Payback Time?

With global diplomacy playing its part and an army showing signs of resilience, the Assad regime in Syria seems to be regaining its composure once again, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

While the world was focussing on the goings on in the Middle East, the Syrian Arab Army under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, achieved a major tactical victory this week in its fight against a mishmash of home grown rebels and foreign mercenaries. The Syrian army successfully captured the tactically important town of Qusayr. And by doing so, it has reopened the transport route between Damascus and Lebanon, something which was closed for more than six months now, while denying it as a resupply line for the insurgents in Homs Governate. There are several versions of how the rebels lost the battle and the town and none of them give a definitive story of what actually happened in northSyria this week. However, there appears to be a growing consensus on why they lost it and are poised to lose further.

The single biggest reason that appears to have started turning the tide is that even after months of fighting, the morale of Syrian Arab Army remains very strong and there is no visible cracks in the military itself. This is an extremely important sign. The army has been stretched thin in the initial 14 to 15 months of unrest. It was also stretched because it had failed to concentrate on key areas.


Also, in the initial days the opposition opened several fronts, especially those where training was being provided by Jordan and Turkey. And that is why deployment was stretched to its optimum to stop these leaks. However, this was less affective as the opposition resorted to hit and run tactics that bled the army quite profusely. This strategy has been changed at several fronts. Broadly the new strategy appears to be on these lines.

First, the Syrian Arab Army decided to withdraw from those areas that were not tactically important or are at least less important than others. This was followed by the consolidation of important areas, which gave the army a chance to mount coordinated attack on the opposition strongholds. It has also helped them withdraw and consolidate arms and weapons in their strongholds and stopping them from falling into opposition’ hands, as was the case in the past. This three-pronged strategy has helped the Syrian Arab Army in not only retaining their strongholds from falling into the hands of highly motived and armed rebels but also recapturing some of those territories it has lost in the last few months.

Apart from this there are other aspects that are very visible. The biggest of them is the army's ability to strongly withstand pressure from the opposition. After months of small and big scale defections and desertions, the Syrian Arab Army has now stabalised and have dropped to a trickle. Sources close to TSI say that during the second half of 2012, an average of 400 to 700 soldiers from the army were defecting every month. That figure has now dropped down to 10 to 12 defections every month, which the sources added, are `very manageable.'

Also, unlike 2012, there is little discontent amongst the officers corps - evident in decreasing number of defections while all such occurences are now limited to the level of soldiers and that too in the logistics department.

It is also very interesting to note here that the core of the conscription of the Syrian Arab Army that is still very Sunni in its formation, has remained consolidated to this day and there has been no apparent crack in that support base although the rebels have tried to project the unrest as a Sunni versus Alawite conflict.

Similarly, the minority conscripts as well as the officers, drawn from Christians, Druze and Kurds, have stuck it together displaying solidarity and camraderie. 

While the insurgency continues to retreat slowly but steadily, Russia's maneuvering has been successful in deterring any chance of an outright western intervention which was rated high on the cards at one point of time not too long in the past.

“According to the Geneva plan the United States and Russia will convene a conference with the aim to finding some consensual new Syrian government with each side promising to bring its supported party to the table. For Russia that will be easy to do. The Syrian government has always agreed to such talks and is willing to send a delegation that will discuss the various issues and compromises, where required.

But the United States itself has a huge problem on hand. It has little leverage over a large disjointed Syrian opposition. How can it then deliver on the promises it made? There are two identified groups the US is interacting with: the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and the Free Syrian Army through General Idriss. To these groups the US can give or withhold money, equally it can give or withhold arms. But what is the SNC's leverage on ground and who, except the Muslim Brotherhood, does it really represent? And if the U.S. withholds money from them, will Qatar and other sources do the same,” questions noted Middle East expert Bernhard, who has kept a close eye on the Syrian crisis.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Travel became a travail

It is dangerous for Indian Muslims to travel to Pakistan as tourists as I realised
FIROZ BAKHT AHMED ,SOCIAL COMMENTATOR AND GRAND NEPHEW OF ABUL KALAM  

My honeymoon with Lahore - my dream city, a place of fun and frolic and home to world’s best institutions like Aitchison College and Punjab University, eateries like Salt’n Pepper Village, Food Street and Zaiqa and water parks like, Sozo Water Park, Joy Land Park and Starlet shoes - has ended. During my second — and perhaps last visit there - from June 4 to June 13, I found ourselves: me, wife and our three children at the Sarwar Road Police Station, Lahore Cantonment.

Through these columns, I implore Muslims of India never to venture into Pakistan as tourists since there is no guarantee that they would return unless they are part of some government delegation. Pakistanis loathe Indian Muslims, terming them variously as enslaved and spies. My children who were enthusiastic about visiting Lahore — a city about which famed Urdu writer Kashmiri Lal Zakir had said, “Jinne Lahore nai vekhya/wo te jamiya hi naiee!” (He, who hasn’t seen Lahore/ He isn’t even born!) - are now absolutely Pakistan phobic.

On June 9, day five of our stay in Lahore at about 5 pm, the children wanted a joyride in Joy Land Park. While we were about to enter the park, we were threatened by ISI sleuths in civil dress who had been following us from Wagha. Without our knowledge, they diverted our three-wheeler towards the Sarwar Road Police Station in the Lahore Cantonment.

In the police station, we were told that we had entered a ‘prohibited’ area. My wife said we were tourists and there were no sign posts in any case. But our interrogators had sinister designs and began preparing papers to throw us behind bars.Even if a tourist unknowingly goes to the amusement park, he can land into the hands of ISI rangers. During the grilling, they kept repeating that Pakistani tourists get even worst treatment at the hands of Indian agencies. My consistent denial demeaned me in their eyes.

We were staying at the prestigious 125-year-old Aitchison College from where our passports, visas etc, were hauled in by the police. I was wondering what threat perception we posed, an enthusiastic bunch of tourists consisting of three school going children, me and wife?

The ISI spies had plotted impeccably to snare us - only to be later victimized as Sarabjits and Surjeets for whom neither Pakistan nor India are frankly much concerned. Our arrest documents were written and passports and other papers confiscated. Fortunately, College bursar Col Mehboob, a retired army man, spoke to the police assuring them of our bonafides. Even that was not enough and I had to call the editor of The Nation. It still took us five hours to get out of the dreadful and scandalous clutches of ISI officers after a written apology.

Pakistan, unfortunately, is run by ISI agents and its military. They are suspicious of all Indians. The `soft corner’ for Pakistan, after this treatment has absolutely vanished, particularly against the country’s intelligence apparatus. Bigwigs there are double faced and can do a ‘U’ turn at the drop of a hat, a reason why that country is on the verge of disaster.

At the police station, I could not help but wonder: the El Dorado that Quad-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah created as a dreamland of Muslims after thousands of sacrifices, is not even a semblance of the dream he had spun. Pakistan’s landscape is dominated by terrorism, corruption, inflation, honour killings and sectarianism - to name just a few burning problems.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

"Taihoku plane crash is the most probable theory"

Anita Bose Pfaff was an infant when she last met her father. She grew up under the burden of being the only bloodline of Subhash Chandra Bose – Netaji – one of India’s most celebrated freedom fighters, who some some scholars believe, could have posed a stiff challenge to Jawaharlal Nehru to become India’s first Prime Minister.  Netaji’s death in the wee hours of World War II remains one of the great unsolved mysteries of modern times. Three probe panels (headed by former INA lieutenant Shah Nawaz Khan, Justice G D Khosla and Justice M K Mukherjee) probed and gave different versions of his death. None was totally satisfactory and answered all questions. The last one, Mukherjee Commission, claimed even though Netaji did not die in that plane accident, he in all probability is no more because of his age. The controversy was reignited when the UPA-I government said it did not accept the findings of Mukherjee Commission. Bose’s daughter Anita Bose Pfaff did not embrace politics though her husband was in active politics in Germany. Instead she preferred academics. Both she and husband Martin, whom she met in Bangalore four decades ago, are ex-professors at the University of Augusburg, Germany. Though Pfaff lives in Europe, she visits India frequently and keeps in touch with the Bose family in Kolkata. Excerpts of an exclusive wide-ranging interview with Kakoli Ray.

What is the first memory of your father?
ABP: I had no first memory as I was only four weeks old when he saw me last. All my memories are second hand.

KR: Was it a photograph on the wall, a book or any other item – how did you relate to your father first time?
ABP: My mother (Emilie Schenkl) kept photographs of my father so I saw him in photos. But beyond that it is difficult to pin it down to a particular time because a child does not relate to the political situation. That was all rather abstract, which did not mean anything. I learnt he was a famous person but as a child that didn’t mean very much. I learnt more from intimate contact with some my father’s family members who lived with us in Vienna later.

KR: When did Bose family members come to Vienna?
ABP: I met my first cousin in 1947. I was about four-and-half when my uncle -- my father’s second brother Sarat Bose – came with his wife and three children to meet us. Two of his children stayed in Vienna somewhat longer, up to eight to ten years, from 1949-50  to 1961-62.

KR: Can you share some of the anecdotes about your father which you heard from your mother?
ABP: I did not hear it from my mother but from conclusions of a grown up woman, I can tell you he was a terrible husband. He was married to a woman but his first and foremost love was something else leaving his wife to play the second or third fiddle. But my mother never criticised or complained. I came to that conclusion later on. When I was a child there were many others who grew up without a father because a number of them were killed in World War-II. So that was not so unusual. Ultimately he led a life which he decided to live. Originally he planned to leave before I was born, which did not happen because the news had leaked out. He had to postpone his departure as leaving early was too dangerous. The difference with others (fathers of other children in school) were they were conscripted in the army. My parents had spent relatively little time together.

KR: How much time?
ABP: About five years. They used to correspond as that generation was very good at writing letters. The time spent together was not very long. There was work and a lot of travel. But not very much of what we call normal family life.

KR: Did they travel or stay at home?
ABP: Since my father’s health was not all that good, they went to some spa now and then. The longest time they spent together was in Rome.

KR: Do you remember the Taihoku plane accident (in which Netaji was killed) ?
ABP: No, I was too young. I was only two-and-half years old when that happened. I only heard details from my mother when I was 8.

KR: His death continues to be a mystery and returns to the news every now and then. Recently the Allahabad High Court has asked UP government to probe the mysterious Gumnami baba.
ABP:There are some bizarre tales. The story about Gumnami baba is one of them. Justice Mukherjee who investigated my father’s death, examined many of these bizarre stories but came to  the  conclusion that they were not true. Its also strange how rumours start. Somebody starts speculating, others pick up and in the end something absolutely nonsensical comes up. For example I heard a story in Kolkata this time that I will return with my father’s ashes and will hold a press conference on January 23. This is total nonsense.

KR: Do you believe the findings on the Taihoku plane accident?
ABP: It is a fairly consistent story though not one hundred per cent consistent. If  you ask people you will get identical versions from everybody on plane. It sounds quite plausible. Other stories are speculative and unsubstantiated.

KR: Are there any particular missing pieces of puzzle in the crash report?
ABP: I have not investigated it myself. The Mukherjee Commission came to the conclusion that he did not die in that plane accident (It concluded that the accident story was concocted by the Japanese army and Bose’s comrade Habibur Rahman to create a smokescreen for his escape. The Mukherjee Commission could not find any conclusive and convincing evidence of what happened there. For example, the death certificate is not available. The doctor who was alive till a few years ago did not know what happened to it. Naturally he won’t keep the death certificate. By the end of World War II, and even though Japanese were particular in documenting things, they would not necessarily do that few days after the end of such a major war and ten days after the bombardment of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It sounds to  me quite plausible and in fact it might be suspicious if they were safekeeping documents under the circumstances. While getting out of that area they probably decided which document to take and what to destroy. It seems plausible that Japanese won’t necessarily have such documentation under such circumstances. By and large that seems to be the most consistent account. There were sufficient number of eye witnesses. The children of people who died in that crash also gave corroborating statements.

KR: Did you speak to Col Habibur Rahman? He was the only Indian who accompanied Bose on that famous 90-day submarine journey from Europe to Japan and was with Bose even in the plane. He survived the reported crash and deposed before the Shah Nawaz Committee.
ABP: Unfortunately not. He was in Pakistan when I was in India first and I never visited Pakistan. My mother wanted me to meet him but I was not staying that long (in India) and it was complicated to get permissions to visit Pakistan.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

How to serve the unbanked!

We need new banking systems that work for the poor

The last time that licences were given out for setting up private banks in India was way back in 2004. The Reserve Bank of India, vide its guidelines on February 22, 2013, has once again got the ball rolling on the issue of allowing entry of private banks into the Rs.73 trillion banking sector. It is hoped that more banks in the country would lead to the government achieving its target of providing access to financial services for the entire bankable population. With 720 million potential users still remaining outside the banking framework, there is a huge gap that the banking industry could help to bridge.

But deepening of financial inclusion requires providing access to services and credit to a large number of highly dispersed and often remotely located individuals and agents. This raises transaction costs significantly, which if passed on to clients in the form of higher interest rates would price banks operating in rural areas out of the market. The billion rupee question is: Will the new bank entrants be willing to run the gauntlet and serve the objectives of financial inclusion even at the cost of taking a hit to their bottom line?

As private banks cannot justify on commercial grounds the business model that allows them to deal with the triple whammy of low savings balances, small transaction sizes and a large number of customers, they will typically pull back their physical presence in rural areas to discourage the custom of poor. But to ensure that the objective of financial inclusion is met, it is essential that poor people are ensured of low-cost ways of transacting. The ability to undertake remote transactions is therefore a key element of financial accessibility.

To achieve universal banking access, new banking systems are needed that work for the poor and yet are commercially sustainable. Will the new licensees be able to meet these requirements?

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Blank prescriptions!

There exists a huge shortage of doctors in rural areas

Every other day, a new government offers a building to open a private hospital – Max, Apollo, Fortis are just some of players to name a few. Many think that the emergence of private hospitals will fast replace the poor government health-care infrastructure and help improve the overall health care of the country. But statistics are not in support of that. India’s shattered health-care system proved again that it has yet to go far to claim it is shining. A few facts will remove the myths. 42% of the children are malnourished in India, which is worse than even the Sub Saharan Africa figure of 28%. Shockingly, even though the economy grew 50% over the period of 2001-06, the rate of malnourishment declined by only 1%. 1.72 million children die every year before reaching the age of one year. India has now the 3rd highest number of HIV patients in the world.

Indian hospitals have a poor infrastructure and are severely ill-equipped with poor technology. Indian doctors do not have access to modern technology for the health care system. Moreover, the doctor to patient ratio is abysmally low. India has one doctor against 1,953 people. The total number of registered doctors in the country is only 5.5 lakh against such a massive population. There are many reasons for that too. Firstly, limitation of medical seats is hindering the supply of doctors in good volumes. Secondly, there is a massive migration of Indian doctors abroad. While the cost of reform may seem high, the cost of non-reform, if one goes by the World Health Organization’s calculation, would be higher. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that India’s GDP could be pulled back by 5% by 2015 and the country would suffer this economic loss due to the deaths caused by the various diseases.

Healthcare expenditure remains barely above 1%, which should reach 2.5% as is the case with the developed nations. Even though India has planned to invest $86 billion (Rs 3.7 lakh crore) over the next 15 years, with past experience, it is quite possible that India would not be able to reach the present hospital bed density levels like Brazil, China and the current world average. In a 2008 study focusing on the Ujjain district, researchers found that about 61% (almost 1.1 million people) of that district’s population live in rural areas, served by only 39 professionally qualified doctors.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

When Mobiles Crack crime

Parimal Peeyush and K.S Narayanan report how the police and criminals play hide and seek with cell phones.
Ever since the mobile phone revolution swept across India, cops and sleuths have found the ubiquitous handset and the mobile towers to be a very handy tool in solving crimes of all types.This has been borne out by the manner in which the cops claim to have solved the two recent sensational cases involving liquor baron Ponty Chaddha and real estate tycoon cum erstwhile BSP leader Deepak Bharadwaj. Rapid advances in technology have turned an ordinary mobile phone into a potent tool not only for criminals, but also for law enforcement agencies.

The advent of technology in the past two decades has seen the world, including India, take a giant leap in the way that people communicate and share information. The Information, communication and technology revolution has seen mobile phones evolve from being a mere replacement to desk phones to a sophisticated modus operandi for criminals. Law enforcement agencies, as a result, are today faced with this persistent challenge of keeping pace with technology in order to check crime and maintain law and order.

Take the case of the Bharadwaj murder as an instance. Call records have helped the police establish how the murder plan was hatched and also revealed key conspirators. An analysis of the call detail records of the alleged conspirators in the Bhardwaj murder case point to a plan where the assailants tried to wipe off every trace of their movements. The conspirators communicated only through SMSes and would switch off their phones before heading out to meet either at a parking lot or outside a school in Vasant Kunj, next to the lawyer's residence, to avoid their locations from being tracked, police sources said. Each person in the chain of conspirators was looking out for himself and this precisely was the reason why lawyer Baljeet Singh Sehrawat recorded his conversations with Bhardwaj's younger son Nitesh Bharadwaj, who is the main accused in the case. Sources further revealed how Nitesh, Sehrawat and Swami Pratibhanand exchanged 45 calls till five days before the incident, beginning January 2012. Later, they changed their phones and SIM cards to prevent police from tracking the IMEI number.

Lets look at another high profile case that grabbed headlines in the recent past. Investigators looking into call records of Ponty Chadha and his brother to build the exact sequence of events that led to his and brother Hardeep Chadha's murders revealed that Hardeep had a close relationship with at least two ministers in the Sheila Dikshit cabinet. These ministers - Delhi's Urban Development Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and power minister Haroon Yusuf - are said to have been in close contact with Hardeep. Lovely reportedly talked to Hardeep and exchanged text messages almost every day. Interestingly, between November 1 and November 17, the day the brothers fought bitterly leading to the final fatal shootout, Lovely and Hardeep talked to each other 59 times.

There is an endless list of how tracking mobile records and surveillance have helped investigators uncover hidden motives and establish crime.

In fact, the first action of the police investigating an unseen crime is to seek phone records from the telecom service provider. The service providers are mandated under law to provide access of call records to law enforcement agencies as and when required. There is a strict protocol that is followed which includes a request being sent by the law enforcement agency to the service provider after it is approved and signed by the Home Secretary. In a conversation with TSI, S N Shrivastava, Special Commissioner of Police, Special Cell, Delhi Police said, “The use of these technical tools is subject to its misuse. The mandate (to facilitate surveillance and tracking) that was given to the mobile service providers was that cell phones were being used for crime.  Mobiles have become a powerful medium of communication between criminals.” He said that when a technology could be misused for destabilising law and order, any society had the right to keep such checks and balances in place. “Any surveillance or tapping that is done is under a law that is approved by Parliament. There are norms laid out that enlist the purposes for which surveillance can be done. These include national security, maintaining national integrity, public order and prevention of crime,” he added.

 “There is a proper protocol in place when law enforcement agencies request operators to monitor somebody. Each request comes to a nodal officer that every operator designates for each circuit. The nodal officer then informs a close group of people who then provide the interface. This comes to our switching centre where the LEAs are already connected. So, whenever we get any request, all we do is route the information. The service provider does not get involved in overhearing, encrypting and decrypting,” Rajan Mathews, Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) told TSI.

While call records and mobile surveillance have come in handy during investigations, there is also a flip side to it. It is not just the police that are getting smarter; with the advent of technology, there have been several instances where law breakers have managed to outsmart law keepers. Even in the case of the Bharadwaj murder, sources reveal that the prime accused Nitesh never communicated with Pratibhanand directly.  Instead, he was in touch with Sehrawat who in turn was in touch with Swami Pratibhanand. Nitesh and Sehrawat spoke only through SMSes and would plan the spot and time for the next meeting. All this was done with the intention of evading investigators.

Speaking to this magazine, Prakash Singh, a former Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, says that state at the forefront of tracking mobile calls to crack crime. “Many criminal gangs who unleashed terror in their neighbourhoods were eliminated by tracking mobiles. Technology is so sophisticated that one gets to know the exact location of a mobile, he says. However, Singh also cautions that criminals are invariably one step ahead of law enforcement agencies. “The police have to constantly upgrade their technology, coordination and intelligence to make arrest and breakthroughs. It is a useful tool. Nevertheless challenges continue to surmount,” he added. Dinesh Bhatt, a former senior police official currently serving as a member of the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission also believes that keeping abreast with technology is a big challenge. “But the new crop of police officials are doing a wonderful job,” he says, adding, “the young lot that we have today are well-versed with the use of complicated technologies and are committed to cracking crime with its help. It is all about adapting and implementing,” Bhatt says.

But today, checking crime by tracking mobiles is also becoming increasingly difficult. Assistant Commissioner of Police at Delhi Police's Special Cell Manish Chandra says that all criminals today know that the police uses telephone records and locations to nab them. “When a criminal knows how he is going to be caught, he will obviously take precautions for not getting caught. The basic aim is to evade arrest. Moreover, when a criminal is caught and sent to jail, he gets all the training that is required on how not to get caught,” says Chandra. The time spent in jail helps him understand the errors that he could make and once he is out, he is bound never to make those mistakes. “Criminals who are today getting caught with the use of mobile technology are either first timers or with a really low IQ,” Chandra added.

Things, however, were not so difficult earlier. There was a phase when technology was moving ahead and nabbing criminals with the help of telephones. “As on date, you take my word, you cannot catch a criminal only with the use of telephone records,” says Chandra, adding that the most essential and fundamental factor is human intelligence. It could be used later to establish a crime or conspiracy or motive. We are going to see an increase in the reliance upon human intelligence to catch criminals, he says. It can be source-based or through undercover operations of infiltration by the police. “In the past 8 to 10 years, the focus on human intelligence had taken a back seat. We found a tool in mobile technology where we could track, intercept and crack cases sitting in one place. Now, the criminals have overtaken us. More reliance needs to be put upon human intelligence,” Chandra emphasises.

The use of mobile surveillance or tracking during investigation, however, is not new. In fact, it has existed ever since mobile phones arrived in India. For the record, it was a condition for granting telecom licenses in 1995. There is a clear mandate that if a law enforcement agency requests interception of a particular subscriber, the service provider has to comply. Requests are made under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1911. Tracking of suspects has become a normal procedure in the course of investigation today. Be it crime, financial frauds such as the Nigerian 419 scam or tracking of terror outfits and their supporters, mobile tracking is common and has existed since as early as 1995 when the first tranche of telecom licences were given out in India. Since then, the police in various cities have been at it. This, say experts, has given criminals all the more reason to give mobiles a slip.

According to a senior official, all Pakistan-based militant outfits active in Kashmir have switched over from mobile phones and satellite phones, which are easy to track. Now, it is the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call that is coming very handy for ISI agents and terrorists operating from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The mushrooming of unregistered VoIP or Internet telephony is becoming a huge security problem as the origin of the caller and time of call cannot be ascertained immediately. Central security agencies have been pressing Department of Telecom (DoT) to ask service providers to come up with a solution for which several rounds of meetings have taken place between the, the DoT and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO). However, no quick fix solution has been found to block unregistered VoIPs operating from outside the country's borders.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Tashkent Ahoy!

With a potent mixture of new and old, the city of Tashkent has something or the other to offer to travellers of every budget and taste, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi

There is a flurry of images that the word Tashkent evokes inside the minds of every Indian: 1965 Indo-Pak War, the Tashkent Agreement, the sad demise of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and the image of his body being flown back to New Delhi. That was 1965. After that there is nothing much to recall.

But while we were busy doing what we do, some tectonic changes occurred. The Soviet Union dismantled and Uzbekistan emerged as an independent nation with Tashkent as its capital. The 90s saw developments at breakneck speed as the newly independent nation was inspired to gift itself a city worthy of being a national capital. Tashkent changed, and changed for good.

First the essentials. Uzbekistan Airways runs direct flights between Delhi and Tashkent, as well as Amritsar and Tashkent. Being a relatively new airline, Uzbekistan Airways boasts of some sparkling new carriers, a mixture of Boeing, Airbus and Ilyushin, in its fleet. The flight from Delhi takes a little over two hours and the ticket prices are affordable. The Uzbekistan Embassy in New Delhi will be eager to provide you with visa and other travel related documents provided you are going there as a tourist. Individual travelers face little problem unlike some of the famous tourist destinations nearby. In fact, the liberal visa regime has seen sudden spike in number of Indian tourists who are flocking to Uzbekistan these days.

While in Tashkent, the only hurdle that you might face will be at the Customs. The law requires you to declare every penny that you are carrying inside the country. You have to sign a declaration form that has a counterfoil and keep a stamped copy with yourself. This copy needs to be returned when you leave the country. Also, once inside Uzbekistan, tourists staying for more than three days need to get registered with the bureau. If you are staying in a hotel, the onus lies on the hotel to do it for you. Once done, you are set to explore the queen of Central Asia.

Tashkent is a well-laid out city with broad boulevards and even broader squares. Taxis are affordable but motorbikes are a strict no no. City buses are in plenty with widespread routes. But the best option to see the city around is through city's well laid metro network. A mixture of Soviet era and modern routes, the metro can be used to visit almost all the areas of new city and the downtown and a few areas in the old city as well. And, like its counterpart in Moscow, the metro stations are in themselves a delight to see. Adorned with murals and engravings, and a design reflecting Soviet era aesthetics, each metro station represents a unique theme. But as much as you feel like doing it, it is strictly prohibited to click the pictures of metro stations. The security inside the network is unprecedented and tourists are advised to keep their travel documents handy.

You can cover some sections of the city on foot. In fact, if you divide the city between the old and the new part, you can actually cover each part on foot. The city has mild and pleasant summers and bitterly cold winters with the mercury dipping way below zero. The best time to visit the city is from April to September. As there is little or no humidity, the walks are pleasant and does not exhaust you beyond a point.

There are two squares that define the new part of the city and it is in between these two that many of the attractions are situated. The city's biggest square is Mustaqillik or Independence Square and  it serves as the nerve center of the Uzbek government. Spread over an area of 30 acres by the side of the magnificent buildings of Government Secretariat and Oliy Majlis, the square draws substantial crowds at both daytime and evening.

Adorned with green zones and fountains the square is overlooked by the Arch of Independence. Nearby is the Monument to Independence and Humanism. There is a pedestal with a bronze replica of the earth on its top. On this bronze sphere, the territories of Uzbekistan are engraved. Prior to 1991, this pedestal had the statue of Lenin adorning it. Below is a statue of a seated mother with a child in her lap symbolising the new nation.
On its right is the Monument of Courage, build to commemorate the courage of the people who suffered the 1966 earthquake that almost flattened the city.

Further right is the World War II memorial dedicated to the fallen Uzbek soldiers. The monument consists of a flame and sad woman and a building with two corridors with the names of fallen written on it. The design is distinctly Japanese as it was constructed by the Japanese POWs. You can also catch a show in the adjoining Turkestan theatre which is well known for its aesthetics and acoustics.

The square is linked to another famous square, Amir Temur Square, through a boulevard locally known as Broadway. The city boasts of street artists and painters, who display and sell their original artworks. There are many shopping centers, boutiques and cafes around and spending an evening here is highly recommended. You can also catch street performers in the late evening. Also,  this is the place where you can pick some good souvenirs and Soviet era antiques. You also have the Palace of Symposiums and National Library of Uzbekistan nearby.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

In the big league again

Indian hockey, once a powerhouse of the world game, has been looking down the barrel for decades now. However, with the advent of Hero Hockey India League (HHIL), fans have begun to see a sliver of hope.

The tournament, which features some of the world's finest players and is due to wrap up on February 10, is being telecast in 83 territories worldwide. It has put Indian hockey back in the global big league.

According to ESPN, the official broadcaster of HIL, a comprehensive line-up of global syndication partners are showcasing the first edition of the league in these many territories. Some leading names in the world of sports broadcasting like Fox Sports from Australia, Sky Sports from New Zealand, Ten Sports in Pakistan and southeast Asia and MENA region are covering HHIL live in the territories.

According to Aloke Malik, managing director, ESPN Software India, “These partnerships reinforce our commitment to set new benchmarks in the distribution of Hero Hockey India League. We look forward to working closely with all our partners and serve hockey fans all over the world with some mouth-watering high quality content.”

If Indian hockey is reemerging, the top bosses of Indian hockey will certainly love to take the credit. Dr Narinder Batra, chairman, Hero Hockey India League, said, “We are delighted to have a strong and committed broadcast partner. It is great to know that the first edition of the league can be seen by hockey fans across the world. We are confident that the popularity of the league and the game of hockey per se will greatly benefit from these international distribution tie-ups.”

Successes of HHIL
l HHIL’s broadcast in India, at the end of Week 2, has been seen by 2.27 crore hockey fans, way more than the full tournament reach of UEFA Euro 2012, which stood at 2.04 crore.

l HHIL’s reach is almost four times that of the Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy, which had a full tournament reach of 58 lakh. l HHIL’s reach is considerably higher than that of World Series Hockey, which stood at 1.24 crore individuals at the end of Week 2. l Even on the digital front, HHIL has achieved considerable success. HHIL's Facebook page has attracted more than 410,000 fans, making it the world’s largest field hockey Facebook page. l On Twitter, HHIL has trended multiple times not just in India but also in countries like the US.

HIL began with a bang. In its first week, close to 1.5 crore people watched the league. At 1.46 crore, HIL was 1.7 times UEFA Euro 2012's reach for the first six matches.

It garnered 24 times the average weekly reach of I-league. Within the first week, HIL overtook the tournament reach of the recently concluded 2012 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy. The first week TV viewership was more than double of what World Series Hockey could deliver in the first week last year. The figures released by the official broadcaster back the claims it made before HIL began.

HIL has the sanction of the international body, International Hockey Federation (FIH). To make it a global league, players from 11 countries are rubbing shoulders with each other. The league marks a giant leap for Indian hockey.

Indian fans saw a new avatar of Indian hockey when the inaugural match was played between Delhi Waveriders and Jaypee Punjab Warriors at National Stadium, Delhi.

HIL, a five-team franchise-based league, could in the long run revive a slowly decaying Indian hockey. After India missed a berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then finished at the bottom in London last year, hockey administrators in this country were at their tether's end.

But gradually, over the last couple of tournaments, the young and enigmatic Sardar Singh is showing glimpses of India's past prowess and with a new professional league now in place the game could see a dramatic turnaround.

Unlike the rival World Series Hockey, 120 hockey players – including the best from India and the world – are participating in HIL. In an auction that was held along the lines to the Indian Premier League, India captain Sardar fetched the highest price. He was grabbed by Delhi for USD 78,000. India vice-captain and ace drag-flicker VR Raghunath was bought by Uttar Pradesh for USD 76,000, Australian star Jamie Dwyer went to Punjab for USD 60,000, Fuertse was taken by Ranchi for USD 75,500 and Nooijer was sold to Uttar Pradesh Wizards for USD 66,000.

The tournament – 34 matches spread over 28 days – has already given a huge opportunity to many young players from India and abroad but the organisers will have to increase the pool of players and improve overall standards.

In a cricket-crazy country, the HIL TV ratings have been extremely encouraging. When eight years ago the Premier Hockey League was started, no one would have imagined that one day an Indian hockey league would hit the headlines worldwide.

The best thing for the league is that players like Sandeep Singh and Tushar Khandker, who were dumped from the Indian team, are proving their mettle.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Hurt and humiliated

Ajay Rana analyses the sorrow and despair of the Indian cricket fan as a star-studded team turns lambs at home

Sachin TendulkarIndian cricket is writhing in pain. It has been beaten and bruised. The so-called tigers at home are being humiliated and their millions of fans are deeply hurt. Diehard fans of Indian cricket are worried because their team is surrendering very tamely. Zillions of Indian cricket fans are frustrated because their heroes are not showing the mettle that they have been known for, at least in home conditions.
The top half of the batting order is looking shaky and the tail is not wagging at all. Spinners who hardly spin the ball are always in the limelight. Pacemen who could hardly beat a batsman's defence are not at all in a hurry to work on their bolwing technique. Above all, the super boss of Indian cricket, Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), is not at all worried with the steady decline in performance.

The administration has found a new stock market in Indian Premier League (IPL) and they are pretty satisfied with the ever increasing revenue of IPL. N Srinivasan and company seem satisfied with the four hours of nonsensical drama. They have hardly any time to discuss India's future in test cricket.
Diehard fans have been cornered and they are feeling dejected. The anguish of Indian fans was well addressed by former India captain Rahul Dravid when he took part in the latest 'BBC Test Match Special'.

“A lot of people are upset not just by losing but the manner of the defeats. India won three tosses and had the wicket in their favour in Mumbai and the best of the batting conditions here in Kolkata but they just haven't been able to capitalise or put up a fight,” said Dravid.
After the disappointing loss at Kolkata the selection committee led by Sandeep Patil pushed Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan out of the Indian squad. It doesn't require a great cricketing skill to understand that these changes were just cosmetic and some of the players have been made scapegoats.

The matter was duly raised by former India captain Sunil Gavasker as well. In the series the biggest culprit were those players who threw their wicket after settling down well in the middle. But these issues were either overlooked or selection committee was told just to ignore this.
The fans feel ignored because the Indian cricket administration has always preferred to protect their own interests instead of protecting the interests of Indian cricket. What is required for Indian cricket has never been their priority. When former India selector Mohinder Amarnath started spilling the beans the administration tried to refute all the allegations. But he has already opened a can of worms.

It is an open secret in Indian cricket that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who once had the Midas touch, has lost all his magic and the captain of the Indian cricket team is just trying to shield his place and position. Why is Sachin still playing Tests? Who will ask Dhoni to step down? Why has India only one opening pair which fails every time? Has Indian cricket (especially the Test team) slumped to an unexpected low? Instead of getting any positive solution the fans get frustrated to read an important point raised by Rahul Dravid, “People talk about attitude and say (the players) don't care because there is too much money in the Indian Premier League. That's one side of things but the main thing is their lack of skill and ability, which is more worrying for me. It raises questions as to the talent and quality of players coming through.”

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Consumption crunch? Blame debt-burdened households

How large debts carried by homeowners have led to low consumer spending and is therefore preventing a quick recovery in the American economy

At US Monetary Policy Forum (USMPF) in 2012, an annual gathering organized by the Initiative on Global Markets at Chicago Booth, academics, market economists, and policy makers discussed how a housing market collapse combined with a high level of household debt limits the effectiveness of monetary policy. For instance, though the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates to help homeowners reduce their mortgage payments and avoid delinquency, banks remain unwilling to refinance mortgages on homes that are worth less than the amount owed on them. The ineffectiveness of this policy suggests that the recession and the weak recovery that followed are as much about the large debts carried by homeowners as they are about a decline in housing wealth.

Economists increasingly have recognised the role played by household debt in generating deep and prolonged recessions. Homeowners with large debts experience the sharpest reduction in net worth when a large asset such as housing loses value. This shock sets off the economic downturn, as highly indebted households drastically cut back on consumption. In theory, households with healthier balance sheets ought to pick up the slack by taking advantage of lower interest rates as monetary policy eases. But as nominal interest rates cannot fall below zero, interest rates effectively remain higher than they should be, exacerbating the recession.

The distribution of debt – the fact that some households are deep in debt while others are not – can turn a housing shock into a grave recession. If everyone carried moderate levels of debt instead, then more households would be able to refinance and fewer would default on their mortgage. The damage to households’ balance sheets would not be so large as to lead to a severe recession, despite a fall in house prices. Empirical evidence supports these arguments. The November 2011 study, “Household Balance Sheets, Consumption, and the Economic Slump” by Sufi with Atif Mian of the University of California, Berkeley and Kamalesh Rao of MasterCard Advisors shows that the dramatic accumulation of household debt in US – combined with the decline in house prices – is the primary reason for the onset, severity, and length of the subsequent consumption collapse. The study is the first to show convincingly at the county and zip-code levels how a shock to households’ balance sheets contributed to the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 and the slow economic recovery that followed. A SHAKY FINANCIAL POSITION LEADS TO DEEP CUTS An increase in credit supply, partly because of relaxed lending standards, made it possible for more individuals and families to buy a home than ever before in the years prior to the housing crisis. This credit boom put upward pressure on home prices that, in turn, encouraged many homeowners to borrow against the increasing value of their homes.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

“True entrepreneurs don’t start rich”

Stephan Gary Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple Inc., in an exclusive interview with B&E talks about the notable traits of successful entrepreneurs, and how he rates the late Steve Jobs as an entrepreneur-leader

B&E: How do you define “entrepreneurship”, since you were key to creating Apple as a company, and what prime qualities should an entrepreneur possess?

Steve Wozniak (SW): I don’t have a good definition of entrepreneur. I’d go with the popular opinion. It’s usually a young person but could be an older person who is young at heart. It’s a person who wants to start a company and get going on his or her life toward making a lot of money.

B&E: How critical is passion as a success factor for an entrepreneur to succeed?

SW: Some entrepreneurs are motivated by passion to do a particular thing. Others just want any opportunity to have a business of their own. They all want to, at least partly, escape from working for others on this project. Usually entrepreneurship involves creation and engineering. Bright engineers get ideas and become entrepreneurs to bring them to fruit. Often an engineer or scientist creates some sort of working model in their home or garage first.

B&E: And what do you have to say about young graduates who make a mark in the world of entrepreneurship?

SW: These days many graduate from college with entrepreneurship training and they look for ideas or come up with ideas with little or no understanding of what it will take or if it’s possible. They assume that once they get funding for an idea on paper they can find engineering as a resource anywhere in the world. This is the business graduate. The best is when both disciplines, engineering (science) and business, are in the same person.

B&E: How would you rate the late Steve Jobs as an entrepreneur and what were his top qualities (and weakness, if at all) as an entrepreneur and a leader?

SW: Steve was one of the greatest. He didn’t do the engineering but he understood it better than pure business types. He always recognised the importance of it and hired the greatest engineers. I was his key in the early days but he did not make a mistake. In later times it was clear that he understood the importance of all the departments of a large company and insisted on hiring some of the best people in the world in every one of these departments.

B&E: So you say that for Steve Jobs, being around engineers helped him emerge as a successful CEO-leader?

SW: When Steve was young he had a huge spirit to form a company as a way to bring his great ideas to the world. He thought fast and had ideas about everything and he was very outgoing about it. He was around a lot of engineers and knew when gold had struck, with the Apple II.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Indian real estate sector in 2013 and beyond

While the concept of affordable housing is expected to be the real rescuer of Indian real estate sector in 2013 and beyond, its execution still remains a big challenge due to unclear policy framework. Is there a way out?

Even the numbers indicate that “affordable housing” was nothing but a fad. According to a recent research by Lloyds TSB International Global Housing Market Review, “Housing prices in India have witnessed the biggest increase in the world over the last 10 years by a staggering 284%. However, the BSE Realty index has fallen 19% in the last one year and over 55% in the last five years.” As per Mumbai based real estate research firm Liasas Foras, “between Q4 FY2011 and Q4 FY2012, property prices in the National Capital Region (NCR) increased by 33% and in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) by 17%. Bangalore and Pune too saw a modest increase of about 8% and 5% respectively during the period. However, interestingly the demand in India’s top six real estate markets - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Bangalore – has fallen around 40% on an average. This is certainly a situation of low volumes and high prices.

The sector’s prospects too are looking bleak due to a series of interest rate increases since March 2010 affecting demand for real estate, along with rising input costs and mounting debt. Builders blame the rise in construction costs along with tight liquidity for their debt build-up. But the truth is the rising debt levels are more the result of an investor-driven demand. After all, a builder’s cost in constructing a property is not significant. Purchase of the land is actually done with PE investors’ money who are looking for at least 20-30% returns. Since the builder does not want to share his returns with investors, they jack up the prices of property instead. As per a report titled “Capital-driven real estate and its consequences” by Liasas Foras, property prices are raised by as much as 43% to accommodate the interest of the PE investor. Result: End-consumers suffer from unaffordable prices!

Then, there are other issues, too. Take land itself, for instance. It is not easily available and the records are not properly maintained. This makes acquiring land a time consuming, cumbersome and expensive process. “Land should also come with physical infrastructure, such as access to public transport, sewage treatment lines, and water and power supplies. Without these, no project would be saleable,” says Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO of Tata Housing.

The increase in cost of construction also impacts this segment the most. According to industry estimates, construction costs account for more than 50% of the total price of affordable units, while in the case of luxury projects it is only around 20%. At the customer end, obtaining financing is a key constraint. One main reason for this is that this customer segment is employed largely in the unorganised sector and typically lacks documents that show proof of address, salary and other information that is mandatory for availing loans from the frontline banks.

Considering all this, it’s really tough for a real estate player to provide affordable housing unless and until the government pitches in. Agrees Navin Raheja, Chairman & MD, Raheja Developers Ltd., as he tells B&E, “For affordable housing to soon become reality the government needs to come up with a PPP model, and implement it in letter and spirit.” No doubt, the public-private partnership is a good model to cater to the housing needs at the bottom of the pyramid but not the way it is happening at present. For instance, currently, any builder can approach the government for subsidies in the name of constructing homes for the poor, and while there are stipulations, these are only on paper. The private sector has to be engaged in a manner that results in proper targeting of the housing stock. “You can’t have subsidies and then sell in a non-transparent manner,” say critics.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Better off 'building tomorrow's enterprise’?

Infosys has disappointed the street with its financials over the last few quarters, and even lost its bellwether status. However, an unperturbed management is banking on much better numbers in the medium to long term with its strategic transformation. Can they pull it off?

As I entered Gate No. 2 of the Infosys headquarters at Electronic City, Bengaluru, I could detect a heightened buzz in the environment, which I am otherwise very familiar with. A number of additional security personnel were combing the area, and no vehicles were being allowed to stop anywhere near the gate; in fact, even visitors were not allowed to stand and wait in the vicinity. Later, I realised that all this was happening because the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon was visiting the campus on that particular day. Visits by heads of state & renowned foreign dignitaries to the Infosys campus is not uncommon, and there is a special area within the campus that has trees planted by these people. Respect was the foremost criteria on which Infosys Chairman N. R. Narayana Murthy built the company and indeed, it continues to be respected for much more than the manner in which it has grown from scratch to a $6.99 billion company in 30 years, and led the industry in absolute profitability for most of them. However, the past few quarters have seen the company miss some of its sheen on the bourses. Investors are particularly peeved with the company’s muted guidance that compares unfavourably to TCS and Cognizant (and to NASSCOM!), while being quite in line with the guidance of Wipro. When you look at the results of the quarter ending June 2012, Infosys posted a revenue of Rs.89.09 billion, a growth by 29.02% yoy and a profit figure of Rs.22.04 billion, a growth by 20.9% yoy. In comparison, TCS posted a revenue of Rs.114.11 billion, a growth by 32.47% yoy and profits of Rs.27.97 billion, a growth by 35.64% yoy. In dollar terms, Cognizant, which overtook Wipro in terms of revenues last year, has even overtaken Infosys with revenue of $1.795 billion as compared to $1.75 billion for the latter. Due to these reasons, TCS has now become the bellwether of the stock market, a position that Infosys held earlier. Moreover, the company’s guidance of around 5% revenue growth for FY 2012-13 has disappointed investors, since NASSCOM has provided a guidance of 10-14% in terms of industry growth.

Infosys maintains that the environment is volatile enough, and there is nothing materially positive to justify a higher guidance for them. Some critics say that the company’s single-minded focus on margins is the reason (making it lose some lucrative deals in a scenario where players are getting too aggressive on price), while some say that the company’s succession plan hasn’t gone well. It’s reluctance to latch on to M&A targets is a debate that certainly wasn’t born yesterday, though the company did manage one acquisition of late (the $350 million acquisition of consulting firm Lodestone) to show that it really is serious about inorganic growth now. To make matters worse, Infosys has delayed increments for its employees, which is all the more disconcerting for company watchers, who feel that this will only lead to an increased attrition of quality manpower.

In an exclusive with B&E, S. D. Shibulal, CEO & MD, Infosys, defends, “People link price and margin directly. Margin is a reflection of the company’s aspirations, philosophy, efficiency in operations, how do you manage, et al.” He asserts that there are as many as ten levers on margins that he can identify, which include things like onsite-offshore ratio, utilisation, pyramid structure and client choices apart from price. Moreover, he asserts that client deals today are strategic, and Infosys doesn’t really walk away from deals just because it has to bring its price points down. However, he also admits that having industry leading margins has remained a long term strategic focus area for Infosys.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Mind your language

India’s recent move to ban some Twitter and Facebook accounts to stop hate agenda might be a bark up the wrong tree, but still uses a valid rule

Many would see the Indian government’s recent decision to ban (and later ‘unban’) almost 309 URLs of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter et al in the wake of the unfortunate Assam riots as a blatant ‘violation’ of the freedom of speech ideology. Undoubtedly, the move by the Indian government – which now stands more or less revoked – was nothing but a knee-jerk and shortsighted reaction to contain a rapidly snowballing situation; almost akin to a doctor telling a cancer patient that the best way to cure the disease is to not talk about it to anybody else. Yes, clearly, the Indian government wound itself up trying to first identify which pages were encouraging hate speech, then trying to force foreign based social media sites to block these identified pages, then trying to justify the move to critical commentators and media.

Criticise the government as one may – for not understanding the real reason for riots – but what is quite clear in the midst of all this brouhaha is that the government was legally right in moving against various hate promoting sites. These steps by the government have invited huge criticism from every section of society; but the very intention of the government seems quite clear and unquestionable. India has never witnessed a situation where social media is being misused in such a condemnable manner. Regular hate speech can have a long term effect on sections of the society that are on the web and create negativity in their subconscious mind.

Undoubtedly, the government has taken these steps a bit late in the day, but it has the legal authority and duty to censor content, which might be detrimental to communal harmony. Not only India; the governments of many nations like United States of America, Australia and England have taken similar actions in the past to control violent and hate oriented speech on the web. In US, the House of Representatives recently introduced the “Rogue Websites” Bill that has been supported by many in the house, even though it would force the Service Providers to create a list of banned websites and prevent users of those websites from accessing them. This bill is a version of the Theft of Intellectual Property Act or Protect IP Act introduced in the US Senate earlier.

Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot recently said, “India has been pushing for global internet governance at the level of the UN so that control of social media would rest in the hands of UN and its member nations.” But currently, only China supports India on this. In fact, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva passed its first resolution on Internet freedom with a message for all nations to support individual and human rights online in July. Undoubtedly, freedom of expression is critical, but as is the case with the hate messages spread after the Assam riots, a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Cyber security has remained an area of huge concern for India. Mobiles have penetrated wide and deep in the Indian market, and the rapid rise of smartphones in particular indicates how spreading the right or wrong message has become so much easier. A mobile analytics research firm Flurry has concluded that smartphone adoption today is ten times faster as compared to the PC era in the 1980s. India saw a 171% growth in the number of active smartphone devices for the year ending July 2012 according to the Flurry report. As per eMarketer, social media globally is expected to reach 1.5 billion users in 2012 (1.2 billion in 2011). India is expected to see the fastest growth of51.7% yoy. This underscores the need for these sites to control their content and the government to crack the whip when necessary. The argument obviously gets turned on its head if the government misuses its rights to clamp down legitimate criticism of its own policies/agenda at any time.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face