Moga in 1961, Nestlé’s regular and substantial investments established that it was here to stay. In 1967, Nestlé set up its next factory at Choladi (Tamil Nadu) as a pilot plant to process the tea grown in the area into soluble tea. The Nanjangud factory (Karnataka), became operational in 1989, the Samalkha factory (Haryana), in 1993 and in 1995 and 1997, Nestlé commissioned two factories in Goa at Ponda and Bicholim respectively. Nestlé India has commissioned in 2006 its 7th factory at Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand.

BRANDS

. MILK PRODUCTS AND NUTRITION

· EVERYDAY DAIRY WHITENER

· EVERYDAY GHEE

· MILK

· SLIM MILK

· SILM MILK

· NEVISTA PRO-HEART MILK

· FRESH ‘n’ NATURAL DAHI

· FREAH ‘n’ NATURAL SLIM DAHI

· JEERA RAITA

· NESVITA DAHI

· MILKMAID FRUIT YOGHURT

· MILKMAID

· MILKMAID FUNSHAKES

· NIDO

BEVERAGES

· NESCAFE CLASSIC

· SUNRISE PREMIUM

· SUNRISE SPECIAL

· CAPPUCCINO

· MILO SMART PLUS READY –TO- DRINK

· ICED TEA WITH GREEN TEA

· NESTEA ICED TEA

PREPARED DISHES AND COOKING AIDS

· MAGGI 2 MINUTE NOODLES

· VEG ATTA NOODLES

· RICE NOODLES MANIA

· CUPPA MANIA

· SAUCES

· PICHKOO

· PIZZA MAZZA

· MAGIC CUBES

· BHUNA MASALA

· COCONUT MILK POWDER

· HEALTHY SOUPS

· HEALTHY SOUP-SANJEEVNI

CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONERY

· KIT-KAT

· KIT-KAT CHUNKY

· MUNCH

· MUNCH POP CHOC

· MILKYBAR

· MILKYBAR CHOO

· BAR-ONE

· MILK CHOCOLATE

· POLO

· ECLAIRS

· MILKYBAR ECLAIRS

NESTLE & COMMUNITY

Nestlé India has always focused on long term, sustainable and profitable growth and helped communities around its factories to improve their quality of life in a similar manner. Nestlé Agricultural Services has used the experience gained by Nestlé across the world to set up a system of direct and efficient contact with the farmers. Company veterinarians and agronomists supervise the milk routes and advise farmers on various issues including proper feed for the herds. Milk storage facilities have been set up close to the farmers. Veterinary services are provided free, and medicines provided at wholesale cost. The company assists farmers in artificial insemination programs for their cattle, provides subsidy and helps them in procuring loans.For more on Nestlé Agricultural Services.

IN NEWS

17.08.09: After PepsiCo and Coca-Cola India, chocolate majors Cadbury India and Nestle India are now engaged in a bitter advertising war. With the launch of its new advertising campaign for Munch, Nestle has directly taken on Cadbury Dairy Milk’s new high-voltage ad campaign titled Aaj Pehli Tarikh Hai. With the tagline Sirf Pehli Tarikh Ko Nahin, Kabhi Bi Kha Sakte Hai, Nestle’s ‘combative advertising’ campaign directly mocks Cadbury’s brand proposition.

“Similar battles were mostly fought between cola majors Pepsi and Coke in India. Now, Horlicks and Complan are engaged in a similar tussle. Companies mainly opt for combative advertising technique to grab eyeballs. With its new ad, Nestle India wants to dilute the brand proposition of Cadbury,” said an industry analyst based in Mumbai. Currently, Cadbury leads the pack in the Rs 3,200-crore branded chocolate sector in India.

22.04.09; (ZURICH): Nestle, the world's biggest food group, reported a slowdown in core sales growth in the first quarter as a strong Swiss franc weighed, but reiterated its full year target despite the global slowdown. Nestle said it still expects 2009 organic sales growth of "at least approaching 5 per cent" compared to its long-term target of 5-6 per cent. Organic sales growth, which strips out currency effects and acquisitions, was 3.8 per cent in the first quarter, the company said on Wednesday.

Total sales slipped 2.1 per cent to 25.2 billion Swiss francs ($21.5 billion) from 25.7 billion a year ago as the strong Swiss currency had a negative impact of 5.2 per cent.

RIDING OUT THE RECESSION?

Analysts have said the maker of Nescafe coffee, KitKat chocolate bars and Maggi soup was well positioned to ride out the recession compared to its rivals due to its range of products and wide geographical presence.

REVENUE

CHF 109.9 Billion (2008)

OPERATING INCOME

CHF 15.68 Billion (2008)

PROFIT

CHF 18.04 Billion (2008)

The informations stated above are subject to change , so to keep your selfupdated please the official website of the company: www.nestle.in

Sources:

www.nestle.in

www.nestle.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.financialexpress.com

Lateral Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:23:00 +0000

Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono. He defines
it as a technique of problem solving by approaching problems
indirectly at diverse angles instead of concentrating on one
approach at length.

Check out your lateral thinking prowess!

The first 4 images are the questions and the last four the
answers.

Please do not look at the answers first, these are really good,
try it out.

Answers:-

How Do You Sleep ??And What Does it Say About You??

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:06:00 +0000

How To Subscribe??

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:44:00 +0000

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Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:52:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

The Small Industries Development Bank of India is a state-run bank aimed to aid the growth and development of micro, small and medium scale industries in India. Set up on April 2 1990 through an act of parliament, it was incorporated initially as a wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial Development Bank of India. Current shareholding is widely spread among various state owned banks, insurance companies, etc. Beginning as a refinancing agency to banks and state level financing bodies for their credit to small industries, it has diversified in to many activities, including direct credit to the SME through more than 100 branches in all major clusters of SME in India. Besides, it has been playing the development role in several ways such as support to micro-finance institutions for capacity building and onlending. Recently it has opened 7 branches christened as SFMC branches, aimed especially at dispensing loans up to Rs. 5.00 lakh.
SIDBI has also floated several other entities for related activities. Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises provides guarantees to banks for collatoral free loans extended to SME. SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd.

HISTORY

IDBI was established on April 2, 1990, under an Act (SIDBI Act, 1989) passed by the Indian Parliament. The Charter establishing it, The Small Industries Development Bank of India Act, 1989 envisaged SIDBI to be "the principal financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of industry in the small scale sector and to co-ordinate the functions of the institutions engaged in the promotion and financing or developing industry in the small scale sector and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

OPERATIONS

The business domain of SIDBI consists of small scale industrial units, that contribute significantly to the national economy in terms of production, employment and exports. Small scale industries are the industrial units in which the investment in plant and machinery does not exceed Rs.10 million . About 3.1 million such units, employing 17.2 million persons account for a share of 36 per cent of India's exports and 40 per cent of industrial manufacture. In addition, SIDBI's assistance flows to the transport, health care and tourism sectors and also to the professional and self-employed persons setting up small-sized professional ventures. SIDBI retained its position in the top 30 Development Banks of the World in the latest ranking of The Banker, London. As per the May 2001 issue of The Banker, London, SIDBI ranked 25th both in terms of Capital and Assets.

MICRO FINANCE

SIDBI Foundation for Micro Credit (SFMC) was launched by the Bank in January 1999 for channelising funds to the poor in line with the success of pilot phase of Micro Credit Scheme. SFMC's mission is to create a national network of strong, viable and sustainable Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) from the informal and formal financial sector to provide micro finance services to the poor, especially women.
SIDBI has partnered with the Department for International Development (DFID), UK for its capacity building initiatives. DFID has committed grant support of £ 16.51 mn. in this regard. SIDBI has also collaborated with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome to upscale its operations in the underserved / underdeveloped regions / states as well as to increase its outreach by providing financial support to MFIs that focus on targeting the poor, more so, women. IFAD is providing soft loan support of SDR 16.35 mn. for providing financial support to MFIs in the underserved regions. To bridge the wide gap between supply and demand and to increase access to microfinance products, SIDBI has partnered with the KfW for a line of credit of EUR 85 million. Additionally, a grant component of EUR 1.69 million has been earmarked for carrying forward the capacity building initiatives for the sector.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES
DIRECT FINANCE
BILLS FINANCE
REFINANCE
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY SCHEMES
FIXED DEPOSIT SCHEMES
PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES ( MDPs, EDPs, Rural Industries Programmes)

KEY PEOPLE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Rajendra Mohan Malla Chairman& MD

Shri Rakesh Rewari Deputy Managing Director
Shri Basant Seth Deputy Managing Director
Shri Madhav Lal Additional Secretary & DC (MSME), Ministry of MSME, Government of India
Smt. Ravneet Kaur Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Shri Janki Ballabh Former Chairman, State Bank of India
Shri M. Balachandran Former Chairman & Managing Director, Bank of India
Shri S.K. Tuteja Former Secretary, Government of India
Shri S.S. Chattopadhyay Chairman, West Bengal Financial Corporation
Shri K. Sitaramam Former Deputy Managing Director State Bank of India
Shri T. R. Bajalia Executive Director, IDBI Bank Ltd.
Shri B. Manivannan Executive Director (IT-BPR)
Life Insurance Corporation of India
Shri A. Prabhakara MSME Entrepreneur

HEADS OF ZONAL OFFICES
Name (S/Shri) Designation Office
K. S. Singhwan CGM Eastern Zonal Office, Kolkata
K. G. Alai CGM Northern Zonal Office, New Delhi
Namgial CGM Southern Zonal Office, Chennai
S. Gunasegaran CGM Central Zonal Office, Lucknow
S.V.G. Nandagopal CGM Western Zonal Office, Mumbai

IN NEWS

06.06.09: Multilateral lending agency World Bank is thinking of providing $400 million loan to SIDBI for small and medium industries financing and development project. With the signing of legal agreements for the loan, finalised in March this year, Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) can now work on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) development and financing project which had performed very well earlier. The SIDBI project would focus on improved access of Small and Medium Enterprises to concessional finance and providing business development services to them.

The informations stated above are subject to change, to keep yourself updated please visit the official website of the company: www.sidbi.in

Sources:

www.sidbi.in

www.financialexpress.com

Reliance Capital

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Reliance Capital Limited was incorporated in year 1986 at Ahmedabad in Gujarat as Reliance Capital & Finance Trust Limited. The name RCL came into effect from January 5, 1995. In 2002, RCL shifted its registered office to Jamnagar in Gujarat before it finally moved to Mumbai in Maharashtra, in 2006.

In 2006, Reliance Capital Ventures Limited merged with RCL and with this merger the shareholder base of RCL rose from 0.15 million shareholders to 1.3 million.

RCL entered the Capital Market with a maiden public issue in 1990 and in subsequent years further tapped the capital market through rights issue and public issues. The equity shares were initially listed on the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange and The Stock Exchange Mumbai. Presently the shares are listed on The Stock Exchange Mumbai and the National Stock Exchange of India.

RCL in the initial years engaged itself in steady annuity yielding businesses such as leasing, bill discounting, and inter-corporate deposits. Later, in 1993 diversified its business in the areas of portfolio investment, lending against securities, custodial services, money market operations, project finance advisory services, and investment banking.

RCL was accredited a Category 1 Merchant banker by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It had lead managed/co-managed 15 issues of an aggregate value of Rs. 400 crore and had underwritten 33 issues for an aggregate value of Rs. 550 crore. All these companies were listed on various exchanges.

RCL obtained its registration as a Non-banking Finance Company (NBFC) in December 1998. In view of the regulatory requirements RCL surrendered its Merchant Banking License.

RCL has since diversified its activities in the areas of asset management and mutual funds, life and general insurance, private equity and proprietary investments, stock broking, depository services, distribution of financial products, consumer finance and other activities in financial services.

Top Management Profile:

Amit Bapna (Chief Financial Officer, Reliance Capital)
Amit Bapna, 34, is the Chief Financial Officer at Reliance Capital. He has been with Reliance Capital since 2004 and with the Group since 1999. As CFO, he provides financial direction, oversight and control for Reliance Capital and Group companies and strategic leadership for Treasury. He has over eleven years of experience in varied business environments—manufacturing and financial services. He earlier worked in the capacity of CFO of Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd and Reliance Consumer Finance where he played a key role and had been a significant contributor to the exponential growth of our Asset management business and has brought in operational & process disciplines, which has been invaluable to the Consumer Finance business. Prior to that he worked in the Corporate Treasury of Reliance Industries Ltd. Amit is a chartererd accountant by qualification. He is interested in Travelling, Dining out and watching movies.
Arun Hariharan (President, Quality and Knowledge Management, Reliance Capital)
Arun Hariharan, 42, is President, Quality and Knowledge Management at Reliance Capital. The company has achieved significant business results from Quality and KM initiatives such as Lean Six Sigma and IdeaExpress including over Rs. 100 crore in savings so far. Thousands of employees have participated in these initiatives. Two of Reliance Capital’s businesses have won the “Economics of Quality” commendation Award from the Government of India and also been selected for the Asian Network for Quality Congress, in Japan in 2009. Before joining Reliance Capital in October 2005, Arun led one of the most successful Six Sigma Quality & KM programs in Indian industry at Bharti AirTel. These have now become case-studies at leading business schools, including IIMs. His total work experience spans 23 years across different companies and roles. He is frequently invited to speak at Quality and KM events. He has thrice been Chairperson at the International Quality and Productivity Council’s Six Sigma conferences around the world. Recently, he was a key speaker at the World Congress for Total Quality and Corporate Governance. He is the author of several papers and articles in leading international journals on the topics of Quality Leadership and KM. This includes his white paper on Quality lessons for Leadership published by the American Society for Quality. Arun’s educational qualifications include an MS (Finance) and MBA, both from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. His other interests are reading, travel, and music.
K. Achuthan (Chief People Officer, Reliance Capital)
K. Achuthan, 40, is the Chief People Officer at Reliance Capital. He has been with Reliance Capital since 2006. As the Human Resources Leader, he is responsible for conceptualizing and implementing state of the art and relevant Human Resource strategies to accelerate growth at Reliance Capital. He has eighteen years of HR leadership experience in diverse business environments—manufacturing, consulting, and financial services. He has worked in India, South East Asia, and in North East Asia. He has held a variety of roles ranging from organization development and staffing, management consulting, union relations, and HR leadership. Achuthan’s last job was at General Electric. He is a post-graduate in social work from Madras University. He is also a trained CAP coach and facilitator. He has delivered several training sessions on Change Acceleration, Work-Out™ and Facilitative Leadership skills. Achuthan’s is interested in hiking, photography, and playing the keyboard.
K. A. Somasekharan (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance General Insurance)
K. A. Somasekharan, 59, has 30 years of experience in General Insurance. Soma took over as CEO of Reliance General Insurance in April 2005. He is instrumental in making Reliance General Insurance grow, fast. Under Soma's inspiring leadership, RGI's top-line has grown nearly 12 times to Rs. 1,915 crore as on March 31, 2009, becoming the third largest private General Insurance company. Soma's biggest achievement though is the creation of a network of 200 offices across 172 cities with 7,800 intermediaries along with setting up RGI's retail business virtually from scratch. Before becoming the CEO of Reliance General Insurance, Soma served as Vice President, Corporate Marketing of RGI in Mumbai. Prior to this, he was associated with United India Insurance and last served in the capacity of Regional Manager. When free, he reads books and magazines of all genres.
Keshav Sanghi (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Equities International)
Keshav Sanghi, 40, is the CEO of Reliance Equities International, which is the institutional stock broking and investment banking subsidiary of Reliance Capital. This was set up in 2008 to complement Reliance Capital's existing Financial Services businesses. Keshav is building an institution with a competent team by winning mindshare, respect and trust through being Clear, Concise and Confident Keshav's primary responsibility is to lead a team of committed professionals towards achieving shared goals of being the best in a competitive environment. The team wants to differentiate their services from the rest of the street; they aim to add value to their client's investment decision by charting their own path towards Excellence. Keshav was earlier the MD and Head of Equities at Deutsche Bank in India. He graduated with a degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an avid reader, is training for the sprint triathlon, and is also an amateur magician.
K. V. Srinivasan (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Consumer Finance)
K. V. Srinivasan, 44, is the CEO of Reliance Consumer Finance and of Reliance Home Finance; both are subsidiaries of Reliance Capital. KV has been leading the consumer finance business since December 2007. He has been instrumental in building a strong team to accelerate growth, responsibly. KV oversees both the companies that are building a quality portfolio of assets, and delivering significant return on investments. He has been with the Reliance Capital for the past four years. Earlier, he was the COO of Reliance Life insurance, during which time that company became India's fastest growing life insurance company-having grown from 11th to 4th place. Before joining Reliance Capital, he was the Financial Controller and Company Secretary of Citicorp Finance, a Citibank subsidiary. KV has done his MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. He is an outdoor and fitness enthusiast, and is very passionate about music.
Lav Chaturvedi (Chief Risk Officer, Reliance Capital)
Lav Chaturvedi, 33, is the Chief Risk Officer for Reliance Capital since October 2008. He is responsible for assessing and managing enterprise-wide risks at the group level covering various risks such as credit, market, operations, etc. across all businesses and geographies and risk aggregation for centralized risk and capital management. He is responsible for integral Internal Audit function at group level. He has been instrumental in developing best-in-class risk management capabilities and culture by creating a clear direct line of sight from risk management to stakeholder value. Before this, he was the Head, Risk Management in Reliance Mutual Fund, which he joined in January 2007. Lav has worked with Ips Sendero, subsidiary of Fiserv (a Fortune 500 company), in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA at the senior management level, providing strategic and tactical consulting on balance sheet management to the clients and assisting in the resolution of advanced analytical and policy issues. He has rich and in-depth exposure to the entire spectrum of commercial as well as financial functions in the corporate finance, banking and consulting industries at the domestic as well as international level. Lav has an MBA from Syracuse University, New York. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst from the CFA Institute, USA. He is a steering committee member of PRMIA's Mumbai Chapter (Professional Risk Managers' International Association). Lav is a great sports enthusiast and loves to play tennis, basketball, and racket-ball.
Madhusudan Kela (Head - Equity Investments, Reliance Capital Asset Management)
Madhusudan Kela, B.Com, MMS, is the Head of Equity Investments at Reliance Capital Asset Management Ltd. He has accumulated over 13 years valuable experience in sales and dealing. His last assignment was with Reliance Capital Ltd as Vice President, looking after Equity Investments. Prior to joining the Reliance Group, Kela spent valuable time with Peregrine Securities as the Vice President, Equity Sales and Dealing. Before Peregrine, he held similar positions with UBS Securities and Motilal Oswal.
Malay Ghosh (President, Reliance Life Insurance)
Malay Ghosh, 49 is the President of Reliance Life Insurance. He is an ardent believer in a collaborative managerial style, but his focus remains on all-round growth with profitability. He joined Reliance Capital in April 2008 as Deputy CEO of Reliance Life Insurance where he led its Sales, Distribution, Retention and Product Development functions. He played a pivotal role in steering the company on the growth path despite challenging market conditions and ensured remarkable success. In FY 08-09 the company grew by 28% when the industry contracted by 6%. With over 24 years experience in the life insurance industry he brings to the table rich exposure, knowledge and operational excellence. His last job was with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance where as Head of Sales he spearheaded the company on the growth path with his aggressive sales and distribution acumen. Malay holds a Masters degree in Statistics from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. He is an avid reader and enjoys listening to Rabindra Sangeet. He has a keen interest in teaching due to his passion for spending time with young minds. He is also associated with an NGO working in the area of poverty alleviation and primary education as its Chief Mentor.
Noorul Ameen (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Capital Services)
Noorul Ameen, 35, is the CEO of Reliance Capital Services. This was started in 2008 to cross-sell Reliance Capital's different offerings to the shareholders, customers, and employees of the entire Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. In one year, RCS has got 60,000 customers that are served by 2,000 employees from 47 offices in the country. Noorul was earlier with Bajaj Allianz, where he headed its specialized distribution arm, Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors. He has always been in the financial services industry. Noorul has completed his studies from Bangalore. He is always optimistic, enthusiastic and very passionate about his work, though he is hardly able to spare some time towards his other passion for driving on long drives, listening to music. He also loves watching cricket, besides having interest in golf and Snooker too
Rajnikant Patel (President, Reliance Capital)
Rajnikant Patel, 48 is President of Reliance Capital. He is heading the Exchange Initiatives of Reliance ADA Group at Reliance Capital as a separate business vertical. He has set up a new exchange called Reliance Spot Exchange which aims to bring the physical markets (mandis) to a national level through a single electronic screen and build national infrastructure for the Spot Markets. Hejoined Reliance Money in October 2008. An accomplished banker, Rajnikant had a long stint with the banking regulator, Reserve Bank of India. He has also worked with both Public sector banks and with Multinational Bank like State Bank of Saurashtra, Bank of Maharashtra, and BNP PARIBAS. Prior to joining Reliance Capital, he was the MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He spearheaded the Corporatization and Demutualization of BSE making BSE the first Indian Exchange to do so. He has been a member of the Working committee of the World Federation of the Exchanges (WFE) and the longest serving Chairman of South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE). He is the recipient of awards like “Indira Super Achiever Award” and “Accor HR Excellence-CEO with HR Orientation Award”. He is the Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Directors, London. He holds Masters in Commerce with a degree in Law and Banking. An avid reader, he loves motorcycling. He has even participated in a National Motorcycle Rally. He is also interested in photography and occasionally writes poetry.
Sam Ghosh (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Capital)
Sam Ghosh, 50, is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital. He joined the company in April 2008. Before joining Reliance Capital, Sam was the Regional CEO of Middle East and India Sub Continent region of Allianz, a German insurance company. Earlier, he was the CEO of Bajaj Allianz's India operations. Prior to that he was involved in setting up operations for Allianz in South East Asia. He spent ten years in Australia in various capacities with Allianz from CFO to managing subsidiary companies as well as operations in the Pacific Rim. Sam Ghosh is a Chartered Accountant from England. He is an avid reader of all genres in his spare time.
Sandeep Phanasgaonkar (Chief Technology Officer, Reliance Capital)
Sandeep Phanasgaonkar is President & Chief Technology Officer for Reliance Capital Ltd. Sandeep is responsible for all IT initiatives at Reliance Capital. Sandeep has over 24 years of experience in applying IT solutions for finance, banking and BPO and IT-enabled services. He began his career with the State Bank of India and has worked with Tata Infotech, iFLEX Solutions and with Deutsche Bank as its Regional-Asia Technology Head. He joins Reliance Capital from Genpact where he was the Global Chief Information Officer. Sandeep led the critical IT Transition of Genpact from GE and was responsible for global IT delivery and driving operating efficiencies across India and the global locations of the company. Sandeep's current role as CTO for Reliance Capital requires him to drive both Line-of-Business (LOB) specific initiatives and pan-Capital, strategic initiatives for the enterprise. This leverages synergy between different Line-of-Business functions, creating a differentiating value proposition for the company's services and products and also a whole, new service and relationship proposition for the customer. He is also focusing very keenly on driving productivity and taking cost out of IT and business operations and giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "doing more with less". Sandeep is an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Mgmt Studies, Mumbai.
Sanjay Jain (Chief Marketing Officer, Reliance Capital)
Sanjay Jain, 42, is the Chief Marketing Officer of Reliance Capital. He works very closely with all Relaince Capital companies in defining their marketing and brand strategies. Sanjay has been with Reliance Capital since August 2008. He brings eighteen years of strong and diverse experience as a marketing and management executive with extensive experience in marketing, product and brand development, new launches, strategic planning, developing new business opportunities and project management. His last job was with Bajaj Allianz as Marketing Head. He’s also worked with other leading organisations like The Coca-Cola Co., Ogilvy, and the Times of India Group and Bajaj Allianz. Sanjay loves adventure sports, going out to watch games with friends at the stadiums, exploring new territories, and watching Bollywood movies.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay (Managing Director , Reliance Money)
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, 45 is the Managing Director of Reliance Money. He has been with Reliance Capital since May 2005 and spearheads its broking, distribution, OTC (over-the-counter) and exchange business, under the brand, Reliance Money. He has been responsible for making Reliance Money into India's largest broking and distribution house in three years. Sudip has been instrumental in taking Reliance Money international through various innovative tie-ups and acquisitions. Reliance Sudip was also responsible for the acquisition of AMP Sanmar that launched Reliance's foray in the Life Insurance segment. He has 22 years of experience in the financial sector. Prior to joining Reliance Capital, Sudip was heading Treasury and Investment at ITC. A Charted Accountant and Cost Accountant by profession, Sudip started his career as a management trainee with Hindustan Unilever. An avid reader, Sudip believes that books have played a key role in shaping his life and making him the person he is today. He attributes his success to his learnings from books such as Pather Panchali, Overload, Moneychangers, etc., read by him during various phases of his life.
Sundeep Sikka (Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Capital Asset Management)
Sundeep Sikka, 37, is the Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Capital Asset Management, which runs India’s largest mutual fund, Reliance Mutual Fund. Before becoming the CEO in January 2009, he was the Deputy CEO of the company. Sundeep has been with RCAM since October 2003 and in that time he has been instrumental in expanding RCAM’s footprints in both domestic and international territories. Sundeep and has more than fifteen years of leadership experience with NBFCs and Banks. Sundeep brings a proven track record of success and a broad understanding of the company's business. Prior to RCAM, Sundeep has held a number of other senior management positions; his last stint was with ICICI Bank. Sundeep has an MBA from Pune University. His hobbies are reading and traveling.
Vikrant Gugnani (Chief Executive Officer, International Business- Reliance Capital)
Vikrant Gugnani, 39, is the CEO, International Businesses for all of Reliance Capital and its subsidiaries. He is currently involved in building local asset management, stock broking and wealth management businesses in identified geographies for the group. Before this, Vikrant spent almost four years as the CEO of Reliance Capital Asset Management Company. In that time, the assets under management in the company grew from $ 3 billion to $ 22 billion; the number of customers rose from 0.7 million to 7.5 million and profits grew from $ 3 million to $28 million. During his tenure, Reliance Mutual Fund was rated as the 'Most Trusted Brand' in the MF category for three years running by an independent survey conducted for ET by AC Nielsen-Org Marg. A Chartered Accountant, Vikrant has managed money for the last 17 years. Before joining Reliance Capital, he'd spent nine years with Citibank. Vikrant has been listed by the Asian Investor magazine as one of the "25 most influential people in asset management in Asia" in May 2009 and was voted "CEO of the Year" for 2008 by Asia Asset Management (an Asian Pensions & Investments Journal). He is on the Mutual Funds Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry. Vikrant is passionate about traveling and playing golf.
V. R. Mohan (Company Secretary, Reliance Capital)

Source:Reliance Capital

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HDFC ERGO

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:34:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited is a 74:26 joint venture between HDFC Limited, India’s premier Housing Finance Institution & ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group was incorporated ON February 8, 2002. The ERGO Insurance Group is represented in over 30 countries worldwide, concentrated in the regions of Europe and Asia. International business has become an important mainstay of the ERGO Group in recent years, and is growing strongly.

HDFC ERGO focuses on providing the “Right Insurance Solution” for all. The company offers the customers a complete range of general insurance products ranging from Motor, Health, Travel, Home and Personal Accident in the retail space and customized products like Property, Marine and Liability Insurance in the corporate space.

HDFC ERGO has been expanding its presence across the country and is today present across 46 cities with 52 branch offices with an employee base of over 650 professionals. The company has a right balance of distribution channel comprising of Dealerships, Brokers, Retail and Corporate Agents, Bancassurance and Direct Sales Team. The company before merging with ERGO International AG was previously known as HDFC Chubb General Insurance Company Ltd.

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
The Company has presence in 28 locations across India. The Company’s retail business was written mainly through tie-ups with agents, vehicle manufacturers and dealers. With an intention to spread the Company’s geographical reach and give a thrust to retail business, the Company plans to strengthen its agency force. The Company is exploring possibilities of leveraging association with group companies for expanding access to desirable segments of the retail and commercial markets.

IN NEWS

27.5.09: HDFC ERGO General Insurance is planning to offer a specialised health insurance product that will cover maternity expenses, dental treatment, contact lenses, glasses, hearing aids, non-allopathic treatment and domiciliary treatment. In a standard health insurance product, such expenses are not covered and are treated as exclusions.

HDFC ERGO General Insurance hopes to cover high-value customers withthe new product. The company plans to offer these benefits as riders attached to a health insurance product. The company has filed rider details with the Insurance Regulatory and Develop-ment Authority (Irda).

The company is working on the premium structure for the cover. “Compared with standard health insurance products, the compnay proposes to offer broader and more responsive coverage desig-ned specifically for high-value customers. The market would soon get to see our composite health product with no limits. In addition to the standard health cover, we would provide a host of riders such as hospital cash, expenses for dental and glasses/hearing aids,” said Ritesh Kumar, managing director, HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

The company has filed for regulatory approval for add-on benefits. Since January 1, 2009, IRDA has allowed general insurance companies to offer tailor-made (add-on) products to its customers and charge them for the extra benefits offered. Introduction of the riders would be a follow up of the relaxation given by the insurance regulator.

HDFC ERGO is looking to launch ‘first-of-its-kind’ products to strengthen its position in the market and to grow despite the economic slowdown. “The insurance industry follows the fortunes of the market.

06.05.09: General insurance companies Royal Sundaram Alliance and Bharti AXA General Insurance will soon be incorporating new parameters for offering discounts on motor insurance covers including the criteria of age, profession and gender of the driver.

The colour and model of the car and performance of the vehicle in the market also attract additional discounts. These parameters will be in addition to the risk perception of the insurer while determining the discount on premium.

Under international practice of such discounting patterns, a higher discount is offered to those in a higher age category. For example, HDFC ERGO General Insurance, offers 5 per cent discount if the age of the insured is between 36 years and 45 years, while a 10 per cent discount is offered for those more than 45 years. Teachers, government employees, doctors and defence personnel get an additional discount of 5 per cent. Insurance companies offer lower discounts depending on the model of the car because it indicates the usage and profile of the buyer. Each company offers different discounts based on the risk perception. The discount or premium is not fixed or administered by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

KEY PEOPLE

Chairman

Mr. Deepak S. Parekh

Directors

Mr. Keki M. Mistry

Ms. Renu Sud Karnad

Mr. Andreas Kleiner (w.e.f. February 29, 2008)

Mr. Stefan Emberger (w.e.f. February 29, 2008)

Mr. Shrirang V. Samant

CEO

Mr. Suresh Menon (w.e.f. May 1, 2007)

PRODUCTS

1. PERSONAL INSURANCE

Motor Insurance
Home Insurance
Health Insurance
Travel Isurance
Personal Accident Insurance

2. COMMERCIAL INSURANCE

Specialty Insurance
Property Insurance
Casualty Insurance
Group Insurance

3. RURAL INSURANCE

Gramin Suraksha Bima
Parivar Suraksha Bima
Cattle Insurance
Rainfall Index Insurance

LOOKING AHEAD

During the next financial year, your Company would continue to focus on expanding business and geographies in all lines of business. The Company would continue to practice prudent underwriting practices. The Company would draw upon the underwriting skills, designing and pricing methodology of new products and experience in process improvements of the new partner. In addition, the Company would also benefit from HDFC’s significant distribution capability.

The informations metioned above are subject to change so keep your self updated with the current happenings please visit the official website of the company: www.hdfcergo.com

Sources:

www.hdfcergo.com

www.ergo.com

Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI)

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:19:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

The Industrial Development Bank of India Limited commonly known by its acronym IDBI is one of India's leading public sector banks and 4th largest Bank in overall ratings. RBI categorised IDBI as "other public sector bank".It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to provide credit and other facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry. It is currently the tenth largest development bank in the world in terms of reach with 975 ATMs, 568 branches and 352 centers. Some of the institutions built by IDBI are The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), The National Securities Depository Services Ltd. (NSDL) and the Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) IDBI BANK , as a private bank after government policy for new generation private banks.

HISTORY

The Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) was established on July 1, 1964 under an Act of Parliament as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. In 16 February 1976, the ownership of IDBI was transferred to the Government of India and it was made the principal financial institution for coordinating the activities of institutions engaged in financing, promoting and developing industry in the country.

During the four decades of its existence, IDBI has been instrumental not only in establishing a well-developed, diversified and efficient industrial and institutional structure but also adding a qualitative dimension to the process of industrial development in the country. IDBI has played a pioneering role in fulfilling its mission of promoting industrial growth through financing of medium and long-term projects, in consonance with national plans and priorities. Over the years, IDBI has enlarged its basket of products and services, covering almost the entire spectrum of industrial activities, including manufacturing and services.

IDBI provides financial assistance, both in rupee and foreign currencies, for green-field projects as also for expansion, modernisation and diversification purposes.In the wake of financial sector reforms unveiled by the government since 1992, IDBI evolved an array of fund and fee-based services with a view to providing an integrated solution to meet the entire demand of financial and corporate advisory requirements of its clients.

In September 2003, IDBI diversified its business domain further by acquiring the entire shareholding of Tata Finance Limited in Tata Home finance Ltd., signaling IDBI’s foray into the retail finance sector. The fully-owned housing finance subsidiary has since been renamed ‘IDBI Home finance Limited’.

The migration to the new business model of commercial banking, with its gateway to low-cost current, savings bank deposits, would help overcome most of the limitations of the current business model of development finance while simultaneously enabling it to diversify its client/ asset base. Towards this end, the IDB (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act 2003 was passed by Parliament in December 2003. The Act provides for repeal of IDBI Act, corporatisation of IDBI (with majority Government holding; current share: 58.47%) and transformation into a commercial bank. The provisions of the Act have come into force from July 2, 2004 in terms of a Government Notification to this effect. The Notification facilitated formation, incorporation and registration of Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd. as a company under the Companies Act, 1956 and a deemed Banking Company under the Banking Regulation Act 1949 and helped in obtaining requisite regulatory and statutory clearances, including those from RBI.

IN NEWS

IDBI Bank, which has been mandated to raise Rs 13,000 crore syndicated loan for Reliance Power's Krishnapatanam Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) has put the process on hold. RPower has designated IDBI Bank as the lead arranger for the syndication. The bank is likely to take few more weeks to begin the syndication process, a source close to the development said. The lender was supposed to approach other banks early this month to join the consortium but is yet to start the process owing to the prevailing market conditions. The bank was supposed to approch other lenders early this month. However, the process (of raising the amount) has been held back for the time being. It may take a few more weeks to commence. IDBI Bank has already committed its part of the Rs 13,000 crore loan and will be primarily looking at the Rupee part of the debt.

IDBI Bank announced the repayment of its 11.5 per cent SLR Bonds, 2009 on September 26, 2009.No interest will accrue on the bonds after September 25,2009 and the book closure of the 54th series will be observed with effect from August 26,2009.

IDBI Bank, on March 31, 2009 obtained an approval from The Reserve Bank of India to sponsor a Mutual Fund and to set up (i) an Asset Management Company and (ii) a Trustee Company as subsidiaries.
IDBI Bank has been steadily expanding its delivery platform during the year, which, as on date, comprises 537 branches and 914 ATMs, encompassing 323 centres.

IDBI Bank bagged the prestigious Banking Technology Award for being the first mover in this category. This award was instituted jointly by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and the Trade Fairs & Conference International.

IDBI Bank, on December 17, 2008 launched a strategic partnership with PayMate, India's leading mobile commerce company, to enable Mobile Payments facility for its over 3.5 million customers. The Bank's customers can use PayMate's revolutionary, easy-convenient-secure mobile payment service. Additionally, the Bank's customers can also use their mobile phones to pay for booking movie & flight tickets, restaurant bills, mobile recharge, online purchase and retail shopping at over 13,000 merchants in India registered with PayMate.
IDBI Bank has been mandated by the Government of Maharashtra to collect
Sales Tax on its behalf from the FY 2008-09. Effective from February 16,
2009, this facility has been made available to existing customers of the Bank
as well as other tax payers.
The Union Government had announced Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008 to provide debt waiver/ relief to marginal, small and other farmers. IDBI Bank has implemented the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008, announced by the Union Government.

IDBI Bank has announced a slew of measures to boost flow of credit to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. The Bank through its City SME Centers (CSCs) has facilitated single point MSME solutions / customer care to all Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

IDBI Bank launched its brand campaign in various media viz. TV, Print, Outdoor, Online and Radio in September 2008. The campaign with the taglines 'Not just for the Big boys' and 'banking for all' has been appreciated and has been able to change the perception about the Bank in people’s mind from a 'Big Industries' Bank to a nimble-footed bank which is loved across customer spectrum as the “Bank of Choice” for all customer segments. The Ad has been ranked second by a leading News channel, among all the different Advertisements shown across TV channels during the year 2008. IDBI Bank also received the 'Gold' Award from Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) for the Bank's Corporate Brand TV Commercial in electronic medium being adjudged the best.

IDBI Bank's overseas foray is in advanced stage with applications filed with the respective countries for opening offices at Singapore and Dubai and a representative office at Shanghai. The approvals are expected shortly, and the first foreign office is expected to open for business within one month.

FINANCIAL RESULTS

Highlights of FY09 financial results (FY09 Vs FY08)

Net profit up 17.7 % to Rs.859 Crore during FY09 (up 28.2% to Rs.314 Crore for Q4 of FY08)
Fee based income grew by 79% to Rs.901 Crore (previous year Rs.504 Crore)
NII grew by 96% to Rs.1326 Crore (previous year Rs.676 Crore)
Business up 39% to Rs.2,15,829 Crore (previous year Rs.1,55,211 Crore)
Deposits increased by 54% to Rs.1,12,401 Crore (previous year Rs.72,998 Crore)
Advances up by 26% to Rs.1,03,428 Crore (previous year Rs.82,213 Crore)
Total assets grew by 32% to Rs.1,72,402 Crore (previous year Rs.1,30,694 Crore)
Gross NPAs reduced to Rs.1436 Crore (1.38%) from Rs.1565 Crore (1.87%) in the previous year
Net NPAs reduced to Rs.949 Crore (0.92%) from Rs.1083 Crore (1.30%) in the previous year
Dividend recommended to increase to 25% compared to 20% in the previous year

PROFITABILITY

IDBI reported a net profit of Rs.314 crore for the quarter and Rs.859 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009, as against Rs.245 crore and Rs.729 crore in the corresponding quarter and year ended March 31, 2008. This amounts to an increase in net profit by 17.7% for the year and 28.2% for the quarter, compared to corresponding period of last year.

Sources:

www.idibi.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.financialexpress.com

www.equitymaster.com

The informations given above are subject to change to keep your self updated please visit the official website of the bank : www.idbi.com

ASIAN PAINTS

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:28:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

Asian Paints is India's largest paint company in India and Asia's third largest paint company with a turnover of Rs54.63 billion. The company operates in 20 countries and has 28 paint manufacturing facilities in the world servicing consumers in over 65 countries. Besides Asian Paints, the group operates around the world through its subsidiaries Berger International Limited, Apco Coatings, SCIB Paints and Taubmans. Forbes Global magazine USA ranked Asian Paints among the 200 Best Small Companies in the World for 2002 and 2003 and presented the 'Best under a Billion' award, to the company. The present MD & CEO of the company is P.M. Murty.

HISTORY

The company has come a long way since its small beginnings in 1942. Four friends who were willing to take on the world's biggest, most famous paint companies operating in India at that time set it up as a partnership firm. Chimanlal Choksi,Champaklal Choksey,Suryakant Dani and Arvind Vakil were the four friends who started the company. Suryakant Dani owned a garage where he did the painting work for Machines & vehicles.The same garage is where Asian Paints started off its operations. Over the course of 25 years Asian Paints became a corporate force and India's leading paints company. Driven by its strong consumer-focus and innovative spirit, the company has been the market leader in paints since 1968. Today it is double the size of any other paint company in India. Asian Paints manufactures a wide range of paints for Decorative and Industrial use.

OPERATIONS

The company at present has vertically integrated in diversed products such as Phthalic Anhydride and Pentaerythritol, which are used in the paint manufacturing process.Asian Paints along with PPG Inc, USA, one of the largest automotive coatings manufacturer in the world has begun a 50:50 joint venture, Asian PPG Industries to service the increasing requirements of the Indian automotive coatings market. Another wholly owned subsidiary, Asian Paints Industrial Coatings Limited has been set up to cater to the powder coatings market which is one of the fastest growing segments in the industrial coatings market.

Asian Paints operates in 22 countries across the world. It has manufacturing facilities in each of these countries and is the largest paint company in ten overseas markets. Asian Paints operates in five regions across the world viz.South Asia, Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Middle East and Caribbean region through the five corporate brands viz. Asian Paints, Berger International, SCIB Paints, Apco Coatings and Taubmans. In ten markets, it operates through its subsidiary, Berger International Limited; in Egypt through SCIB Paints; in five markets in the South Pacific it operates through Apco Coatings and in Fiji and Samoa it also operates through Taubmans.

In October 2008 the company acquired Sri Lanka's second largest paint company, spending nearly about Rs 360 million ($8 million) for this deal. With the acquisition of Delmege Forsyth& Co, ended two years of inertia caused by a split within Asian Paints’ four founding families. With that chapter closed, India’s biggest paints maker can now focus on challenging Sherwin-Williams Co, whose ‘Dutch Boy’ brand is the world market leader.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Awarded the "Sword of Honour" by the British Safety Council for all the paint plants in India. This award is considered as the pinnacle of achievement in safety across the world.
Forbes Global magazine, USA ranked Asian Paints amongst the 200 'Best Small Companies of the world' in 2002 and 2003 and amongst the top 200 'Under a Billion Firms' of Asia in 2005.
Ranked 24th amongst the top paint companies in the world by Coatings World - Top Companies Report 2006.
The Asset - one of Asia's leading financial magazine ranked Asian Paints amongst the leading Indian companies in Corporate Governance in 2002 and 2005.
Received the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year - Manufacturing" award in 2003.

FINANCIAL RESULTS

Consolidated Results: Q1-FY’10:

For the quarter ended June 30, 2009, on consolidation of accounts of the subsidiaries and joint venture of Asian Paints – Net Profit of the Group has increased by 65.8 % to Rs. 176 crores from Rs. 106 crores over the previous corresponding quarter. Sales & Operating Income has risen by 17.5 % to Rs. 1460.2 crores from Rs. 1242.6 crores. Profit before depreciation interest and tax (PBDIT) for the group has increased by 59.6% to Rs. 275.8 crore from Rs. 172.8 crores. Profit before Tax has increased by 64.3 % to Rs. 264.4 crores from Rs. 161 crores.

Standalone Results: Q1-FY’10:

For the quarter ended June 30, 2009, Net Profit on a standalone basis increased by 67.8% to Rs. 164.4 crores from Rs. 98 crores. Net Sales increased by 17 % to Rs. 1164.8 crores from Rs. 995.9 crores. PBDIT for the quarter increased by 69.2% to Rs. 244.1 crores from Rs. 144.3 crores. Profit before tax was Rs. 242.5 crores as compared to Rs. 145.2 crores for the previous corresponding quarter, an increase of 67%.

The above mentioned informations are subject to change please visit the official website of the company to keep your self updated: www.asianpaints.com

Sources:

www.asianpaints.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.financialexpress.com

www.business-standard.com (pdf)

www.equtimaster.com

Axis Bank

noreply@blogger.com (Indraneel) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Axis Bank, previously called UTI Bank, was the first of the new private banks to have begun operations in 1994, after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The Bank was promoted jointly by the Administrator of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation Ltd., National Insurance Company Ltd., The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United Insurance Company Ltd. UTI-I holds a special position in the Indian capital markets and has promoted many leading financial institutions in the country. The bank changed its name to Axis Bank in April 2007 to avoid confusion with other unrelated entities with similar name. Shikha Sharma was named as the bank's managing director and CEO on 20 April 2009.

Branch Network

At the end of March 2009,the Bank has a very wide network of more than 726 branch offices and Extension Counters. The Bank has loans now (as of June 2007) account for as much as 70 per cent of the bank’s total loan book of Rs 2,00,000 crore. For HDFC Bank, retail assets are around 57 per cent (Rs 28,000 crore) of the total loans as of March 2007.

In the case of Axis Bank, retail loans have declined from 30 per cent of the total loan book of Rs 25,800 crore in June 2006 to around 23 per cent of loan book of Rs.41,280 crore (as of June 2007). Even over a longer period, while the overall asset growth for Axis Bank has been quite high and has matched that of the other banks, retail exposures grew at a slower pace.

If the sharp decline in the retail asset book in the past year in the case of Axis Bank is part of a deliberate business strategy, this could have significant implications (not necessarily negative) for the overall future profitability of the business.

Despite the slower growth of the retail book over a period of time and the outright decline seen in the past year, the bank’s fundamentals are quite resilient. With the high level of mid-corporate and wholesale corporate lending the bank has been doing, one would have expected the net interest margins to have been under greater pressure. The bank, though, appears to have insulated such pressures. Interest margins, while they have declined from the 3.15 per cent seen in 2003-04, are still hovering close to the 3 per cent mark. (The comparable margins for ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are around 2.60 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. The margins for ICICI Bank are lower despite its much larger share of the higher margin retail business, since funding costs also are higher).

Axis Bank at a Glance:

Type	Public BSE: 532215
Founded	Ahmedabad, 1994.
Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Key people	Shika Sharma, MD & CEO
Industry	Financial Commercial banks
Employees	13,389 (2007)
Website	www.axisbank.com

To Download Axis Bank Annual Report of 2008-09 Click Here.

Source
Further Reference:

Colgate Palmolive

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:19:00 +0000

COMPANY PROFILE

Colgate Palmolive is an American diversified corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and perso19nal products, such as soaps detergents and oral hygine products. Under the Hill's brand, it is also a manfacturer of veterinary products. The company's corporate offices are on the Park Avenue in NewYork City, across from the Waldorf Astonia. The company is registered on the NYSE.

HISTORY

1806: William Colgate starts a starch, soap and candle business on Dutch Street in New York City.

1817: First Colgate advertisement appears in a New York newspaper.

1820: Colgate establishes a starch factory in Jersey City, New Jersey.

1857: Upon the death of founder William Colgate, the company is reorganized as Colgate & Company under the management of Samuel Colgate, his son.

1864: B.J. Johnson opens a soap factory in Milwaukee, WI, which later becomes the Palmolive Company.

1866: Colgate introduces perfumed soap and perfumes/essences.

1872: Peet Brothers establish soap company in Kansas City, Kansas where they make Crystal White soap.

1890: The Madison University in NewYork State was re-named as the Colgate University in honor of the Colgate family.

1896: Colgate introduces toothpaste in a collapsible tube.

1898: B.J. Johnson Soap Co. introduces Palmolive Soap.Today, the Palmolive equity is sold in over 88 countries in 54 variants.

1900: Colgate wins top honors for its fine soaps and perfumes at the World’s Fair in Paris.

2005: Colgate sold the underperforming brands Fab, Dynamo, Arctic Power, ABC, Cold Power and Fresh Start and did taste the success with these brands.

2006: Colgate-Palmolive announced the intended acquisition of Tom's of Maine, a leading maker of natural toothpaste, for US $100M.

2007: The company face major problems in China regarding counterfeiting of the Colgate Pamolive toothpaste.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

For the last 34 years the Colgate Palmolive Company has sponsered a non-profit track meet open to womwen of all ages. This event is called the Colgate Women's Games. The Colgate Womwen's Game is the nation's largest amature track series open to all girls from elementary school through college.

The Ethecal Consumer Research Association once recommended its readers not to but Colgate because of its use of animal testing, though this is no longer the case. The Ethical Consumer Association has aslo urged a boycott on many other products, including all products from the country of Canada. Ethiscore.org has rated Colgate 5.5 out of a possible 20. However, the company has made important steps and according to PETA in March 1999, Colgate Palmolive established a moratorium on animal testing for adult testing for adult personal care products ( this includes deodorants, shampoos, fragrances, and shaving creams). On a positive note the company has been able to successfuly complete a LEED Silver certified manufacturing plant in Morristown, TN in March 2008 which was the first of its kind in the U.S.

KEY PEOPLE

Current members of the board of directors of Colgate-Palmolive are: John T. Cahill, Jill Conway,Ellen Hancock, David W. Johnson, Richard Kogan, Delano Lewis, J.Pedro Reinhard, and Stphen I. Sadove.

Chief Executive Rueben Mark retired July 1, 2007. Ian M. Cook, President andCEO, replaced him.
SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN BRANDS OF COLGATE PALMOLIVE

Mufphy Oil Soap
Ultra Bite
Speed Stick
Dentagard
Fab
Pamolive(soap)
Suavitel
Colgate (toothpaste)
Cold Powder
Irish Spring

REVENUE

$15.328 billion(2008)

NET INCOME

$ 1.957 billion(2008)

Some of the informations given above are subject to change. To keep yourself updated with the current happenings please visit the official website of the company : www.colgate.com

Reckitt Benckiser

noreply@blogger.com (Siddharth Roy) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) is a global consumer goods company, making and marketing home,health and personal health care products.

The comapny's strategy is to have a highly focused portfolio concentrating on its 17 most profitable brands, which were responsible for 62% of net revenues in 2008. The brands which RB refer to as powerbrands are: Vanish, Finish, Calgonite, Air Wick, Dettol, Veet, Clearasil, Gaviscon and Nurofen.

HISTORY

The company named Colman's started as flour& mustard mill which was founded in 1814 by Jeremiah Colman.

Reckitt&Sons started in 1840, when Isaac Reckitt rented a starch mill in Hull, England.

The two companies went for a merger in the year 1938, thereby naming the company as Reckitt&Colman.

Around the same time the company Benckiser was launched in Germany in the year 1823 by Johann A. Benckiser. This company mainly dealt with industrial chemicals. which went public in the year 1997.

After two year that is in 1999 the two companies: Reckitt&Colman and Benckiser merged thereby changing the name Reckitt Benckiser. Bart Becht became the first CEO of this new company and till date he is been credited for its transformation, focus on the power brands and improving the supply chain.The comapany belives in "innovation marketing" - a strict focus on the consumer needs and as well as on the product innovation. It can be noted that 40% of RB's $10.5billion in 2007 revenues was genetated from the products that were launched within previous three years.

OPERATIONS

The Company divides its brands into six categories: surface care, fabric care, dishwashing, home care, health and personal care, and food.

The company segregates the global economy under three broad categories:

1. North America & Australia

2. Europe

3. Developing Markets

On the basis of this the company finds its easy to segregate the customer needs and develop products that are relevant to a particular market. Boots Healthcare International, for £1.926 billion. The three main brands acquired were Nurofen in analgesics; Strepsils sore throat lozenges; and Clearasil anti-acne treatments.

In January 2008, the Company acquired Adams Respiratory Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company, for $2.3bn: one of the major brands acquired with this purchase was Mucinex.

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES

Carbon 20

RB has implemented an environmental initiative called carbon 20. The initiative, which was announced in November 2007, aims to cut the total carbon footprints of its products-from cration to disposalby almost 20% by 2020.

Trees for Change

In june 2006 RB launched Trees for Change, a mojor forestation project designed to offset the greenhouse gasses created as a by-product of its manufacturing process. The project aims to create over 25 square kilometres of forest by planting more than 2 million trees on previously deforested land in British Columbia, Canada.

CORPORATE BRANDING

In February 2009 Reckitt Benckiser began overhauling its corporate identity to reposition its brand as 'the power behind the power brands'. This saw the launch of a new logo to replace the logo which had been introduced on a temporary basis at the time of the Reckitt/Coleman merger in 1999. The new logo is a pink kite device containing the letters 'RB'.

The new logo, created by branding agency The Workroom, was inspired by a sports kite and is intended to reflect the 'loud, confident personalities of its power brands'. The identity will be introduced gradually on packaging, and used on internal and external communications.

COMPETITORS

Clorox
Colgate-Pamolive
Henkel
Spotless Group
P&G
Glaxo-Smith kline
Uniliver
Sara-Lee
Church&Dwight
S.C. Johnson & Son

OWNERSHIP

JAB Investments, 15.4%
Legal & General Investment Management, 3.2%
MFS Investment Management, 3.1%

KEY PEOPLE

Adrian Bellamy (Chairman)
Javed Ahmed (EVP Europe)
Bart Becht (CEO)
Rakesh Kapoor (EVP Category Development)
Colin Day (CFO)

REVENUE

£6,563 million (2008)

OPERATING INCOME

£1,505 million (2008)

The above mentioned informations are subject to change, please visit www.reckittbenckiser.com (the official website) to keep yourself updated with the current happenings.

r. No.	Name of Director	Sec. of SBI Act, 1955
1.	Shri O.P. Bhatt Chairman	19(a)
2.	Shri S.K. Bhattacharyya MD & CC&RO	19(b)
3.	Shri R. Sridharan MD & GE(A&S)	19(b)
4.	Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala	19(c)
5.	Shri Dileep C. Choksi	19(c)
6.	Shri S. Venkatachalam	19(c)
7.	Shri. D. Sundaram	19(c)
8.	Dr. Deva Nand Balodhi	19(d)
9.	Prof. Mohd. Salahuddin Ansari	19(d)
10.	Dr.(Mrs.) Vasantha Bharucha	19(d)
11.	Dr. Rajiv Kumar	19(d)
12.	Shri Ashok Chawla	19(e)
13.	Smt. Shyamala Gopinath	19(f)

Shri Rakesh Rewari	Deputy Managing Director
Shri Basant Seth	Deputy Managing Director
Shri Madhav Lal	Additional Secretary & DC (MSME), Ministry of MSME, Government of India
Smt. Ravneet Kaur	Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Shri Janki Ballabh	Former Chairman, State Bank of India
Shri M. Balachandran	Former Chairman & Managing Director, Bank of India
Shri S.K. Tuteja	Former Secretary, Government of India
Shri S.S. Chattopadhyay	Chairman, West Bengal Financial Corporation
Shri K. Sitaramam	Former Deputy Managing Director State Bank of India
Shri T. R. Bajalia	Executive Director, IDBI Bank Ltd.
Shri B. Manivannan	Executive Director (IT-BPR) Life Insurance Corporation of India
Shri A. Prabhakara	MSME Entrepreneur

Name (S/Shri)	Designation	Office
K. S. Singhwan	CGM	Eastern Zonal Office, Kolkata
K. G. Alai	CGM	Northern Zonal Office, New Delhi
Namgial	CGM	Southern Zonal Office, Chennai
S. Gunasegaran	CGM	Central Zonal Office, Lucknow
S.V.G. Nandagopal	CGM	Western Zonal Office, Mumbai