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New Home - spoonfeedin.wordpress.com

2009-02-16T23:17:00.002+05:30

Hi All,

We have moved to a new address - spoonfeedin.wordpress.com.

The friendly guys at the IT team in office blocked blogger.So can't access/post articles on this site anymore from workplace ( & most of my reading happens at workplace :-( ....).So please do check out the new webpage.Have successfully transferred all our archive articles to the new webpage too ,so that ensures the fact that all of you won't have to browse through both webpages anymore.So without further adieu , click on spoonfeedin.wordpress.com

take care
SZri

Business - Google brings e-books to mobiles

2009-02-07T09:22:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Google is making its vast online library of books available for mobile phones.
"We are excited to announce the launch of a mobile version of Google Book Search, opening up over 1.5 million mobile public domain books in the US (and over half a million outside the US) for you to browse," the company said.
The Internet search giant, in a post on Thursday on the Google Book Search blog, said mobile versions of the books could be read on devices such as the Apple iPhone or T-Mobile G1, which is powered by Google's Android software.
"These new mobile editions are optimized to be read on a small screen," Google said. "With this launch, we believe that we've taken an important step toward more universal access to books."
To access the mobile version of Google Book Search a user needs to type http://books.google.com/m into the Web browser of their iPhone or Android phone.
Google's announcement comes just days ahead of the expected unveiling by Amazon of a new generation version of its popular electronic book reader, the Kindle, at a New York press conference on Monday.
Amazon is also planning to make its online store of e-books for the Kindle available on mobile phones, the New York Times reported on Friday.
"We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones," Drew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman, told the Times. "We are working on that now."
The Amazon spokesman did not provide any further details.
Google will initially only be offering books in the public domain -- those which are not under copyright -- for mobile phones.
Amazon, on the other hand, offers the latest releases and 230,000 titles in all, including 103 of the 112 current New York Times bestsellers.

Sport - Michael Phelps says 3-month suspension is fair

2009-02-07T09:19:00.000+05:30

David Ginsburg

BALTIMORE – Michael Phelps says it's fair for USA Swimming to suspend him for three months, the latest fallout from a photo showing the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. Phelps was back training at his regular pool Friday, a day after his suspension.
"It's not my decision. It's theirs," Phelps said of USA Swimming's decision. "I have nothing to say, but if that's they want to do, that's their choice. It's something that USA Swimming came up with. It's fair. Obviously, for a mistake you should get punished."
Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing and returned to America as one of the world's most acclaimed athletes. He made headlines of a different kind, however, in the wake of the photo, published Sunday by News of the World, a British tabloid.
"It was bad and stupid judgment, and something I'll always live with," Phelps said, minutes before diving into the pool at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center, where he has trained since he was 7.
Although the fallout cost Phelps his Kellogg Co. sponsorship, Subway announced Friday it still supports him.
"Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps himself, we were disappointed in his behavior," the statement said. "Also like most Americans, we accept his apology. Moving forward, he remains in our plans."
The fallout from the picture has been much greater than in 2004, when an underage Phelps was arrested for drunken driving three months after the Athens Olympics. He pleaded guilty and apologized to his fans, saying he wouldn't make the same mistake.
Phelps wasn't sure how the negative publicity might influence his decision to compete in the 2012 London Olympics.
"I'm taking it step by step, day by day. There's still a long way between now and then," he said. "But I'm back here, I'm training for who knows what yet. But I'm back in the water, doing the thing I love."
That's a welcome diversion from the attention he's getting outside the pool.
"From waking up to megaphones outside your house at 7:30 in the morning to still photographers out there every day for the last four days from 7:30 to when I left for a workout, I can just do what's normal for me," he said. "And right now that's me coming to the pool every day."
His coach, Bob Bowman, said the suspension will alter his plans for Phelps, who recently resumed serious training with the goal of qualifying for this summer's world championships in Rome.
"It takes away some options from our planning. You know, we had a plan of meets to kind of get us ready for the end of the summer and now we'll have to adjust that," Bowman said. "That kind of comes with this territory."
With the three-month suspension he won't be able to take on any rivals until early May, which would give him a little more than two months of competition before July's world championships in Rome.
The U.S. team for Rome will be chosen at the national championships July 7-11 in Indianapolis.
USA Swimming's decision to suspend Phelps didn't surprise Bowman.
"As a member of USA Swimming, I expected them to take action," Bowman said. "I think that we'll abide by it. I think it sends a very strong message to Michael and to others. I understand the disciplinary action."
And Phelps was thankful for those who have supported him.
"I've been getting messages on Facebook, both good and bad. E-mails, both good and bad. Text messages, all good," he said. "This is time when you need support. To have support from the majority of my sponsors, probably 90 percent, it means a lot. And it's something I'm very thankful for."
And what about his mother, Debbie Phelps?
"Mom wasn't happy," Phelps said. "She's been supportive through it, but wasn't happy."
___
AP correspondent Pete Kerzel contributed to this report.

Tech - Lenovo to refocus on Chinese market

2009-02-07T09:18:00.000+05:30

Now that the leadership of Lenovo is back in the hands of Chinese executives, the PC maker says it plans to pay more attention to its home market of China and other emerging markets, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
It cut ties with its American CEO Bill Amelio earlier this week after a dreadful financial quarter in which the company lost $97 million. Chairman Yan Yuanqing has taken over as chief executive and company co-founder Liu Chuanzhi is returning to become chairman of the board.
Liu blames the company's current woes on the worldwide financial crisis and Lenovo's heavy investment in the commercial computing space with long lists of corporate customers. Though the company has made huge strides to become the fourth-largest PC maker by volume in the world, its presence in the consumer market outside China has been minimal until recently. A year ago the company introduced a line of consumer laptops and desktops, and more recently, a Netbook.
Now Lenovo will renew its focus in its home market and emerging markets to include individual and smaller businesses customers, Liu told the Journal.
The company will remain an international company and plans to keep its dual headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, N.C., according to Liu. But what's unclear is what this means for the company's nascent consumer business.

Lifestyle - Playing violent video games has risks: study

2009-02-07T09:02:00.000+05:30

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among young college students, the frequency and type of video games played appears to parallel risky drug and alcohol use, poorer personal relationships, and low levels of self-esteem, researchers report.
"This does not mean that every person who plays video games has low self-worth, or that playing video games will lead to drug use," Laura M. Padilla-Walker told Reuters Health.
Rather, these findings simply indicate video gaming may cluster with a number of negative outcomes, "at least for some segment of the population," said Padilla-Walker, an associate professor at the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
She and colleagues examined the previous 12-months' frequency and type of video game and Internet use reported by 500 female and 313 male undergraduate college students in the United States.
The students, who were 20 years old on average and mostly received course credit for their study participation, also recounted their drug and alcohol use, perceptions of self-worth and social acceptance, and the quality of their relationships with friends and family.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, showed "stark gender differences in video game and Internet use," Padilla-Walker said.
For example, compared with young women, young men reported video gaming three times as often and reported playing violent video games nearly eight times as often.
Young men were also more likely to use the Internet for entertainment, daily headline news, and pornography, while young women more often used the Internet for email and schoolwork.
However, regardless of gender, clear correlations were seen between frequent gaming and more frequent alcohol and drug use and lower quality personal relationships, as well as more frequent violent gaming and a greater number of sexual partners and low quality personal relationships.
The investigators linked similar negative outcomes with Internet use for chat rooms, shopping, entertainment, and pornography, but a contrasting "plethora of positive outcomes" with Internet use for schoolwork.
Padilla-Walker sees these findings as a starting point for future research. Continued analyses of video game and Internet use should improve the overall understanding of health and development among emerging young adults, she and colleagues note.
SOURCE: Journal of Youth and Adolescence, January 2009

India - Poor planning keeps millions in India's slums, AS

2009-02-07T09:01:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI (AP) Millions of Indians are forced to live in squalid slums, not because they are impoverished, but because city planners have failed to build low-cost alternatives, a government report said Tuesday, warning the problem was getting worse. As India's economy has boomed in recent years, India's predominantly rural population has flocked to the cities hoping to get a slice of the growing prosperity.
A massive shortage of affordable housing has left many no choice but to live in makeshift tenements with few if any basic utilities, according to the country's first report on urban poverty. Housing projects would provide residents properly constructed homes, linked to basic infrastructure like sewage, electricity and running water.
That kind of housing would be in sharp contrast to the slums that dot most major India cities, with their endless warrens of small houses and shops built of corrugated metal, cement and tarpaulins, public latrines and tangles of electric wiring, often illegally linked to the main power lines. "The pace of urbanization in India is set to increase, and with it, urban poverty and urban slums," said Kumari Selja, India's Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation said before releasing the report that was supported by the United Nations.
India's slums have been in the international spotlight recently since the success of the Oscar favorite "Slumdog Millionaire," the rags-to-riches tale of poor boy rising from the slums of Mumbai. While the film has won accolades overseas, it has been criticized in India for focusing on India's slums the country's ugly side.
But these slums will only grow unless significant steps are taken to build millions of low-cost homes for those flocking to the cities who are "unable to procure shelter through legal market transactions," the report said. The report estimates by 2030, some 50 percent of Indians will live in cities, up from 28 percent currently.
With the population already touching 1.1 billion, the challenge is huge. Already, about one quarter of city dwellers are living "in slums amidst squalor, crime disease and tension," the report said.
The report, commissioned to try and provide a strategy for urban development, said the major problem until today has been one of vision, not resources. "There has been no political or bureaucratic will to utilize the available land for housing slum dwellers," the report said, noting the only work done in regard to slums had been occasional demolitions during city beautification drives.
But, unless there was a clear change in policy the gaps between the urban rich and poor would only grow, officials said. "The challenge is to provide basic services to the urban poor and slum dwellers without letting the elite capture all the benefits," Selja said.

Business - Skoda changing tacks to suit India, cheap cars likely soon

2009-02-07T08:59:00.000+05:30

Skoda India, a part of the Volkswagen Group, is changing tack and one could soon see new cheaper small cars on Indian roads. Next week, the Skoda India management would be in the company's headquarters in Europe to discuss the nitty gritty of the new small car, as well as a way forward in India, where Skoda is number nine among car manufacturers.
"We believe that a better customer experience and a smaller car, where we can provide customers with an affordable Skoda and at the same time, generate volumes for the company is the way forward," said Thomas Kuehl, member of the board and India head, Skoda Auto. Though the company's leadership position in the C segment is firm with a 55 per cent marketshare, the overall sales figure have been seeing lukewarm growth.
The company sold 16,046 cars in 2008, up 32 per cent from 12,170 in 2007. In comparison, Honda Siel sold 50,468 cars as against 57,024, a drop of 11 per cent.
Kuehl says the solution is not to cut jobs, but to create a portfolio of products and customer service, which would push brand Skoda closer to the pockets of India's vast middle-class.

Sport - Cricket;India attains second spot in ICC ODI rankings for first time

2009-02-07T08:58:00.000+05:30

Dubai, Feb 6 (PTI) India today attained the number two spot for the first time in ICC's One-Day Rankings history displacing Australia from that position after New Zealand defeated the world champions by six wickets in the second ODI in Melbourne. India, who have made steady progress after its winning streak of nine consecutive ODI triumphs, now have 122 rating points to perch to the second spot for the first time since the ODI rankings were launched in October 2002.
India are now three points behind top rankers South Africa. The Proteas recently climbed to the top of the table at Australia's expense.
Australia (121) have been pushed to the third place while New Zealand follow on fourth rung with 117 points. Pakistan is further down the ladder at fifth while England and Sri Lanka are sixth and seventh respectively.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side, already 4-0 up in its ongoing series against Sri Lanka, can close the gap to the Proteas to two points if it secures victory in the final ODI in Colombo on Sunday. But Australia can regain second spot if it wins back-to-back matches against New Zealand in Sydney on Sunday and Adelaide on Tuesday.
And if Australia can string three wins together to take out the series then it will draw level on points with South Africa, although it will still lie second when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point. PTI.

Sport - Tennis;I am focussing on singles: Yuki Bhambri

2009-02-07T08:57:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, Feb. 6, (ANI): Young tennis sensation Yuki Bhambri on Friday said that he is focussing on playing singles for the time being.
Sixteen-year-old Yuki Bhambri became the first Indian to win the junior boys title at the Australian Open. He was speaking at a store launch here.
Bhambri was presented a shoe shaped memento on the occasion, which was attended by former tennis great Ramesh Krishnan.
"Currently I'm focusing on singles and doubles for me mean a lot of fun and learning experience because in doubles we can practice our volley and serve which is very helpful in playing singles," Yuki said.
Bhambri has become the third Indian junior to win a title after Ramesh Krishnan (French and Wimbledon junior champion in 1979) and Leander Paes (Wimbledon junior crown in 1990 and the US Open title in 1991). (ANI

Tech - Transmitting data 16 times faster @ 640 billion bits per second

2009-02-07T08:56:00.002+05:30

Washington, Feb 3 (IANS) Every second, millions of phone calls and cable TV shows are dispatched through fibres as digital zeros and ones formed by chopping laser pulses into bits.
This slicing and dicing is generally done with an electro-optic modulator, a device for allowing an electric signal to switch a laser beam on and off at high speeds. Reading that fast data stream with a compact and reliable receiver is another matter.
A new error-free speed-reading record using a compact ultra-fast component - 640 gigabites (billion) per second or Gbps - has now been established jointly by scientists from Denmark and Australia.
New technology and new ways of doing business require new approaches to old procedures. Conventional readers of optical data depend on photo-detectors, electronic devices that can operate up to approximately 40 Gbps.
This in itself represents a great feat of rapid reading, but it's not good enough for the higher-rate data streams being designed now. Sometimes to speed up data transmission several signals are multiplexed: each, with its own stream of coded data, is sent down an optical fibre at the same time.
In other words, 10 parallel streams of data could each be sent at a rate of 10 Gbps and then added up to an effective stream of 100 Gbps. At the receiving end the parallel signals have to be read out in a complementary de-multiplexing process.
Reliable and fast multiplexing and de-multiplexing represent a major bottleneck in linking up the electronic and photonic worlds.
In 1998 researchers in Japan created a data stream as high as 640 Gbps and were able to read it back, but the read-out apparatus relied on long lengths of special optical fibre. This particular approach is somewhat unstable.
The new de-multiplexing device demonstrated at the Technical University of Denmark, by contrast, can handle the high data rate, and can do so in a stable manner.
Furthermore, instead of 50-metre-long fibres, they accomplish their de-multiplexing of the data stream with a waveguide only five cm long, an innovation developed at the Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems, or CUDOS, in Australia.
Another benefit of the new device with the compact size is the potential for integration with other components to create more advanced ultra-fast functional chips. The dynamics involved in the CUDOS device could even allow for still higher data rates approaching terabits/second (Tbps, or trillion bits per second), said a CUDOS release.
Danish scientist Leif K. OxenlÃ¸we, study co-author said that the record speeds of de-multiplexing represented by his tiny glass microchip is a boon to circuit designers and opens the door to faster network speeds. In the near future, the Danish and Australian researchers hope to achieve 1 Tbps Ethernet capability.
These findings were published in Optics Express, the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal.

World - Khan's release regrettable;US

2009-02-07T08:56:00.001+05:30

Washington, Feb 6 (PTI) The US today said Pakistan's disgraced scientist A Q Khan still posed a "serious threat" with regard to nuclear proliferation and expressed regret over his release from house arrest. The US State Department said if the news reports regarding the release of Khan from house arrest is true then it is regrettable.
Khan remains a serious threat with regard to nuclear proliferation, the department said. The US had last month slapped sanctions on Khan, 12 associates and three firms and barred them from doing business with the American government or private companies while pledging to work for squeezing out the entire network.
Khan was put under house arrest in February 2004 after he spoke on state-run PTV about running a proliferation ring that supplied nuclear equipment and know-how to countries like Libya and North Korea. He was pardoned in 2004 by then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and he retracted the confession last year, saying it was made under pressure.

India - Liquor bottles, condoms in temple trust guest house spark row

2009-02-07T08:54:00.002+05:30

Hyderabad, Feb 6 (IANS) A controversy erupted Friday involving Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of famous Tirumala temple, after empty liquor bottles and used condoms were found in the temple trust's guest house here.
The activists of the opposition parties took to the streets demanding immediate sacking of D.K. Adikeshavulu Naidu, the TTD chairman.
They gathered outside the TTD guest house at Himayatnagar here, raising slogans against the ruling Congress party and the TTD chief. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders alleged that the government had hurt the sentiments of Hindus by allowing immoral activities in a sacred place.
Camerapersons of several news channels rushed to the guest house after somebody alerted them about the empty liquor bottles and used condoms on the premises. These were allegedly recovered from a room, in which two activists of the Congress party were staying on a recommendation from Adikeshavulu Naidu. Naidu is also member of parliament from Chittoor.
Angry activists of the opposition parties staged a sit-in and alleged that prostitutes were brought to the guest house.
'This is a very serious issue. This act has hurt the sentiments of Hindus,' said BJP legislator G. Kishan Reddy.
Telugu Desam Party president and Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded stern action against those involved and immediate sacking of the TTD chief.
Interestingly, the incident came to light only a couple of days after Baba Ramdev demanded removal of Adikeshavulu Naidu as the TTD chairman as he was a liquor trader.
'Persons with a clean image and good character should be given the responsibility to manage the affairs of the sacred temple,' Ramdev said during a yoga camp here.
Adikesavulu Naidu was suspended from the TDP last year after he defied the party whip and voted in favour of Congress-led UPA government at the centre during a trust vote in parliament. He later joined the Congress party, which rewarded him with the post of the TTD chairman.
The TTD manages the affairs of Lord Venkateshwara temple, the famous and richest temple in India. Over 60,000 devotees daily visit the temple, located atop Tirumala Hills.

Health - Cell phone use linked to brain tumours: Russian scientist

2009-02-07T08:54:00.001+05:30

Moscow, Feb 6 (RIA Novosti) A leading Russian scientist has said, citing a Swedish study, that the use of cell phones from an early age could lead to brain tumours.
'We have a very cautious attitude as regards children, our future generation. There is data suggesting that brain tumours could develop,' Yury Grigoryev, a leading scientist at the Burnazyan medical biophysical centre said Thursday.
Grigoryev cited Swedish research data, which he said showed that if a child uses a cell phone from 8 to 12 years, then the risk of developing a brain tumour by the age of 21 increases fivefold.
He also said that every person in Russia is subject to electromagnetic radiation from cellular base stations. He said people use mobile phones too often, which means the dose of radiation they get is comparable to that received by workers whose profession involves dealing with radiolocation equipment and transmitters.
Grigoryev said there is as yet no reliable Russian research proving cell phones are harmful to health. However, he said that according to the World Health Organisation, Alzheimer's disease, depression and a greater risk of epileptic reactions could be the possible consequences of mobile phone usage.
The head of the medical centre's radiobiology and non-ionizing radiation hygiene lab, Oleg Grigoryev, said that in line with Russian sanitary norms, the use of cell phones is not recommended for minors.
'The brand or price of a cell phone doesn't matter. The dose of radiation is defined by the network operation mode and phone use intensity,' he said.
Oleg Grigoryev also said that a wire or wireless headset would make the distance from a person's head to the phone over 0.5 meters, a distance believed to be safe. He also advised cutting down on calls.

Science - How gut bacteria prevents cancer, inflammatory bowel disease in humans

2009-02-07T08:53:00.001+05:30

Washington, Feb 6 (ANI): In a new study, researchers have found that bacteria present in the gut can release substances that may protect the body against colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health and from the MTT Agrifood Research Institute in Finland showed that bacteria in the human gut convert linoleic acid, a naturally-occurring fat in the diet, into a form called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is absorbed by the gut wall.
Dr John Wallace of the Rowett Research Institute said that there exist different types of CLA, out of which only a few have beneficial effects, and that "good" form of CLA is present in dairy foods such as milk and cheese."
"But eating lots of dairy foods won't necessarily help our gut health as most of the fats are digested in the small intestine before they get to the large intestine, where most of our gut bacteria are found," he said.
The findings indicated that gut bacteria produce several different forms of CLA, most of which are of the "good" kind.
Bit Wallace stressed that more extensive studies are needed, as one subject produced small amounts of a CLA whose effects are much less clear.
Thus, the researchers deduced that if small quantities of dietary linoleic acid could be delivered to the large intestine, the effects on gut health would be generally beneficial in most people.
"The results are of special interest for individuals using anti-obesity treatments that prevent the small intestine from absorbing fats. This means that those fats - including linoleic acid - will pass into the large intestine and the gut bacteria will produce CLA. It has to be the correct CLA, so it is important to understand how individuals produce different CLA. This must depend on which types of bacteria are present," said Wallace.

Entertainment - Drew Barrymore blames tongue piercing for being single

2009-02-07T08:52:00.001+05:30

London, Feb 6 (IANS) Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore says she has been unlucky in love ever since she got her tongue pierced.
The 'Charlie's Angels' star got her tongue pierced after splitting from her ex-boyfriend, comedy actor Justin Long, last summer and now fears potential suitors are turned off by it, reports thesun.co.uk.
'I have had it for nine months, I got it and I have been single ever since. I don't know what the deal is with that,' Barrymore said

Entertainment - Johnny Depp to appear in 'SpongeBob SquarePants'

2009-02-07T08:50:00.000+05:30

London, Feb 6 (IANS) Hollywood star Johnny Depp will do a cameo on the 10th birthday episode of animated TV series 'SpongeBob SquarePants'.
The actor will voice a surf dude called Jack Kahuna Laguna, who gets stranded on a desert island with the characters Bob and Patrick in the feature-length episode to be aired this spring, reports mirror.co.uk.

Entertainment - Aniston dreads turning 40

2009-02-07T08:49:00.000+05:30

London, Feb 6 (IANS) Actress Jennifer Aniston says she has been dreading her upcoming 40th birthday ever since she discovered a grey hair amongst her blonde highlights.
Aniston will touch 40 on Feb 11 and insists she is never normally upset about getting older. But the former 'Friends' star recently admitted that she broke down when she realised her prized locks were beginning to show signs of ageing, reports contactmusic.com.
'I did have a moment over the weekend, my first like 'Huhâ€¦I don't want to (turn 40). I found a really long grey hair and it kind of flipped me out. It's not my first but it's the fact that it was so long,' she said.
'I was like, 'Oh that's been there. How many others are there, and what does that mean?' It actually brought me to tears slightly,' Aniston added

Entertainment - A R Rahman hopes to win at least one Oscar

2009-02-07T08:47:00.002+05:30

London, Feb 6 (PTI) Indian music maestro A R Rahman, who has bagged three Academy Award nominations in two categories for his compositions in 'Slumdog Millionaire', believes he will win at least one Oscar with "God's blessings". "I hope, we get at least one (Oscar).
I cannot wait for the announcement," Rahman was today quoted in The Daily Telegraph as saying. Only two Indians have ever won an Oscar -- costume designer Bhanu Athaiya for Gandhi (1982) and renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray who received a lifetime achievement award in 1992.
However, with three Academy Award nominations this year for Slumdog Millionaire - one for overall score and for two songs - the Chennai-based composer looks likely to be the third, the report said. He is also up for the Best Music award at Sunday night's Baftas.
"We've been waiting for this for 80 years," said Rahman. "I believe that whatever comes at a particular time is a blessing from God," he said.
While Rahman first came to the attention of Western audiences with his film music for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and stage shows Bombay Dreams and The Lord of the Rings, his already stellar profile will go into overdrive should be win the Oscar on Feb 22. PTI.

India - Nutrition labelling a must from March 19

2009-02-07T08:47:00.001+05:30

Bringing India in line with the developed world, all processed food made or sold in India will have to carry nutritional labelling from March 19, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Wednesday. "Apart from a list of ingredients and the weight, it will become mandatory to list nutrition information, including total calories (energy value), amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fat, sodium (salt), sugars, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Labels will also have to list the amount of trans fat," said Ramadoss at a conference. Artery-clogging trans fats are used extensively in processed food to extend shelf life and preserve flavour.
Health secretary Naresh Dayal said the food-processing industry has had time to conform to the new packaging requirements. "The manufacturers were given six months to comply with the new labelling requirements, as required by WTO regulations.
The six-month deadline gets over on March 19, so manufacturers have to comply by March 19," Dayal told Hindustan Times.

Sport - Cricket;England fight back after Gayle and Sarwan tons

2009-02-07T08:46:00.001+05:30

West Indies had a lead of 34 runs with three first-innings wickets in hand against England at the close of the third day of the first test at Sabina Park, a day when neither side was able to get the upper hand.
Just 192 runs were scored as West Indies moved to 352 for seven.
The hosts had hoped to create an imposing total from the impressive foundations built by centurions Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan in their 202-run partnership for the second wicket.
But England, thanks to three wickets from seamer Stuart Broad, made the home side work for every run.

Sport - Cricket;Pakistan to host Australia ODI series in UAE

2009-02-07T08:45:00.000+05:30

Karachi, Feb 6 (IANS) Pakistan will host Australia in a one-day series from April 24 to May 7 at neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the PCB said here Friday.
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told reporters on his return from Australia that the series has been moved away from Pakistan to offshore venues - Abu Dhabi and Dubai - because of security reasons.
'Pakistan will play the five-match one-day series against Australia in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,' Butt said.
The PCB chief said the decision was taken after the Aussies raised security concerns about touring Pakistan.
According to the schedule, the first two matches will be played in Dubai followed by the next three ODIs in Abu Dhabi. The two teams will then return to Dubai for the Twenty20 international.
Butt also revealed that Pakistan may be forced to play a home Test series against Australia in England because of security reasons.
'If Australia do not play the Tests in Pakistan, there is a possibility of playing the Test series in England,' said Butt who added that the PCB has carried out negotiations with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) about hosting its matches in England.
Australia refused to tour Pakistan in 2008 because of safety fears but later agreed to tour the country in 2009 for one-dayers and 2010 for Tests. However, in spite of repeated requests from the PCB, the Aussies declined the invitation to tour Pakistan.
Butt said Cricket Australia has no problems in sending its team to Pakistan but acted on the advise of its government. 'The Australian government believes that since its soldiers are fighting in (neighboring) Afghanistan, their cricketers might be at risk in Pakistan,' said Butt.

Sport - Cricket;Clarke's Lara theme affecting Oz team unity

2009-02-07T08:24:00.000+05:30

Melbourne, Feb.6 (ANI): Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke's desire to spend as much time as possible with his fiancee Lara Bingle is creating heart burn within the team, and rumor mills are agog with reports of him engaged in scraps with mates over the issue.
Reports suggest that so deep are the fissures within the squad; that questions are now being asked whether Clarke is up to the job of leading the side, a position that he has been wanting for most of his cricketing life.
According to Daily Telegraph and Fox Sports, his altercation with opener Simon Katich in the SCG dressing room, reported on the back of today's newspaper, is the latest incident that questions his credentials for the job.
It came after he gave teammates the hurry-up during the rendition of Under The Southern Cross I Stand. He had an appointment he wanted to keep with Bingle.
The Australian team is fracturing because of ongoing catfights among wives and girlfriends. A blue between wives and girlfriends on the 2005 Ashes tour splintered team harmony, the unspoken undercurrent to Australia's stunning series loss.
In India this summer, a tour when Australia needed its vice-captain to get in and help pull the team up, rumblings instead went around about Clarke's absence. He was having prolonged breakfasts and lunches with Bingle. He spent the night at the Allan Border Medal kissing Bingle like a love struck teenager.
His distraction highlights his immaturity for the captaincy job, and the fact it is coming at the cost of performance exacerbates it.
So his disrespect for team protocol following the SCG Test, to hurry up the celebration so that he could leave and join his girlfriend, has angered many.
It destroys the dressing room culture that has been so vital to Australia's ethos.
As every recent player is not allowed to forget, it was on the back of this restoration in pride - Under The Southern Cross I Stand - that Australia rebuilt itself from the horror years of the 1980s.
Clarke is media-savvy, with the cool looks and the hot girlfriend, the tattoos, the slick image and flash car. Together, the package is near perfect for the job.
Former Test captains are openly appalled by Clarke's desire for Ricky Ponting's job. They believe it is disloyal to Ponting, some even believing he should be sacked as vice-captain because of it.
After a particularly long day in the field against South Africa in Melbourne, for instance, he was asked why Australia didn't bowl Katich.
"Ask the captain," he said, "I don't make the bowling changes."
A weak-willed response, it was seen by former greats as a deliberate affront to Ponting.
Little instances all, together they suggest Clarke has not shown he is ready for the role.
Still enough remains of the guy who was in a dust-up at Northies, with former Parramatta halfback Tim Smith, to cause concern.
The guy who labelled West Indian Chris Gayle a "second-class citizen", which had enough racial undertones to provoke Gayle to action. They had to be separated.
In the Australian culture, the Test captaincy is second only in esteem to the office of Prime Minister.ome put it above that, and not because it pays better.
Clarke is the boy most likely, there's no doubt.
But as Australia faces a sensitive decision as to wives and girlfriends for the upcoming Ashes tour, it might finally be time for him to lead the way. (ANI)

Mktg - Film Marketing;Reeling them in

2009-02-06T19:25:00.000+05:30

Meera Mohanty
It isn’t that farfetched to expect two versions of Shah Rukh Khan’s next release. In one he would play a Tag Heuer-sporting NASA scientist, meet girl, woo her over Diet Pepsis, flex a few muscles and sing a few songs. In the other he̵ 7;d play a Dish TV dealer, meet the same girl, woo her with Pepsis and Sunfeast biscuits, and flex the same muscles and sing the same songs.
Just possible, considering the increasing importance of marketing in deciding the fate of a film. And in-movie placements are just one aspect. Today, marketing spends can account for almost half of the cost of production of a small movie. The spends are very flexible, but they can even be as much as the movie itself if the producer decides it’s worth ploughing the money back, explains UTV Motion Pictures’ Shikha Kapoor.
Because a steady stream of releases has freed exhibitors from running half-empty halls, dwindling performances can be replaced with newer releases. “Movies have become extremely perishable,” explains Big Pictures COO Mahesh Ramanathan. With week after week of films for the exhibitor to choose from, the ability to draw in the crowds in the first weekend has become a crucial determinant of a film’s fate.
“Everyone today understands the importance of owning their films,” says UTV’s Kapoor, pointing to the very media-savvy stars today. They are willing to take part in media interactions, cast engagements and road trips. Thus is explained the stripping of Aamir Khan, the clinical documentation of flab to pectorals, and his generous billboard appearances in the bizarre Ghajini haircut. It certainly paid off, says Nitin Sood, Chief Financial Officer, PVR, with due respect to the contents of the movie. The movie was the biggest hit in recent months.
Marketing has also become very sophisticated. The earlier approach, the noisy marketing that bombarded audiences with television and print ads, is passé, says Ramanathan.
In a fragmented environment it’s difficult to capture audience mindshare for a film. “It calls for marketing campaigns in which movies are treated as a consumer product; it’s marketing carried out once audience profile and message has been fine tuned,” he says.
Producers are micro-engaging. DevD, UTV’s modern-day version of Devdas, launched a line of tattoos in Mumbai’s Al’s tattoo parlour, and a ‘Lustline’ has been opened for callers who can talk to key actors in the urban interpretation of Devdas. The initiatives are targeted at its key audience, the urban youth.
The plans are different for the highly awaited Delhi 6, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, which has a more pan-Indian appeal, says UTV. A caravan will take stars to 10-15 cities across the country, including Indore, Surat and Nagpur. A mela, recreating the gullies of Old Delhi, is being planned for Bangalore and Kolkata.
For its latest release Luck by Chance, Big Pictures arranged programming alliances, now a norm. Stars made appearances on Oye! It’s Friday, the talk show on NDTV Imagine (hosted by lead actor Farhan Aktar himself) and at the grand finale of the singing contest show SaReGaMaPa.
Big Pictures is leveraging Reliance ADAG’s other entertainment businesses such as Big Adda, Zapak (with a microsite) and Big Flicks (with ground promotions at its stores) as well as rolling out online promotions on portals such as Yahoo!, Rediff, and Google. The movie opens across 900 screens and is believed to have had a marketing support of about Rs 8 crore.
It all starts at the script level, where audience, message and brands, and how effectively and smoothly they fit are worked out. Traditional FMCG products are now also on board. Brand alliances also amplify the noise of the film, says Kapoor. For its movie Fashion, UTV tied up with RPG Cellular, Kimaya and Sunsilk. Both Kimaya and Sunsilk launched a range after the film.
Lead actors Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut walked the ramp for Sunsilk at Lakme Fashion Week, helping buzz reach peak at the time of launch.
A Vogue photo shoot was roped into the storyline; Priyanka Chopra had already featured on the magazine’s cover by the time the film released.
As brand endorsers stars can extend the association. Samsung launched special Ghajini-model handsets and Tata Sky ran a continuous feature on how Aamir Khan (its brand ambassador) worked to get the Ghajini look and hosted an interactive quiz.
While it’s one thing to build expectations, it’s quite another to oversell; that can be detrimental. A case in point is Drona. Marketing is to raise expectations to the exact level that will eventually be met by the movie.
Some films do well for themselves by word of mouth. For example, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! which picked up pace purely on its own merit. Almost by itself, with some backing from marketing. UTV says it knew the movie would be talked about and decided to push the movie just around the time of release rather then weeks in advance.
Producers are counting on paid previews/premiers. It’s a new phenomenon; Chandni Chowk to China had them, and Luck By Chance ran a “paid preview” before its release.
The Hollywood studios’ foray into Hindi movies has demonstrated how the big studios do the marketing. But the hype only did that much for the movies Saawariya (Sony) and Chandni Chowk to China (Warner). Eventually it’s all about the content.
Appreciate, however, that theatrical revenues contribute to only half of a producer’s earnings. TV broadcast rights, international territories, musical rights and brand associations make up for the rest.
You may no longer hear of a 100-day-run for a Hindi movie. At a time when life cycles are counted in days and not weeks, Rock On! ran for 75 days, points out Ramanathan. However, a 50-day- and 100-day-milestones are still important in establishing a film’s success in the Tamil film industry.
UTV, Fox Studios, and Big Pictures have all announced projects in Tamil. It’s both a sentimental and a commercial landmark since they release with fewer prints. Today, while weekend collections can contribute about 50-60 per cent of a movie’s revenues, they make up for 30-40 per cent of that of a Tamil movie. But this could change soon, says Swaroop Reddy, Director, Sathyam Cinemas.
At multiplexes, movies go from 10-12 shows a day in the first week to four in the second. The payout, or share of theatre’s tickets sales, to a producer also reduces week-on-week, explains Reddy. Sathyam often works with the presenter to market the movie. A movie lives by its content, says Reddy.
Slowdown or no slowdown, filmmakers believe nothing will keep audiences away from an essentially good movie.
With a few exceptions, last year hasn’t been good. “The silver lining is that there is a slate of projects. But four bad films, and an audience will get cautious about the fifth,” says Sood.
Things will have to be done differently in 2009 when money will be tighter for both film makers and film viewers. UTV sees the marketing window of 60- 45 days coming down to 35 days before the release. “People may be choosy at best, but they won’t give up on films. But a bad film stands to be completely wiped out,” says Ramanathan.

Lifestyle - How women are handling recession

2009-02-06T19:24:00.001+05:30

Ramesh Menon

How long will this recession last, is the question everyone asks. Experts say the worst is yet to come! This has ignited a lot of concern among working women, many of whom are seeing a downturn in their workplaces. Unchartered territory for most people, women are learning to negotiate it the hard way by tweaking their expenses and altering their lifestyle like never before.
India is one of the countries relatively less affected by the global economic crisis but millions of families here have acted quickly to slice their spending habits. Of course, leading the new conservative trend are women who are, more often than not, responsible for managing home finance. Many are putting on hold all spending that can wait.
In the new scenario, women are counselling paranoid husbands to be more cautious of new ventures. They are largely investing family money in good old bank deposits that are more dependable and putting off expensive vacation plans.
Many are also trimming family spending by cutting down on entertainment, eating out and buying new clothes, and using fuel and electricity cautiously. Says Delhi-based Sridevi Sunderajan, 46, a public relations executive with an international NGO, “With recession and jobs cuts, there is uncertainty about the immediate future. I have put a stop on any big buys. I had planned the renovation of my house, which is long pending and for which I have already saved up, but now I would rather wait. I am doing an audit of my family’s expenditure to see where I can cut costs. I now look for cheaper options everywhere, though we are just a family of two.”Salary worries
Suddenly, the Indian middle class dream seems to have become just that, a dream. Every year, employees wait eagerly for their annual increments. Things are different this year. In fact, from small enterprises to the big guys, salary cuts are now the norm. Recently, a television channel’s head wrote to employees saying that the top management had agreed to take a 20 per cent cut in salary. The inference: soon they too would have to follow suit.
Another effect of the crisis has been that women haven’t got carried away with the year-end sales — something that is usually the highlight of the festive season and the New Year. Financial discipline is a concept that many more are diligently following as they prepare for tough days ahead.
Rajni Pradhan, 27, Senior Manager, Knight Frank, real estate consultants in Pune, has started using her landline more than the cell phone. She has cut down on eating out, socialising, let go of the cook, got her husband to call his business associates home for dinner instead of entertaining them in restaurants, and so on. Her husband, Alok, had three mobile phones, two of which he hardly ever used but got billed for every month. Rajni has got rid of those two.
“It was not easy asking the cook to leave as it put additional burden on me, but we all have to learn to cope,” she says. It is not just at home that she is battling the recession. At work, she ensures that computers are switched off when not in use. She has also taken on new job roles to hone her skills and, more importantly, to keep the spectre of the pink slip at bay. Then there are the other small switchovers; when she travels on work to Mumbai, she hops on to a bus or a train instead of the more convenient taxi.
Sulina Menon, 44, a media and brand consultant in New Delhi, is upset seeing so many of her friends losing their jobs, as downscaling takes place. She knows that it is only a matter of time before she too gets affected. As a freelancer, projects will be fewer and far-between in the months to come. “All of us will have to tighten our belts,” she warns.Consumer survey
The Nielsen Online Global Consumer Survey, conducted by Nielsen Consumer Research a few months ago in the US on 28,663 Internet users, showed that only 11 per cent of women felt that there would be an end to recession soon, as compared with 27 per cent of men. There has been no similar survey in India, but the situation here is no different. Women appear to be more concerned and anxious than men.
Another recent study by Cambridge University suggested that if there were more women in positions of power, the global financial crisis might have been less severe. Dr Gita Piramal, author of Managing Radical Change, would agree: “Thinking things through, being authentic, ready to get your hands dirty and get down to the frontline yourself, being nurturing and supportive, these are traditionally a woman’s traits but they rise to the fore in a crisis situation.”
Women are heralding subtle lifestyle changes and know that a salary cut is not far away. There is, however, no unnecessary panic. They know that all it takes to control a money crisis is to increase financial discipline, consult experts before making investment plans and upgrade skills so that they do not become redundant in the office.
Some like Sridevi are even exploiting the recession, making smart investments right now. She could not get any blue-chip company shares during the boom, so now she is getting her husband to research on what to buy as the prices are low.

Mktg - Seeking more bang for the buck

2009-02-06T19:23:00.001+05:30

Purvita Chatterjee
Recently Jaideep Bhattacharya, Chief Marketing Officer, UTI AMC decided to use the services of the 5,000-odd dabbawalas in Mumbai to sell his new Wealth Builder Fund. The slowdown in his industry has led to ad budgets getting slashed. Using this below-the-line (BTL) activity was thought to be a surefire way to touch potential customers rather than invest in fragmented mass media to do the same. Using the dabbawalas as ‘relationship managers’, Bhattacharya believes, will serve as a direct marketing tool for the launch of the new mutual fund.
“The dabbawalas would be wearing our branded T-shirts and are being trained in how to hand the mutual fund forms to the officegoer to whom he delivers the dabba. We realised in this case that the direct hits through a newspaper ad would be much lower compared to the potential users who would be directly approached through the dabbawalas. There would be a bigger bang for the buck spent through direct marketing,” says Bhattacharya. Using the 5,000-odd dabbawalas serving Mumbai’s officegoers was seen as a less expensive and viable marketing tool.
In spite of being an unorganised segment BTL as an industry is possibly growing faster than ATL (above the line) today and ad agency heads concede this fact. As Subhash Kamath, Managing Partner, BBH, observes: “In spite of being unorganised BTL has been growing faster than ATL. This year it has grown at 25 per cent while ATL has grown between 12 and 15 per cent over last year. For clients mass media has not been the only expenditure. This whole space of activation under BTL ranging from events to promotions has grown much faster.”
In fact, both independent and affiliated BTL agencies belonging to bigger advertising networks have experienced a sudden spurt in their business. “From the conversations that we are having with some prospects, yes, we see quite a few requests for proposals for BTL marketing programmes, to address some of the marketing challenges that brands and clients are facing. There is a caution that clients are demonstrating when committing ATL budgets. But as there is an ongoing need to fuel demand or retain customers, these brands are looking at achieving these goals through focused, phased and targeted measurable BTL activities. It is thus not that the ATL budgets have shifted to BTL, it is more that expenditure on BTL compared to a few months ago in absolute quantum is perhaps increasing, says Rajesh Ghatge, Executive Director & COO, 141 Sercon (a BTL agency for Bates) .
In the case of Arc Worldwide, a marketing services agency affiliated to Leo Burnett, too there has been spurt in business of late. According to C.V. S. Sharma, Senior Vice-President and Director, Arc Worldwide, “There has been a 30 per cent growth compared to last year in the business of the agency. There is definitely a spurt in BTL activity. Most companies, especially in consumer durables using mass media, have increased their spends on areas such as trade marketing channels. The marketing mix is now favouring BTL activities and there is measurability in the ROI in such cases.”
To give some broad trends across industries using BTL, cosmetics and durables brands are doing more of in-shop promotion and activation to induce trials while telecom service providers, education segment, banks, insurance and automobiles are carrying out location-based or segment-based targeted online and offline campaigns. Industries such as automobiles are doing significant CRM (customer relationship management) and loyalty activity to cross sell, up-sell and retain their existing customers to reduce churn and increase per customer realisation while FMCG, durables and IT (consumer products) are investing in and consolidating their channel management and incentive programmes to win in the last mile. Besides, in the case of IT products — telecom and auto companies - investing in comprehensive digital marketing programmes has become more prominent in recent times.
According to Srikant Sastri, Managing Director, Solutions Integrated (servicing the Publicis Groupe agencies), “Clients are gradually realigning their marketing mix to embrace a more integrated strategy which allows them to reach a fragmented audience comprehensively and also to make a greater impact with better experience and interactivity. Marketers across industries and verticals are focusing on experimental and digital media to engage customers more deeply with brands. This, in turn, is enabling them to address individual customer/channel demands and customise their interaction, thus generating specific and result-oriented response from the campaigns.”
At the same time it would be not be fair to compare the effectiveness of BTL over ATL but in times of slowdown in ad spends, the former does help. As Ghatge of 141 Sercon observes, “Both ATL and BTL have different objectives, generally speaking, in terms of relevance. ATL strategy is driven towards awareness and brand building goals, ‘counting your reach’. BTL strategy is driven towards creating relevant brand and product experiences, interaction, engagements, ‘reaching those who count’. When there is a general squeeze on the ad spends, brands may resort to more of BTL as it tends to be measurable and importantly, may give some immediate results. Also, as the programmes are targeted there is lesser wastage.”
Adds Rajesh Menon, Managing Director, Impact Marketing Services, “It would be unfair to directly compare ATL with BTL and there can never really be a trade-off between the two. ATL is a required input in order to build a brand while BTL is primarily used to give that needed push in terms of converting a desire into an actual experience and a purchase. BTL activities are measurable. ATL, unfortunately, cannot be measured.”
New technologies and services are also emerging, such as online video advertising in the BTL space. Jivox, an international company, was recently launched to provide an integrated service that allows an advertiser to create, publish and closely monitor/refine the performance of a video advertisement on the Internet. According to Diaz Nesamoney, Founder & CEO, Jivox, “The slowdown has forced companies to try out new media which cost less. Online videos ads have already been adopted by our clients such as LG, Fiat and Tata Sky who believe in achieving optimum results through such videos.”
Lesser wastage and measurability are probably the two factors which make BTL activation more popular in times of a slowdown. As Sastri of Solutions claims, “A measurable positive response will instantly yield return for the campaign. More than the cut in ad spends, marketing managers are embracing experiential and digital techniques to ensure ROMI (return on marketing investment) and a direct interaction with their customers. When you measure the direct impact of a sustained BTL marketing campaign on your business results, the cost of acquiring/retaining a customer obviously proves to be much more effective.”
The cost of reaching the customer is also not always a consideration in the case of BTL. “The reason for the shift from ATL to activation is not as much to do with lower costs as it is to do with is superior quality of contact. The sheer impact a brand is able to make with the overall lower ticket spend is superior to ATL spends which tend to be inflated,” says Atul S. Nath, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Candid Marketing.
However, for BTL it is measurability of the medium that is working for clients facing a slowdown in the business. “The prime reason for the shift to BTL is because marketers are waking up to the fact that BTL is measurable. With increasing pressures on performance on a monthly/quarterly basis, simply advertising and waiting for a brand to move from the shelf days are over. The need of the hour is a ‘here and now’ approach. And BTL activities provide that ‘here and now’, adds Rajesh Menon of Impact.

Mktg - The Crossword bookstore story

2009-02-06T19:19:00.000+05:30

Prasad Sangameshwaran

In the late-1980 s, a college student threw caution and a destined engineering degree to the winds and landed a job with the Landmark bookstore
in Madras. He thought he would last there for all of three months. But as the line goes ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans’ , and he went on to build one of India’s most successful bookstore chains. In the case of R Sriram, the former founder CEO of Crossword, fact is stranger than the fiction that lines the bookshelves at Crossword. Today, the chain that he helped set up is perhaps India’s biggest book retailer . Before Crossword, there were wellknown bookshops — HigginBothams in Bangalore, Strand in Mumbai, Om in Delhi to name but a few. However none of them had a national presence. The chain was born from the recognition of the fact that like many other categories in those days, even this had plenty of potential. Says Sriram, “Book retailing had served, underserved and unserved customers. We saw a huge opportunity in the underserved and unserved segments.” Today that goal has been achieved and standardisation is one of the biggest reasons for their success. Sivaraman Balakrishnan, marketing head, Crossword points out that today a consumer irrespective of the city that he visits will be treated to the same shopping experience . He says, “Across formats our brand experience of educate, entertain and enlighten are the same.” Back then, though, in a scenario where books were sold through outlets that were tiny and consumers bought them much like they bought medicines at drugstores (going with a prescription), there was a lot of ground to be covered. Attractive display was a far-fetched concept and the only bookstores that gave customers room to free their arms were the ones in five star hotels. To be successful, therefore, a national chain would have to reinvent and remarket the very idea of a bookshop as consumers saw it. Luckily for Sriram, he found a backer for the concept in publishers India Book House putting the seed capital and more importantly give him real estate in the form of their vacant first floor office space in Mumbai at Mahalaxmi. The name was supposed to be Crosswords , because it signifies fun and learning. However legend has it that a numerologist said that the name was unlucky and there was talk of a name change. Sriram though intervened and suggested the dropping of the ‘s’ , and so the name Crossword came into being. The store was launched on August 15 in 1992. In many ways, right from its inception the chain broke the rules. The property was not on the ground floor, not easily accessible, no parking space and was a ‘U’ shaped space with many pillars. The entrepreneurs decided to look at the advantages rather than moan about the deficiencies . It was on the same street that housed iconic Mumbai stores like Amarsons and Benzer and hence likely to attract upmarket shoppers. It was decided that consumers would be treated to unique shopping experience in a shop that was trendy and hip. The bookstore decided to appeal to mothers and children.
It set up dedicated sections for children, a concept that was unheard of in the bookstores that were around. That risk paid off, with children contributing about 35 per cent of sales and 25 per cent of the volumes. The store also took some innovative steps like keeping the children’s section at the farther end of the store. As a result, parents accompanying children would end up viewing the entire range of offerings while taking children to the section . Also introduced was the concept of book reading sessions for kids. The investment has paid off and today the kids section has grown bigger and better . Says Sukanya Kripalu, CEO, Sukanya Consulting, a Mumbai-based brand consultancy, “With other avenues like television and gaming fighting for the child’s attention, there’s a feeling among mothers that reading has got compromised. By addressing concerns like these, the brand has become much more than a bookstore.” It also was the first bookstore to have seating spaces where customers could actually sit and read an entire book with no questions asked — a welcome break from the surreptitious reading at bookstores that customers were used to. To ensure that customers spent more time, Crossword set up a coffee store within the outlet and also provided space for rest-rooms . And on the customer’s bill, it offered a term that surprised many: ‘Books once sold WILL be taken back’ . Over the years more innovations have taken place such as free home delivery, flexible gift vouchers (consumers could get credits on the remaining amount of their gift vouchers) and a thriving loyalty program. As a conscious policy, the store does not offer discounts , other than at the time of its annual sale. It further put its neck out with the ‘Sriram recommends’ (now called Crossword recommends ) section, wherein consumers could buy the book and avail of a refund if they did not like the book, no questions asked. Book reading sessions with authors have now become commonplace inside the store. All this summed up in creating a brand experience that could be solely associated with the brand. Now, with Shoppers Stop owning a majority stake in the chain, it’s now spread across 12 cities with 52 outlets in three formats. So while it does have a national footprint, there is still some distance to go before it can emulate say a Barnes and Noble. “The concept and the execution have been good. The trick is how to bring scale to this model,” says Kripalu. Crossword for its part is innovating on store size to gain further ground. While the flagship store of Crossword in a city is above 12,000 sq ft, brand stores are in the 5,000-7 ,500 sq ft range and corner stores set at gas stations are in the 500-2 ,000 sq ft range. It has also chosen to set up a shopwithin-shop inside Shoppers Stop outlets . Balakrishnan believes that the various formats help the brand get closer to consumers. He points out that a market like Mumbai has 17 Crossword’s , while Pune has 11 stores. Says Balakrishnan, “The formats make Crossword a neighbourhood store.” Market observers however feel that there is still some way to go. They argue that Crossword has to offer more than one flagship store in big markets like Mumbai as the belief is that the brand’s equity among customers shopping at the flagship store might be quite different from others shopping at the suburban outlets. One could also argue that in cities like Kolkata and Chennai, it’s Oxford and Landmark respectively which are the big boys of the bookworld. Either ways it would seem that we are a long way from reading the last word in this book saga

India - Younger India;greying politicians

2009-02-06T19:17:00.000+05:30

What’s common between Kerala’s Chief Minister, Mr V. S. Achutanandan, and the Union Minority Affair’s Minister, Mr A. R. Antulay? Both the politicians created embarrassment for their parties and the common ailment that afflicts them is their age and long stay in politics.
India is the only democracy where there is a stark contrast between the average age profile of the citizens and that of politicians at the helm. While 70 per cent of India’s population is below 40 years of age, 80 per cent of India’s politicians are over 70 years.
Senior politicians in different parties have acquired larger-than-life images, simply because of their length of stay and not for any sacrifices made by them. For fear of losing power, such politicians never allow their junior colleagues to take centre-stage in their own organisations and governments.
Our Constitution makers, guided by the fact that there is no age limit in the Westminster model, did not prescribe an age limit for politicians to hold office. But, by convention all mature democracies have assiduously promoted younger leaders, generally in their early to late forties, in preference to older politicians.
Tony Blair was just 43 when he assumed the office of prime minister in 1997 and Bill Clinton was just 46 when he was elected president of the US in 1992.
These two examples are not exceptions to the rule, but rather the general norm in the West. The US President, Mr Barack Obama, is just 47 and one of the reasons voters elected him is because his rival McCain, at 72, was considered too old for office. Fix retirement age
Notwithstanding public disdain for older politicians, established parties are generally in no mood to select younger people to run for office.
The younger leaders are, in fact, at the mercy of their seniors, for being given any responsibility and, hence, cannot raise their voice against them, even when they may personally endorse the public mood. There is, however, a case for fixing the retirement age for occupying party posts and constitutional positions.
First, a person’s ability to judge and respond quickly degenerates with age. There is also the the overall lack of fitness, higher prevalence of serious diseases relating to heart, kidney, lungs, brain, and so on. In the Indian context, older leaders carry two serious disadvantages.
Leaders, over the years, become more and more greedy and second, they carry a lot of baggage. Greed among Indians is in their DNA, right from the Mahabharata days. Duryodhana preferred fighting a Mahabharata war to parting with just five villages demanded by the Pandavas.
Greed among Indian politicians now manifests in many forms: an octogenarian leader in Haryana starts an entirely family-based party; an ex-Prime Minister remains active only to ensure that his two sons are chief ministers and important position holders in whichever party and government.
In fact, a new race has started within his family to grab public office by his two daughters-in-law. Another nonagenarian leader in the South wants all his children to occupy important public or party offices and for achieving such an objective, he is ready to break the party, which he has done on several occasions.
The situation is even worse, in some of the regional parties, which are tightly controlled by the families at the helm. Memberships of the legislature can be grabbed easily by the patriarch’s children and the real fight is then for ministerial berths in the coalition governments. Time for change
The older leaders choke fresh ideas and from election to election carry the same agenda at heart. This has created a huge gap between what the younger generation wants and what older politicians can deliver.
The biggest problem is for the political parties themselves. All major parties are facing serious problems with senior politicians and do not know how to get rid of them, since they refuse to leave active politics. They keep fighting for pelf and power, mostly for their children and other family members till the last.
A time has come to change the rules of the game in Indian politics for an emerging India, aspiring to become part of the developed world. Indian politicians need to be generous and they should look at role models elsewhere.
Our older leaders should be guided by people such as Nelson Mandela, who voluntarily demitted office of the President in South Africa. He could have easily remained President for life, but instead chose Thabo Mbeki to succeed him.
In the US, the 13th Constitutional amendment set term limits for the offices of the President and governors. This ensures that the leaders are not for life and the same leaders are not hanging around, whenever the party comes back to power. In the UK and other parts of Europe (except Italy), well established conventions have ensured that the defeated leaders do not come back in the next elections. Ditto for Australia, New Zealand and Canada, where sometimes leaders in the leading parties have come and gone at such speed that it is difficult to even remember their names.
Hindu philosophy divides human life span into four t ime periods. A 75-year-old, in his Vanprastha period (last stage) belongs to no one and is expected to devote himself entirely to serving the society. But that rarely happens in Indian politics. A case for age bar
Thus, there is a serious case for the age bar for public offices. But the most important question is who is going to do it. It is unlikely that the Government on its own will introduce an amendment to the Constitution to fix age limits for various offices.
Should the Election Commission take the initiative for amending the relevant provisions for fixing age limits for the party office bearers of recognised parties?
The maximum age limit for holding any office in the party should not be more than 75 years. This will be possible, if simultaneously, there is another amendment for term limits for holding various positions within the parties.
No person should hold office within the party organisation for more than 6-7 years. This will ensure that younger elements within the party get a chance and there is infusion of fresh ideas within the organisation.
The other issue of fixing age limits for offices in the Government could also be taken up before the Supreme Court, which through interpretation of the relevant Constitutional provisions within the framework of equality before law guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution could set age limits. A petition before the apex court is worth trying.
If the Election Commission and Supreme Court could initiate measures on the suggested lines, peoples’ faith in the political process would be restored and the larger public demand to have younger leaders at the helm of affairs may fructify. (The author is a practising advocate and President of an NGO, Innovative Radical Reforms Organisation. http://www.irro.org/. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

Mktg - Critical to get consumption back

2009-02-06T19:16:00.001+05:30

Swetha Kannan
A slowdown is actually good for the economy. But how? The think-tank at the media agency Mudra Communications believes a slump forces an organisation to review itself, get rid of fluff and bring in the much-needed efficiency in operations.
As Madhukar Kamath (Managing Director and CEO), Pradeep Bose (Chief Operating Officer) and Sandeep Vij (Executive Director) get talking on the current economic crisis, more interesting insights emerge.
“A slowdown once in a while is good for any industry. It cleans the company. It’s a great time to take stock of where you are,” says Vij. Whether it is rejigging of businesses, weeding out frills or just finding ways and means to do the job better, it all points to packing in efficiency into the system.
Kamath says it was virtually like a party the last five years for many companies. “Every entrepreneur and company talked of major growth. But the minute you start looking at things closely, you discover pockets that need to be cleaned.”
The advertising industry is also on a cleaning spree. There is certainly no room for under-performers, the three say almost in unison. A market which is on a downturn has to maintain efficiency standards and cannot afford people who fall below par. “It is essential to value people who are good, and ensure people get better. Underperformers are being dispensed with,” says Vij. Having said that, the industry has not shut its doors on talent. This is also a good time for good people. A talented person will certainly be picked up, he adds.
Marketers have reacted differently to the downturn. While some have gone about it making logical cuts in spends, some have illogically slashed their marketing spends. (Measured media spend has dropped by 20 per cent month-on-month from November.)
Mass media being the larger medium has seen the biggest cuts. Pradeep Bose says brand advertising has seen the maximum cut — unless it’s a tactical decision or there is a marketing objective such as a car launch.
Sure, there has been a slowdown, but companies cannot defer what they have started off. Caution and rationalisation apart, marketers also have to spend when there is an absolute need. Capital-intensive projects have to go on. For instance, (Maruti) Zen Estilo had to be launched … Fiat too had to launch Linea. You can’t hold them back, says Kamath.
So it’s irrational to indiscriminately slash ad spends. There is empirical data to suggest that those who invest in advertising in a downturn actually do well. This is the best time to increase one’s share of voice simply because lesser people are advertising.
Says Vij: “Advertisers have to keep advertising. There is nothing beyond the old fashioned truth that if you invest in your brand when times are tough, it will stand you in better stead in the future.”
While some marketers may shy away from visibility, the brave ones are fighting for survival. And the fittest will indeed survive. Bose says finance as a category was the worst affected with everyone cutting spending, but you had the “bravehearts” in the form of public sector companies. Almost every public sector bank upped its ad spends.
Take the case of LIC and Union Bank, which are successful case studies in the downturn — in terms of growth, asset management and deposits, says Kamath. “LIC keeps on investing in brand building. Its recent policy had a mega sale. Union Bank’s third quarter results show an 84 per cent growth.” A stronger value proposition
It’s true that there is a decline in consumption and buying, although not in all categories. People may not go on a fancy holiday and may postpone big purchases. One may hold back on salon visits but not on buying soaps and toothpastes. But overall, the market sentiments are low.
“The feel-good sense is not there. It’s all psychological, everywhere people are concerned. There was an entire generation of people living off on tomorrow’s income. But all that is coming down,” says Kamath.
So marketers will have to dangle a strong value proposition to woo consumers. Explains Vij: “During a downturn, most marketers globally look at investing in today and spend slightly less in brand building that is long term. Marketers have to divert money into stuff which works quicker rather than in the long term. They have to create a competitive edge by showing value. They must launch product categories that are value-endowed. Where people sentiments are low, it is critical to see that consumers get adequate value for the price they are paying. I’m not saying marketers must look at stripped-down products but they must ensure consumers find greater value than before.”
And here is where the role of communication changes to prove a competitive edge. “Advertising now must be competitive, showing differences vis-À-vis competition,” says Vij.
But marketers cannot completely ignore the long-term relationship. Even in a downturn, they must keep investing in the long term, “because whenever life becomes happy and rosy again, they will have to get back into relation building. You cannot completely ignore long-term goals; it’s only a question of how much money will you move from A to B to look at short-term goals.”
Vij says money will also move into the online space. “The expectation globally is that the online space will grow as this medium is critical for product comparisons. Experiential marketing and in-store communication will also grow for evaluation of results and accountability.”
He says it’s going to become a “wonderful game where marketers will try and enhance value proposition and consumers will desire to own that. Marketers will keep ploughing in with value propositions. The day the marketers win the war, the downturn is over. As consumers start spending, you have got back the cycle. So, it’s critical for any economy — whether it’s the US or Indian economy — to get consumption back.”
Recession or slump?
So, right now consumerism is low … there is less money flowing. All right. But is it right to call it an economic ‘recession’ as yet? “One can feel the recession. It’s recession if shutters are down, nobody is in shops, there are lesser cars on the road and everything is on 90 per cent sale. That is recession. India is not in ‘recession’,” argues Kamath, who believes the word has been much abused and over-used.
Vij agrees. He says in the Indian context, it’s just a slowdown. “The rural economy and small towns are least affected by the downturn. Sentiment is almost as normal as before. And India lives in small towns and rural areas. There is buoyancy in the agricultural economy, telecom is booming because small town and rural economy is booming.”
An economy with a 7 per cent growth projection cannot be said to be in recession. “Money flow is the key issue right now. But you must spend your way out of it. You have to just get used to lower rates of growth. That’s all,” sums up Kamath.

Mktg - Unilever's Dilemma;What about the logo?

2009-02-06T19:12:00.000+05:30

What do fans of Persil and Pot Noodle have in common ? It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but the brands’ owner, Unilever, reckons it has the
answer. Last week the FMCG company announced it is to begin featuring its corporate logo in British and Irish consumer ads. Although it has previously done so in Asian and Latin American markets, this marks a change in strategy for the UK. The rationale is to create a ‘halo effect’ across the company’s portfolio. According to a Unilever spokesman, people buying one product from the company are likely to buy other of its brands if they are made aware of the link. Yet the question remains whether it is fair to claim that buyers of brands as diverse as Flora, Dove and Peperami share a number of traits. David Haseler, strategy director at branding agency Smith & Milton, believes it is. “Unilever has more of a focus than was the case 10 to 15 years ago, when it was a much more faceless organisation,” he says. “It will help bring the company together and Unilever might even grow to become a powerful marque of quality, as M&S used to be.” CLARITY OF STRATEGY Unilever is not alone in having hitherto avoided drawing attention to its corporate structure in ads. Procter & Gamble and Mars are among others to have taken this approach . The most successful proponent of the opposite strategy is SC Johnson, which displays its logo and strapline ‘A family company’ when advertising its brands, which include Mr Muscle, Pledge and Glade. Opting for a clear corporate strategy is one of the most important factors when looking to link up brands. In the 90s, for example , Danone decided to align itself more closely with its healthier brands and sold those that did not fit this image, such as beer brand Kronenbourg 1664. Unilever, however, may struggle to promote its brands as sharing a common set of values. This is despite its self-proclaimed focus on vitality, and a ‘mission to meet everyday needs for nutrition, home hygiene and personal care’ . For example, its Dove ‘Campaign for real beauty’ has been labelled hypo-critical since Unilever also owns Lynx, which uses sexist imagery in its ads. Stephen Meade, planning partner at Mc-Cann Erickson, believes Unilever must decide what its corporate logo represents. “If you are going to allow a corporate expression , you had best make sure that the corporate brand means something,” he says. “I’m not convinced that as a totality Unilever is completely consistent.” Another problem, as suffered on numerous occasions by fellow FMCG giant Nestle is that of corporate scandal . Recurring reports that Nestle markets powdered milk over breast milk to Third World countries have led to consumer boycotts of its entire product line-up . Similarly, Unilever is opening itself to the risk that one of its brands, if involved in a PR scandal, may taint the entire portfolio . However, Joe Hale, a consultant at branding specialist Dragon Brands, believes it should be lauded for embracing the public’s desire for corporate transparency . “There is more scrutiny now than ever, and even if Unilever were not doing this, people would still pick away. It’s quite a refreshing move, because it is a positive statement of intent,” he says. Unilever’s initiative is likely to mark the beginning of a long-term process to establish it as a major ‘House of Brands’ in the UK. Whatever its intentions, though, one cannot help but feel it must iron out any corporate discrepancies before expecting consumers to buy into the Unilever brand.

Entertainment - Slumdog Millionaire: Was the buzz enough to pull the crowd?

2009-02-06T19:09:00.000+05:30

Tarana Khan

Article tools sponsored by Slumdog Millionaire, the rags-to-riches story of a boy from the slums of Mumbai, has been picking up armfuls of awards in the US and Canada, and has even been nominated for 10 Oscars. In India too, the movie generated a lot of hype and debate, along with a lot of pride about AR Rahman composing the soundtrack. The film released in India on January 23, much later than its premiere in the US in November 2008. Fox Star Studios (FSS), the distributor for the film in India, claims that the film has earned Rs 13.5 crore in its opening weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). As on February 2, which includes the following weekend, the film’s revenues stood at Rs 21.5 crore. To put things into perspective, a mass movie, such as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi or Ghajini, grosses around Rs 60-70 crore in the opening weekend. However, when it comes to multiplex movies – Slumdog Millionaire is also part of the same genre – Rock On earned revenues of Rs 22 crore in the first three weeks.In fact, Raaz 2, which also opened on the same weekend as Slumdog Millionaire, is estimated to have collected Rs 21 crore in the first weekend. Without comparing it with the rest, it can be said that Slumdog Millionaire has had an average opening. But for one moment, could we say that the movie would have done better—especially after the buzz it generated?
afaqs! spoke to a few industry observers, and marketing experts to find out why the movie was an average grosser, despite the media coverage and word of mouth publicity, it received. A few among them were of the opinion that the movie could not have made it as a mainstream movie as it is more suited to the English-speaking, urban multiplex audience.A similar kind of opinion was voiced by Rensil D'Silva, executive creative director, Meridian, an O&M agency, who has also penned the screenplay of Rang De Basanti and is currently working on his directorial debut. “The film is intrinsically a white man's perspective about India, which is what the Western audiences want to see. But the Indian audience get to see poverty every day, and they live with it,” he says.A source from the Indian film industry reasons that the game show format of Kaun Banega Crorepati, which has been used in the film, has lost its old charm. “Besides, while we are all used to seeing poverty in this country, in the West, the audiences saw an India which they had not seen so closely; for Indians, it was ‘been there-done that’. However, the film distributors seem to be quite satisfied with the movie’s performance. Vijay Singh, chief executive officer of Fox Star Studios, says, “We were aware that the Indian audience prefers Hindi movies over English ones, because Hollywood movies make up only five per cent of the box office. This is why we presented Slumdog Millionaire as a Bollywood movie, though it cannot be compared to a mass movie such as Ghajini,” he says.
Like any other Hollywood movie, Slumdog Millionaire also had two language feeds running in the theatres – English and Hindi. FSS claims that 68 per cent of the box office earnings were contributed by the Hindi feed. The movie was launched with only 351 prints in India, 75 per cent of which were of the Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati. In comparison, Farhan Akhtar's Rock On released with 600 prints worldwide. The Hindi title of the movie was a straight translation of the English one – Slumdog Millionaire to Slumdog Crorepati. Does this make the Hindi title unusual for the Indian audience. Nabeel Abbas, CEO of movie marketing firm, Epigram, says, "A film with an English title comes with some baggage. When two versions of an Indian film shot in the English language are in play - one called Slumdog Millionaire and the dubbed one called Slumdog Crorepati - with dual and combined advertising driving awareness and information like show timings, it creates further confusion.”“I feel that dubbing an English language Indian film adds to this chaos, especially when you have slum kids and game show hosts, whom the nation has seen speaking in Hindi, suddenly start speaking fine English in the original version,” he adds.However, Singh of FSS clarifies, “We didn't want to give it (the Hindi version) a totally different title. For that, we would have had to have separate marketing plans. In small towns, we thought that it would help audiences be clear about which version they wanted to watch.” The biggest marketing promotion for the film was the publicity it got when it received 19 awards and the 10 Oscar nominations. However, the coverage was mostly via the Western media, until the premiere of the film was held in Mumbai on January 22. Also, whether that buzz reached small-town India is debatable. According to Singh, the film was promoted in India through TV promotions, print ads and OOH. Harish Bijoor, a prominent marketing consultant, says about the promotion of the film, “The film has certainly done well among the SEC A crowd, who was really the TG. But it hasn't been marketed as well to the rest of the Hindi film audience. Also, the middle and lower socio-economic classes do not really want to see such a realistic film, because they go to the theatres to be entertained.” Bijoor adds that it is not enough to have a single promotion for the film. It should showcase the variety in the plot, because people go to watch films for different reasons. “There are aspects of cruelty, romance and triumph in the film, but that kind of verticalisation was not seen in the promos,” he says. Another analyst says that a film deserves a certain amount of “content showcasing” and that “the heart of the film was not fleshed out in the campaign”, adding that it is the Western audiences who saw the story of triumph in the film. The soundtrack of the film, which received great reviews, was also not promoted as strongly. The audio album did not see a high-profile launch, which is usually done six to eight weeks before the release of a Hindi film. Another crucial factor affected the outcome of Slumdog Millionaire at the Indian box office. Since the film was released in India three months after its US release, pirated DVDs and illegal downloads were rampant in the Indian market. "There were a lot of people who couldn't wait to see the original film. As the campaign peaked early, with pirated DVDs available and the film not in play in cinemas, it worked against the film's Indian box office. When you peak a campaign, you should be able to sell tickets too," adds Abbas. Responding to why there was such a long gap, Singh says, “It was a conscious decision to go for a deferred release. We released the film worldwide once we established its credentials in the US.” But Singh admits that piracy is bound to happen and that it may have had an impact on the collections of the English version of the movie. Though the film has done reasonably well in India, one does wonder if it could have done better as a ‘mass’ movie, made in Hindi by a Bollywood director, and of course with a pure Hindi title (not a translated one). What do you think?

Mktg - Piyush Pandey on Ideas

2009-02-06T19:07:00.000+05:30

Ideas are everywhere, they are omnipresent but it takes practice to develop an idea. Anybody can get a good idea but whether it’s a big idea is not
known. A good idea is like a diamond, which has to be polished continuously , to give it the right shine and to make it shine from every angle. When the idea goes out there, it should look its best, just like the diamond looks its best in the showroom and to make an idea the best is a challenge. When someone is suggesting an idea, hear it patiently and attentively — never confuse him or the idea he has maybe lost. Hear the idea as it is, nurture it and something that appeared like a good idea in the beginning with the right amount of polishing could become a big idea. Respect every idea, shape the idea, implement it and choose a way of expressing it in a way that shows it in the best light. It is very important to encourage people, because only when a person is unafraid to think of ideas will he dream big. If there is lack of encouragement, then young people may fear voicing their ideas and the fear of unknown may result in many ideas not seeing the light of day. When I was young I was encouraged to come up with ideas and as far as possible those ideas were kept intact. That motivated me to come up with more and better idea each time. The world is full of ideas, they are everywhere. I see a guy with a PSP on the road, it was an idea which has taken this form today; mobile phones, iPods, the internet are all big ideas. They probably started as a germ of an idea in somebody’s head, someone pursued it, improved upon it and now it is in front of us in its best form. If it wasn’t for ideas then life would have been the same over the centuries. We would still have been living like the people back in the 14th century. Atleast right now we have no fear of expressing our ideas, but people in the past would get killed or butchered for their ideas. There is no such fear now. I cannot point out a single favourite idea, I like so many of them. I am sitting in a car now, so I like Henry Ford and his idea of the car, when I am in a plane I like Wright Brothers’ idea of an airplane. Good ideas are everywhere, they just need to be spotted and polished to make it a great.

Business - India;Retailers continue to see liquidity pressure: Fitch

2009-02-06T18:57:00.000+05:30

Indian retailers would continue to see liquidity pressure in 2009 due to slowing sales, margin pressure and poor economic conditions, Fitch Ratings said today.

‘’Slowing sales resulting in lower inventory turnover and increasing working capital requirements have resulted in liquidity pressure for many domestic retailers,’’ said Fitch in a release.
The rating agency blames the economic slowdown for the continuing financial woes of the retailers. “‘Retailers are facing the heat of high leverage and already stretched balance sheets, due to the combination of a debt-led capex and capitalised lease rentals,’’ it said.
In a bid to tap the big opportunity in organised retail, corporates such as Aditya Birla group, Reliance Industries among others have entered into the retail sector and opened hundreds of stores across the country in the last 2-3 years. Organised retail, which currently accounts for around 5 per cent of the estimated $350-billion Indian retail market, is expected to expand its share to 14-18 per cent of the total market by 2015, says a McKinsey report.
Food and grocery retailer Subhiksha, which runs nearly 1,600 stores, recently said its operations were at a standstill due to shortage of liquidity. Subhiksha said it was working with the financial stakeholders, lenders and investors to inject liquidity and get the company back on track.
Fitch expects the liquidity pressure to continue as inventory levels are expected to increase. “New stores will generate good run rates only after 12 to 15 months and sales will remain slow at the existing stores,” it said.
India’s largest listed retailer Pantaloon Retail’s same store growth in December fell 4 per cent in the value segment, followed by 14 per cent drop in lifestyle retail segment and slipped 10 per cent in home retail. These are the highest drops in same store growth in December in the last four years.
“Across the board, we are seeing lower numbers in same store growth than last year. Overall, there is a pressure on consumption which is impacting retailers,’’ said Priyamvada Balaji, an analyst with Fitch in a teleconference.
Fitch expects retailers’ free cash flows to remain negative during the current year, which coupled with large short-term debt maturities could also expose them to refinancing risks.

Mktg - Nestle seeks consumers design advice

2009-02-06T18:55:00.000+05:30

Kenneth Hein

NEW YORK Who needs a design firm? Apparently not Nestle Confections and Snacks. The candy maker is asking consumers to pick the latest packaging for its Goobers, Sno-Caps and Oh Henry! brands. To come up with the finalists it used the Web-based shop MarketSplash by HP.Participants are invited to go to Adeliciousdilemma.com to vote through March 6. For their trouble they are entered to win one of five $100 candy prize packs. Online marketing including a YouTube video supports.The brand package redesign that receives the most votes will be on shelves by year’s end.The Hewlett-Packard Company is piggybacking on the contest to launch its MarketSplash by HP services for small business. The promotion communicates the service's marketing message “that professional design services that meet the standards of a big businesses are now accessible and affordable to small businesses,” per a statement. The company has partnered with Staples to offer users same-day pick up for products ordered. First time customers get 100 free business cards for trying the service.

Mktg - Kellogg Won't Renew Phelps' Contract

2009-02-06T18:54:00.000+05:30

Elaine Wong

Brandweek NEW YORK On the heels of Michael Phelps' now famous bong hit photo, Kellogg has decided not to renew its contract with the Olympian after a six-month stint.The company confirmed the decision via e-mail late Thursday: “Michael’s most recent behavior is not consistent with the image of Kellogg. His contract expires at the end of February and we have made a decision not to extend his contract,” Kellogg rep Susanne Norwitz wrote.Phelps appeared on special-edition boxes of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies Treats Marshmallow Squares following his winning streak at the Beijing Olympics last year. The Olympic gold medalist has been in the hot seat since news reports about him smoking marijuana first appeared in Sunday’s edition of the News of the World, a British tabloid.Kellogg said the move follows the company’s decision not renew its Olympic Team sponsorship, which ended in December. “We originally built the relationship with Michael, as well as the other Olympic athletes, to support our association with the U.S. Olympic team,” Norwitz said.Speedo and Omega watches have rallied in support of the athlete while others including Subway and AT&T have remained mum.Kevin Adler, founder of Engage Marketing, a sports-marketing firm in Chicago, said Kellogg’s decision comes as no surprise. While others may not have gone public in their stance towards Phelps, it’s imperative that Kellogg do so because after all, the cereal maker is heavily perceived a kids’ brand, he said.“Athletes are brands. That’s the most important umbrella concept we have to understand is if you do something that runs contrary to your brand image, it will affect your ability to monetize that brand image. It really kind of is that simple,” said Adler.While other advertisers may follow suit, Adler said it’s also possible Phelps’ remaining sponsors will keep Phelps-related marketing initiatives under the radar for now, and amp up efforts as 2012 approaches. If anything, history is an indication that “people seem to have a very short memory of transgressions from athletes who perform well on the field of play.”

Mktg - YouTube Viewers Crown Doritos SB Champ

2009-02-06T18:49:00.000+05:30

Brian Morrissey

NEW YORK Sunday's Super Bowl might be nearly forgotten, but advertisers are still mulling the effectiveness of their pricey investments. YouTube has weighed in by crowning Doritos the big winner with the video site's millions of visitors. The Pepsi snack brand had two spots crack the top-five tally in YouTube's Ad Blitz, a special section it created to showcase Super Bowl commercials. The "Free Doritos" commercial took top honors with voters. (YouTube declined to say how many votes it received.) It was also named a favorite 4,700 times by viewers, garnered over 800,000 total site views and drew more than 1,200 comments.

Food - Cracking the coffee shop puzzle

2009-02-06T18:47:00.000+05:30

Anoothi Vishal

Hotel coffee shops tend to be generally overlooked when it comes to serious food talk — even though they contribute about 25 per cent of a hotel’s F&B revenue, second only to banqueting, and ahead of gourmet restaurants. A coffee shop in a hotel in an Indian metro, I understand, may earn anywhere upwards of Rs 3 lakh over a 24-hour cycle. More successful ones go up to earning Rs 5-6 lakh apparently.

But ask diners about their attitudes to these spaces and it is likely to be one of indifference. A hotel coffee shop is, after all, primarily utilitarian — somewhere where you go for a business meeting over quick lunch or coffee, or, for a convenient bite, post-midnight, after you’ve done with heavy duty “cocktails” elsewhere.
There are exceptions, of course. There are some people I know (including myself) who make their holiday bookings based on the lavish breakfasts offered here. And, then, there are places that get popular with local guests for other reasons. A couple of years ago, The Oberoi’s ThreeSixty in Delhi redefined the concept and continues to draw in huge crowds despite the downturn.
Other people have other faves, and many of these lists are likely to feature the Yellow Brick Road at the Taj Ambassador in Delhi for its charm, value-for-money menus and just for old time’s sake. Then, there is Baywatch at the Sheraton in Saket that I’ve always liked for its great emphasis on Indian regional cuisine. The buffets here, at one time, would enable you to sample the specialities of ITC stalwarts like Imtiaz Quereshi and Kulsum Begum.
But there are newer picks too. In Mumbai, a colleague, whose only requirement otherwise is a WiFi connection, is partial to one because of the freshly-ground coffee they offer. Guests can apparently smell and choose their own beans and see the coffee made. In Delhi, 24/7, at the The Lalit is becoming popular because it offers not just a 24x7 food menu but also 24x7 bakery and bar.
To this, I must add the newly redone Café at the Hyatt, New Delhi, now. The hotel had a winner some time ago with its superb The China Kitchen, possibly the best Chinese restaurant in the country today apart from The China House at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai, on similar lines. And now, it has another plus in its coffee shop. I went there last week for a buffet lunch and liked particularly the way the space was broken up to give you various counters or “kitchens” — like island bars, facilitating easy movement —dedicated to things such as salads and desserts, a delicious mezze spread, grills, international cuisine and regional Indian food.
This is an infinitely more informal and interactive arrangement and adding to the sense of “being at home” is the fact that main courses are served in smaller cook-and-serve type of vessels that you may use at home. What I will go back for is the salad bar. Instead of having the usual spread of 4-8 pre-tossed salads that you find on any buffet menu, this one has a chef tossing your greens fresh. The greens are fresh — lettuce and whole baby carrots (tempting enough for one to pick them up and chew a la Karamchand jasoos) and the lot coming from the owners’ organic farm.
Finally, what do people look for in a hotel coffee shop? Here’s a list put together after random conversations with friends, colleagues and frequent travellers:
1. A wider selection of convenient “combos” — pav bhaji, fish and chips.
2. A good view
3. Comfort food, old favourites — remember that Taj innovations, the Bull’s Eye dessert?
4. A hint of novelty by way of frequent food festivals or changes in the décor
5. Interactivity
6. Wireless internet
7. Affordable pricing
That pretty much covers it. Work that out and you’ll have a formula for F&B success in these hard times.

Mktg - Brand Kamasutra

2009-02-06T18:44:00.000+05:30

Kishore Singh

At eight kilos, bound in silk, with paper of a grammage normally reserved for magazine covers, it’s probably the heaviest, lushest book I’ve handled, but while it might be good for building biceps. It’s unlikely to be useful as a pillow book, which many might consider to be its intended purpose.
This, the latest Kama Sutra (The Indian Treatise on Love and Living) with seven-colour printing, a foreword by psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, and text by Sandhya Mulchandani — for both of whom this is not their first Kama Sutra — is among possibly hundreds of Kama Sutras published every year stretching into billions of copies around the world.
Come to think of it, Brand Kama Sutra is possibly India’s oldest, largest and most potent, though perhaps least celebrated, icon: first assembled somewhere in the 4th or the 5th century, not only has it survived over a millennia-and-a-half, it has also withstood the challenge of instant porn-on-the-net, now just as easily available on the mobile. Roli Books, the purveyors of this weighty tome, can claim the privilege of having published at least a dozen-odd earlier versions — a
Kama Sutra his and hers “that alone sold at least a million copies”, says publisher Pramod Kapoor, a KS for women, others labelled Indian erotica, or the art of love. “At any given point in time we have three or four versions in print,” Kapoor says — and considering the translations into different languages these go into, it is hardly surprising that he can claim, “We would have printed several million copies of the Kama Sutra since our first one in 1982.”
Already, the new volume, priced at a steep Rs 12,500 and encased in a ribbon-sealed gift pack, has sold in France (published in French by La Martiniere), Germany (where luxury book publishers Collection Rolf Heyne have taken it on) with English language editions shipped to Russia, Hungary, the Slovak and Czech republics, and Spain. “A book like this is an investment in property for a publishing house,” says Kapoor, “it will keep moving at book fairs.”
This is just one publishing house in India, among dozens that do illustrated books and versions of the Kama Sutra, books that, according to one publisher, “we publish every time we’re running low on funds”.
Seventeen centuries after it was conceived, the Kama Sutra continues to have currency, and whether as a book or a brand, is probably India’s biggest money spinner from that heritage. But does anyone truly understand what it represents?
I decide to do my own little survey, anonymously, naturally, in a market where — hopefully— no one knows me.
Have you heard of the Kama Sutra? I ask a group of middle-aged women at a fruit stall. They pretend not to hear me, I can make out a smothered giggle, then the fruit-seller waves me away. I am disturbing his custom. A young couple at a multiplex window calls me a dirty old man, and when it looks like they might call the police, I move hastily away. My informal survey comes to an end when a boy tells me if I’m looking for condoms, I’ll find them in the chemist shop two lanes away.
Instead, I decide to Google the word and in 0.4 seconds I have a listing of 13,000,000 results, everything I might desire, from prophylactics to the Mira Nair movie starring Rekha that bombed at the box office, from candies to lingerie, from deodorants and aftershaves and balms to a Canadian beer infused with special herbs to enhance sexual pleasure.
If the Kama Sutra has become a dirty word with salacious connotations, it was never quite intended to be that. Indeed, the scholar Vatsyayana, who wrote the treatise, could not have been any more academic about it, or more prosaic. Anyone who has actually read the Kama Sutra will tell you that it’s anything but a sex manual, more actually a compendium of manners that, rather pedantically, guides you on such seemingly banal subjects as “on the arrangements of a house, and household furniture, and daily life of a citizen, his companions, amusements, etc”, or “on the manner of living of a virtuous woman, and her behaviour during the absence of her husband”, or even “on the conduct of the eldest wife towards the other wives of her husband, and the younger wife towards the elder ones”.
That’s not to say there isn’t the stuff that it’s better known for, the most appropriate of which appears now to be “ways of love to be employed with regard to women of different countries”! But mostly, it is for its visual content, a rich mine of erotic miniatures (and yogic poses of mostly impossible contortions) from different schools, that the Kama Sutra is, in fact known.
These date from perhaps the Mughal period on, and indeed, every school of every kingdom would have a rich treasure of such paintings not just as part of its library but also painted in those chambers where men entertained or were entertained by courtesans.
The Kama Sutra, as we know it, was translated from four different versions, or aspects of the Sanskrit originals obtained from Bombay, Benares, Calcutta and Jaipur by the traveller and writer Sir Richard Francis Burton, though it has since come to light that the main work was done by the Indologist Bhagvanlal Indraji under the supervision of civil servant Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot.
This archaic translation was to survive for almost a century before other attempts were made to translate the original — the first by Indra Simha in 1980, another version by Alain Danielou in 1994, and a more thorough one by Sudhir Kakar and Wendy Doniger in 2002, the last, published in 2002 by Oxford University Press, now considered the most comprehensive translation and revisioned update of the Kama Sutra.
Books, magazines and people refer to the Kama Sutra every time there is an attempt to subvert any aspect of public culture that alludes to the sexual or the sensual. Again, and again, and yet again people are wont to ask, “How can this happen in the land of the Kama Sutra and Khajuraho?” The erotic sculptures that form the facades of the temples of Khajuraho have little to do with the Kama Sutra, say experts, but the referencing to them as how-to-do-it sex guides can aggravate modern scholars.
“The Kama Sutra is neither exclusively a sex manual nor, as also commonly believed, a sacred or religious work. It is certainly not a tantric text,” writes Indra Simha, and indeed, at its core, it is not unlike a book on, say, architecture, or cooking — made up of rules and observations that are tedious rather than naughty.
“In opening with a discussion on the three aims of ancient Hindu life — dharma, artha and kama — Vatsyayana’s purpose is to set kama, or enjoyment of the senses, in context. Thus dharma or virtuous iving is the highest aim, artha, the amassing of wealth is next, and kama is the least of the three,” she observes.
Kakar refers to it as a “comprehensive guide to living an erotic life in all its fullness”, alluding therefore to it the dullness of self-help management books and theories. Mulchandani too agrees that the Kama Sutra does not deal in prurience or, indeed, with “furtive sex in dark, secluded corners”.
When Kakar writes that “the woman’s thoughts on such subjects as how to get a lover, how to get rid of him, or how to tell when he is cooling towards her, ring as true in the twenty-first century as in the fourth”, he might be referring to the contents of Cosmopolitan magazine.
Durable brand though it might be, the Kama Sutra has connotations that do not allow extensions easily, even in a society that might be seen as fairly liberal by the standards of medieval India. “You can’t have a breakfast cereal called Kama Sutra,” a graphic designer says, “or indeed anything that cannot be associated with love, or lust, or a similar emotion.” Incense sticks, wine perhaps, mood music, food festivals of an aphrodisiacal nature based on their contents, “but almost nothing else translates into the use of that name” explains the designer.
On a night, returning from a late dinner, I tell a friend who is looking for an opportunity to turn into a business entrepreneur that the Kama Sutra is the cash cow for publishers wanting to peddle exotica art books — all you need is a new spin and design, I say, the very hint of the ancient treatise in the title will do the rest. A few moments pass before she says, “I haven’t seen a gay Kama Sutra yet, that’s what I’ll publish, there are millions of gays out there in the world."
Sitting in my office, checking the 13,000,000 sites my research throws up, I try and track gay references to help my friend. I find erotic fiction, many, many translations, gifts for lovers, comics, lots of short films — all of which I watch in the line of work, though my heart pops into my mouth every time the door to the room opens: it’s one thing to be thorough about research, another thing to be denounced, as earlier by the couple at the cinema hall, as a dirty old man — but find nothing that would help my friend. Which doesn’t mean you can’t write an entirely fictional account anyway — where’s the copyright on the Kama Sutra? — as perhaps have been written by dozens of prurient writers around the world.
But I’m done with research on the net for now. Instead, I’m undergoing some weight-training: I have an eight-kilo Kama Sutra I’m going to wade through next: it’s work, innit?

Lifestyle - Soon, a “BlackBerry” for babies!

2009-02-06T18:40:00.000+05:30

Kids as young as three could soon be able to send text messages just like their parents – all thanks to LeapFrog.
The company has launched a new pint-sized personal digital assistant meat for toddlers.
Unveiled at a toy fair in England, the Text & Learn will land in the United States this summer - and perhaps prove as addictive as the real-life "crackberry" is to adults.
The colourful toy has come as a respite for parents who are constantly pulling their devices out of their kids'' hands - and mouths.
"I would definitely consider getting one for Pete - in the vain hope it would keep him away from my cell, which he thinks is the seventh wonder of the universe," The New York Daily News quoted Katy Hope of Brooklyn, whose son turns 1 this month, as saying.
Recommended for kids of 3 years and up, the gadget is designed to teach spelling and computer skills.
To be priced at 21.99 dollars, the device cannot be connected to the Internet, but allows kids to text, play games and navigate with arrow keys.
"Busy 3-year-olds will love to ''play'' like their parents do," LeapFrog wrote about the toy.
The toy happened to go down well with some parents who thought that the toy looked like a real phone without the risks - like swallowing parts or accidentally calling another country.
"It would disturb me if it were wired, but it sounds like it just looks like a BlackBerry and has some educational value," said mom-of-three Bay Brown of Brooklyn.

Columnists - Rajdeep Sardesai;Easy lies the crown

2009-02-06T18:37:00.000+05:30

In good health, Manmohan Singh was dismissed by his critics as a ‘weak’ Prime Minister. In sickness, he is acknowledged as being indispensable to the ruling UPA. That no single individual has been asked to fill in for the PM as he recovers from a heart surgery may reflect the insecurities of the Congress leadership. But it also does suggest that Singh is now regarded as more than just first among equals. And yet, when in around six weeks time the PM is back on his feet, there is every possibility that the Congress and the UPA will have little time for Manmohan the campaigner in the run-up to general elections 2009.
For some strange reason, the Congress has been reluctant to project the PM as an electoral asset. During the Karnataka elections in May 2008, for example, Singh addressed just one election meeting, that too a closed door one confined to Congress workers in Bangalore. In the November 2008 elections, a few posters did spring up reminding the voter of his important role in piloting the Indo-US nuclear deal. But again, he wasn’t a key campaigner, that role being confined once again to the Rahul-Sonia duo.
Part of the reluctance stems from the PM himself. As a self-confessed “accidental politician”, Singh has been distinctly uncomfortable with the demands of electoral politics. Perhaps, the defeat to Vijay Kumar Malhotra in the one Lok Sabha election still rankles. If middle class South Delhi chose to reject him, then why should he now embrace the challenge of proving himself to be a vote-catching politician?
Someone needs to remind Singh and his party that 2009 is not 1999. He will be entering the Lok Sabha elections as only the second Congressman outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to have completed five years as PM. Even if he has not been formally anointed as the UPA’s prime ministerial choice, he does carry with him the considerable weight of his office. The Congress’s rank and file may remain trapped in dynasty, but the nation is not quite so susceptible. Which is why the much-hyped ‘Rahul era’ must wait its turn.
Moreover, while the soft-spoken Singh may be ill at ease in large public gatherings, elections are more than just about fiery speeches. There is, in fact, reason to believe that the Indian voter, especially in middle class urban areas, is searching for a meritocratic chief executive-like leader who will provide a calming influence, a compass to an uncertain future (witness the rise of Sheila Dikshit). Trapped between a fear of being laid off and the threat of another terror attack, the urban voter is looking for someone who can guarantee a measure of economic and physical security.
This is where Singh as a proven economic reformer has a unique opportunity to reach out to a large and influential constituency, to give them a sense of direction in times of financial worries. This isn’t just about reassuring Indian business, but also about reassuring the aam admi. During the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit three months ago, Singh made an able attempt to chart out a course of action that would sustain an 8 per cent growth rate. Unfortunately, the fine words have not been translated into the clear-headed decisions so desperately needed to energise the economy.
Perhaps Singh hasn’t been given the autonomy a chief executive needs to take the tough decisions. Or maybe he is simply too fatigued to impose his writ on the coalition. If every move — be it insurance FDI, banking reform, pension deregulation, agricultural commodity pricing or public sector divestment — becomes a process of political compromise, then a certain lethargy is bound to filter through. Moreover, how does one explain that critical infrastructure ministries like surface transport, telecom and power are headed by non-performing ministers unless it is simply a case of obliging powerful political interests?
So far, Singh’s seeming lack of a mass base has been held against him. When you are a technocrat politician in a democratic set-up, then there is a certain dependence on the vote-gathering politicians. It also builds a certain diffidence, heightened perhaps in Singh’s case by his genteel, non-combative working style.
And yet, if Singh desires to transform himself into a mass leader, then he could take heart from British PM Gordon Brown. Virtually written off politically a few months ago, Brown is the rising star in a global economic meltdown. At the heart of this turnaround has been Brown’s strategy of bank recapitalisation — having governments provide capital to financial institutions in return for a share in ownership — a bold, imaginative move designed to reinforce public confidence in a faltering economy.
In fact, the parallels between Singh and Brown are uncanny. Both are distinguished former finance ministers. Both inherited economies in a crisis. And both turned them around by making reform their mantra. Both benefited from scholarships and started professional life as academics. Neither Singh nor Brown can be described as natural, charismatic politicians by any stretch of imagination. Both have worked in the shadow of others in public life: Singh was first seen as P.V. Narasimha Rao’s able minister, today he is positioned as Sonia Gandhi’s prime ministerial appointee. For a decade, Brown’s achievements paled under the magnetism of then PM Tony Blair. In a way, both Singh and Brown have almost preferred to be No. 2 men, more comfortable in policy-making positions than being pushed into the cut and thrust of democratic politics. And yet, accidents of history have catapulted them into leading their countries.
It has taken an economic crisis for Britain and the Labour party to truly ‘accept’ the leadership of Brown and see him as an electable politician. The question now is: will the Congress follow suit and have the courage to project the one individual who might just be their trump card this time?
(Rajdeep Sardesai is editor-in-Chief, IBN Network)

Entertainment - Sun TV to launch Tamil comedy channel Adithya from February 8

2009-02-06T18:24:00.001+05:30

Esha Madhavan

South India is set to get a fresh dose of laughter with the launch of Tamil comedy channel, Adithya, from the Sun TV stable. This was announced by the broadcaster in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange on February 5, 2009. Adithya channel is set to go on air on February 8, 2009.
Adithya’s launch comes amid news doing the rounds that Kalaignar TV is planning to launch its comedy channel.
It may be recalled that Sun had launched a 24-hour comedy channel, Comedy Thirai, in September 2008. However, it was aired exclusively on Sun DTH. Whether the new channel would be open for cable TV viewers or only for DTH subscribers, is still not known. The status of Comedy Thirai post the launch of Adithya is also not known.
For the past few years, comedy has been a flourishing genre on Tamil television and Sun has wasted no time is harnessing the potential of the genre further. Sun TV and Kalaignar TV together have a majority market share, and with this new launch, their market share is bound to increase further. With the entry of Zee, along with the recent Star-Jupiter JV, the Tamil television space is all set for some tough competition ahead.
Sun TV seems to have spared no time in reacting to the demands of viewers and updating its channel bouquet.
At the time of filing this report no official from Sun TV was available to comment on the launch of Adithya.

Science - Fat cells help weight reduction

2009-02-06T17:45:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON: Georgia State University researchers have discovered that fat cells in the body work in the same fashion as a thermostat regulates
temperature inside a house—giving feedback to the brain to regulate the process of fat burning. C. Kay Song and Tim Bartness, who conducted this study in collaboration with Gary J. Schwartz of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, say that their work may help advance the scientific understanding of how weight is shed. The researchers found that during the process of burning fat, known as lipolysis, fat cells use sensory nerves to feed information to the brain. The team revealed that they used viruses to trace communications in the nerves of Siberian hamsters, and found that the brain uses part of the nervous system used to regulate body functions, called the sympathetic nervous system, to in turn communicate back to the cells to initiate, continue or stop the fat burning depending upon the information the brain receives from the fat. "The brain can trigger lipid burning by fat cells and through these sensory nerves, the fat cell can give the brain feedback. This is a really important concept in biology, as it can regulate the process of lipolysis much like how a thermostat regulates temperature in your house, using input from the air and output to a furnace or heating unit," Bartness said. "The presence and function of the sensory nerves has been completely ignored and the areas in the brain that receive this sensory information were unknown until we did these studies," he added. When the body has a low amount of a carbohydrate called glycogen, which acts as fuel for lipolysis, the body starts this process to release energy stored in fats. Finally, nerves that are part of the sympathetic nervous system, a chemical called nor epinephrine are released to trigger the breakdown of fat. Bartness says that sensory nerves later inform the brain about the status of the lipolysis, communicating whether too much or too little energy has been released – and the activity of the sympathetic nerves can be adjusted accordingly. "If you're doing a moderate amount of exercise or even if it has been a fairly long interval since you last ate, you will use up all or most of the available glycogen, necessitating the break down fat to yield sufficient energy. But you don't want to break down more than you need. So, this would be a way to stop the sympathetic nervous system from triggering the release of too much lipid energy from fat," he said. According to the researchers, though this communication process is known to play a role in the short-term burning of fat, it has yet to be determined whether this process is involved with the long-term issues of burning fat – important in understanding obesity and why some people burn fat more readily than others. "It could be that sensory nerves have a dual function. In addition to the moment-to-moment lipolysis process, they might also have a longer term function. It's complicated, and it might be a different subset of the sensory nerves performing the long-term monitoring of fat reserves," he said.

Science - Teen brains still budding

2009-02-06T17:44:00.000+05:30

LONDON: Are you clueless as to why your teenage kid ignores home rules? Well, British scientists have got the answer: their brain's ability to adopt
the viewpoint of others is still budding. Dubbed as the theory of mind, the ability to infer another's perspective - emotional, intellectual, or visual -boosts with age. To reach the conclusion, the researchers made kids watch two puppets - Sally and Anne - play with a marble, then put the marble back in a box. Anne "left" and Sally grabbed the marble, played with it, and then returned the marble instead to a bag. Where will Anne first search for the marble, the researchers asked the children as part of the study. "Before four, kids say she's going to look in the bag, but after four they know she has a false belief," New Scientist quoted Iroise Dumontheil, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, UK, who led the new study. However, Dumontheil said, brain scans suggest that a teenage mind toils harder when inferring the outlook of others, compared with adults. And a brain region implicated in theory of mind, the medial prefrontal cortex, continues to develop through adolescence, the scientist added. To see if there is a behavioural consequence of these biological changes, she and colleagues tested children, adolescents, and adults on their ability to infer the spatial perspective of another person in a simple computer game. Volunteers- 179 females ranging in age from 7 to 27 - saw a bookshelf with a variety of different sized balls and other objects on four different rows. Few of the objects sit in front of opaque backgrounds, obscured to someone standing on the other side of the shelf, while some sit in front of a see-through background. Participants were asked to adopt the perspective of a man standing on the other side of the shelf and move the small ball to the left, using a mouse. In a typical test, a golf ball and tennis ball are both visible to the participant, but the golf ball is obscured from the point of view of the observer. The correct response, then, is to move the tennis ball. Kids under the age of 10 moved the wrong ball in about three-quarters of trials. Children aged 10 through 13 scored marginally better, and teens answered wrong on two-thirds of trials. Adults, however, did better than 50-50, on average.

Lifestyle - Unexplored sex destinations

2009-02-06T17:40:00.000+05:30

Monika Rawal

If your bedroom boredom has taken a toll on your sex life, all you need is a drastic, yet quick change. How about changing the place in which

Try these new places to get intimate with your partner. (Getty Images)you are having sex? Forget the boring kitchen or the bathtubs... think bizarre, out-of-the-box! Try out unexplored corners in your house, which you've have never earlier considered as apt places to enjoy a steamy sex session. From your storeroom to the dirty basement that you've never bothered to clean up to the garage that you thought was only meant for car parking – try out off-beat sex destinations and convert them into sensuous love dens. Sex expert Dr. Deepak Arora agrees, "Whenever you experience a change in your life you feel more excited and the same holds true for sexual intimacy. Couples should keep changing the decoration of their rooms like lighting, placement of objects, wall colours, curtains etc to infuse a fresh feel every time they get intimate, as it boosts their sexual pleasure." Sex counselor Dr. Shivi Jaggi supports, "Taking of sex variations, a place can influence a couples' pleasure quotient. Any place outside the stereotypical bedroom will help couples keep alive their sexual fire. The reason why they find hotel rooms more appealing than their bedrooms is for because it's a new pleasure playground that takes their mind away from mundane domesticity and adds a zing of excitement. So, if they pay a little attention and experiment with the decor of certain places within their own homes, they can perform wonders in their sex life." So, the next time you plan an intimate session with your partner, try out these unexplored places within your house and see the heat of passion building like never before... Garage Passion : Everyone loves a wild backseat romp, but it can get even wilder if you try sex in the garage. The dark ambiance and the rusty feel will surely build up the mood for a night of passion. Fun would be at its peak when you play love games of hide and seek behind the parked cars and let your partner look for you and thus build up your sexual mood. Alternately try a sex romp on top of your car. Dr. Jaggi explains, "In a garage, it's the raw energy of the destination that adds to the pleasure and once you're away from the comfort of your bedroom, this crude place is definitely racy and exciting. If you really wish to have a new-fangled change, you can specially design your garage to make it an apt place for sex." Word of caution : Make sure you do not make too much noise by pressing the car horn and disturbing your neighbours as they may interrupt your sexual act. Arty Attic : An attic fills the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, and they are known for being awkwardly shaped spaces with exposed rafters and difficult-to-access corners. So why not make the most of this neglected area in your house? Decorate it in an alluring manner to seduce your partner and during the act, try out new positions in accordance with the structure of the attic. Dr. Arora states, "Due to hectic lifestyles, couples have no time to maintain their attic space. But just devoting a single day to covert it into a lavish area to have sex can turn the heat on. Couples will surely leave their bedroom luxuries behind and have sex on rough surfaces like that of an attic." Word of caution : Since attics bear a slanted roof, ensure that you don't get up much during the sexual act or else you'll end up hurting yourself and spoiling the fun.
Basement Pleasure : While some convert their basements into an office area, others keep it vacant as a partying hall. But think of decking it up in a way to arouse your trigger zones. Try having a set-up that looks completely breath-taking with a spa setting or a club like scene with a pole dancing space. Such creations enable a prolonged foreplay, thus building the mood right for hot sex. Dr. Jaggi adds, "If resources allow, you can get a boring basement area revamped totally and make it an exciting place to enjoy sex with your partner. Right from assortments of scented candles, aroma oils, and sexual paintings to dim lights etc, liven-up this area with everything that act as perfect aphrodisiacs". Word of caution : Don't be too loud with your moaning sounds, as the echoes in an empty basement can wake up the other members in your house. Cosy Corridor : If you thought the corridor was just meant for kids to play during the day and the elderly to relax in the evening, think again! You can make the most of this zone during your moments of pleasure. Think of a converting your otherwise tedious corridor/balcony into a sex inspiring den. Place a cot adorned with satin sheets and scented flowers can act as an add-on. Dr. Arora suggests, "If you're staying on the top floor of a high rise, then the balcony or corridor can be a perfect place to have sex. Remember, you've moved to the balcony because you want to enjoy the fresh air and have sex in an open area, so no curtains are required. Also, ensure there are no surrounding buildings at the same level as your balcony and if there are, then wait for mid-night, so you can enjoy the act in the dark." Word of caution : Ensure that your kids are carefully locked inside their bedroom on that night and do not get to witness your act in open. Beware of peeping tom neighbours. Storeroom Surprises : Imagine how a broken table lying wasted in the storeroom can make for a wonderful base to get intimate with your lover. While in the storeroom, you can try being a little more creative by taking out antique items, sexual pictures, Kamasutra paintings etc and creating an atmosphere to arouse your partner. Dr. Jaggi shares, "Having sex in the storeroom is a welcome change. Having limited space, it usually stimulates sex in standing positions. The little spaces meant for ventilation allow some amount of light to enter the room, so it would be an excellent shift, as far as the surrounding is concerned." Word of caution : Clear the excess dust in the storeroom as it may cause discomfort for either of the partners. Romantic Roof-top : Having sex in the open on your terrace can be awesome, provided you make optimum use of the space. It can be by arranging a candle-lit dinner for your beau or decorating the entire roof-top with flower strands reviving your first-night charm. Dr. Arora opines, "If the rooftop is too high from which noone can see you from the outside, it can be an experience to remember. To make it more arousing, you can have a roof-top garden, which will not only add to the sexual energy, but also let you enjoy the fragrance of the blossoms. The moonlight adds to the ambience." Word of caution : Your roof-top should be as private as your bedroom, so ensure there are not too many roof-tops adjacent to your terrace that may hinder your moments of passion.

Mktg - Coca-Cola India releases new Sprite campaign

2009-02-06T17:38:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI : Coca-Cola India has a launched new campaign in the clear lime segment for its soft drink Sprite based on its old theme, 'Seedhi baat, no bakwaas, clear hai'.
The TVC is slated to go on air by mid of February, on all leading television channels.

Says, Coca-Cola India GM -flavour brands Srinivas Murthy, "Over the years, Sprite, as a brand has become synonymous with having no nonsense, honest and cut-through attitude. Our research has shown that the whole concept of 'Seedhi Baat, No Bakwaas, Clear Hai?!' has worked very well for Sprite, making it India’s largest selling soft drink brand in the clear lime segment."

The youth are the main target audiences of the new campaign, which is based on the theme of 'weeding out pretense and cutting to the chase' an extension of its original theme.
The campaign has been conceptualised by Ogilvy and Mather Delhi creative team headed by Ajay Gahlaut and has been directed by Vinil Matthew of Footcandles Films. It shows a teenage boy who inorder to get friendly with a girl, gets friendly with her parents first and plays with her dog. Against this backdrop, we have the protagonist very nonchalantly cuts to the chase by going up and befriending the girl directly.

The campaign will be further promoted through out-of-home media (OOH) and digital platforms.

Entertainment - MSM president (network sales, licensing & telephony) Rohit Gupta

2009-02-06T17:37:00.000+05:30

2 009 is expected to be a rough year for all in media. Television is no exception. With the stockmarket collapsing and balance sheets getting battered, advertisers have become cautious and the current quarter is expected to be extremely choppy. Multi Screen Media president (network sales, licensing & telephony) Rohit Gupta concedes that clients are consistently assessing the environment and signing quarterly deals as against the annual ones earlier. He, however, is confident that Sony Entertainment will ride through the stormy times on account of the strength of its network.
Indiantelevision.com's Ashwin Pinto caught up with Gupta to find out about what lies ahead, the mood in the market, the importance of tentpole properties etc.
Excerpts:

How was 2008 for Sony in terms of revenues? What growth was managed over 2007?It was a successful year for us. All our channels grew their revenue. Some by 25 per cent, others grew in the range of 10-15 per cent. The other success story was the IPL. We created benchmark rates for Indian cricket before the event had even started.
This year is expected to be challenging with the recession. What impact will this have on Sony and the television industry?As we move forward this year will present challenges. The key one is the meltdown. A client would cut marketing spends but television as a genre will still grow. We believe that television is the cheapest form of advertising in terms of the reach it delivers. TV gives you the best RoI and this is what clients focus on during a slowdown.
Print and outdoor will take a larger hit but television will still grow. A recent report projected a 10 per cent growth which is fair. TV has been growing at 18 per cent over the last few years. While that will not happen this year, there will still be growth.
For the IPL what is the upside being looked at this time around?We have established rates that are in line with what we had decided upon earlier. IPL will be a bigger property this year.
Everybody including the franchisees have more time to prepare. Last time we just had 45 days to prepare. This year the hype will start after the auction ends. We will hold a meeting with the franchisees after 6 February to decide on the course of action to take. Also at the point of time there is no other major property on television.
So you are confident on the financial performance of Sony for the IPL despite the slowdown?Yes! What happens during a slowdown is that the clients' ability to take risks decreases. IPL is a proven property. There is no risk in being associated with it. People will put money on 'sure' properties. The IPL is one of them. Last time the IPL had an 80 per cent reach on Max.
Have deals been closed?Yes! However I cannot divulge any details. Some deals are for both the IPL and the New Zealand series that comes before it. We do not have category exclusivity this time around for spot buys.
This allows us to access more brands. Last time the IPL was not tested. Exclusivity was an incentive that we had to concede. By not giving exclusivity we will ensure that multiple brands can co-exist.

'We will offer more flexible IPL packages'

But won't it be a challenge to get many brands on-board in a difficult climate?You have to understand that cricket's cost rating per rating point (CPRPs) are still holding up. The reach of the channel is key. Max does not have this issue. So we are confident of getting the desired rates.
I don't think that the rates are a problem. The challenge will lie in the outlay that a client puts on IPL. So this time around we will have smaller packages. The number of clients taking spot buys will go up. One does not have to buy all 59 games. A company can buy for ten games at a stretch. There is flexibility.
Has the revenue split within the group changed over the last couple of years?I cannot give any numbers. However our dependence on the large channels is not that high. AXN and Pix are growing substantially. Max is now a very big channel in our network.

What is the clients mood like in general?They are more cautious. They are adopting a quarter by quarter approach. They are not signing large deals for a year which used to be the case. For this quarter ending March, clients are being extra cautious. Companies want to show better results with this being the last quarter. So it will be tough.
The key is to have tentpole properties that can be sold. You need to have a distinctive niche in the market. Clients want more accountability. As a broadcaster you need to be responsive and understand clients' needs. You have to make sure that the client gets value back. Everything is not necessarily about a rate. The question lies in the effectiveness of the media buy.
Apart from IPL what are the other tentpole properties coming up for the group?In March we are launching Operation Dikhla Jaye on Sony. This will be a directors cut where four of Bollywood's top directors will produce shows for us. It will be a 13 week initiative and will be the first time that anybody has tried it in India. These are one hour shows. We have roped in directors like Madhur Bhandarkar, Mahesh Manjrekar, Vikram Bhatt. Then the IPL starts. Post that we will have re-launches of our big shows.
In the GEC space are the new arrivals having any impact? Is the ad pie growing or merely getting sliced further?There has been growth overall. But this year since growth will be restricted there will be some slicing of the pie. The GEC space will see turmoil this year. New players will come in and others will go away. GEC costs are huge and it is a question of who will survive. The like of Star, Sony, Zee will always be around come what may.
New channels will come. They may be on top for a while but the fact is that nobody is on top all the time. Clients also look at networks as opposed to channels per se. They want networks which are strong enough to withstand pressure. They want networks that have the sustaining power to ride over the tough times. Besides that you need big properties which ensure that clients look at you differently.
Each of our channels is in the top four in their respective genre. Sab is number one in the second level GEC tier. Sony has managed to hold on to its share more or less. Other channels have experienced a bigger fall in the GEC space. We may not have many channels but what we have done is to focus on building them.
How has Sony built up its client relationship management efforts over the years?Our focus has always been on giving value back to the client. We were the first to start a client servicing team four years ago. Then other channels started doing this. We work closely with brands to integrate them into our properties. This is how we add value that goes beyond just 10 second spots. Therefore even though there are days when ratings have not been what they should be the clients have supported us. The relationship with clients makes a big difference in terms of your ability to raise rates.
Which categories will be affected in terms of TV advertising due to the slowdown?If you look at it the categories most affected by the meltdown which are real estate and retail these are not big on television. Finance was not as big on television compared with other mediums. Auto companies are shifting budgets from print to television.

Coming back to the cricket front the New Zealand tour is the first time that Sony will air bilateral cricket. How is this event being positioned for viewers and clients?This is a full blown tour. India has not visited New Zealand since 2002. We lost very badly then and so this is a big challenge. There will be anticipation. In fact this is the Indian team's biggest challenge after playing Australia twice recently.
Coming back to the cricket front the New Zealand tour is the first time that Sony will air bilateral cricket. How is this event being positioned for viewers and clients?This is a full blown tour. India has not visited New Zealand since 2002. We lost very badly then and so this is a big challenge. There will be anticipation. In fact this is the Indian team's biggest challenge after playing Australia twice recently.
But isn't the timing an issue as the telecast of the matches is very early in the morning?The timings are good for the T20 Games which start at 11 in the morning. The ODIs start at around 6:30 in the morning. Test matches start earlier but they are not a big revenue contributor compared with the other two formats.
How many sponsors are being looked at?We have clients who are interested in both the New Zealand series and IPL. That would give them visibility from Feb till June. So we are doing special deals for them. Generally we look at six to eight sponsors.

Are you also looking at doing long term deals with clients for IPL?No! We believe that the IPL which is a big opportunity is better served through yearly deals. You have the option to re-look at things.
IPL broadened the viewer base. Has the client base also grown for cricket as a result? Yes! Godrej an FMCG company came on board. They do not associate themselves with cricket. Max New York Life came on board. It worked well for them. It was not the traditional clients that came on board. This year also you can expect to see some surprise companies coming on board. IPL after all changed the way TV viewership happens. It is not just the male TG that tunes in.
Will the IPL be simulcast?No! It will only be on Max. We did that with the Cricket World Cup in 2007 where some matches also aired on Sab. However viewership got disrupted and the channel loses share. Then it is difficult to get viewers back.
When HBO left there was a gap created. Is Pix now starting to fill this gap?Pix has made a lot of progress over the last couple of years. Pix started when there were already established players. Now it is competing. In some weeks it beats HBO. Advertisers have followed this. Pix is making investments in terms of acquisitions. The aim over the next couple of years is that in terms of ad revenues it can reach the level of HBO and Star Movies.
It is pitched as a premium movie channel. It delivers in the 25+ SEC A, B category which is what a lot of marketers target. All the large brands are on it.
How come Pix decided to air soccer with the FA Cup?The audience for it is similar. It is SEC A,B. We decided to offer viewers something new and extra. Matches air on the weekends and so the movie schedule is not disrupted.
The other two major distribution bouquets have two English movie channels - a mass one and a niche one. Isn't Sony at a disadvantage here with just one channel that does not have the latest offerings?It does not affect the advertising side. Channels like MGM (which is in the Star Den bouquet) do not carry ads anyway and it is dependent more on a subscription kind of revenue stream.
What is the roadmap forward for AXN?AXN is doing well and has been growing at 25 per cent CAGR. You will continue to see local content. You will shortly see the AXN Action Awards. Each year you will have three shows produced in India.
Does cost control become important in this environment though?This is an area we always look at. It is something that we are always conscious of and it is not as if this area has suddenly assumed importance. For us it is business as usual. One has to see the returns more carefully though.
On the licensing front how has business grown over the past year?This was small four years back. However we participate more actively in trade fairs like Mipcom and we showcase more content in the form of formats there. Our shows are sold in European markets, the US. We took all our formats to Mipcom. along with other shows like Filmfare, Stardust Awards. The other aspect is the Hindi movie licensing business. We syndicate them wherever we have rights.
Could you shed light on Sony's plans in the new media arena?The telephony side has been slow apart from voting on shows like Indian Idol. However once 3G comes in and bandwith goes up things will change. We already have mobile channels for AXN and Animax in other Asian countries. There is also a lot of potential in doing things for Sony and Max in terms of clips, show recaps etc. So we are ready with content. The technology has to be there.
Finally we are seeing channels advertise on rivals. What is Sony's policy?We do not advertise on competitors nor do we accept ads from them. We accept ads from kids channels, news channels as we do not operate in that space. But you will never see us air ads from a movie channel belonging to a rival network. We are not desperate for revenue.

Mktg - Safety,Kung-Fu style for Bajaj Allianz

2009-02-06T17:33:00.000+05:30

Neha Kalra

Take Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar out of his thrilling action scenes and replace him with a pudgy little man in Chinese clothes. What do you get? You get a Bajaj Allianz television commercial featuring actor Manoj Pahwa, another humorous attempt at driving home a ‘safe’ positioning by the brand.Created by TBWA Mumbai, the commercial aims to position all the plans offered by Bajaj Allianz as ‘safe’ plans. The insurance player offers plans extending across four broad categories – health insurance, pension plans, child education and safe maturity plans (basically, investments with a guarantee period or a guaranteed value). The creative byte
with rotund actor Manoj Pahwa in a Chinese market, savouring a bowl of noodles. He blows a kiss to a Chinese woman watching him. Taking offence, she appears to yell for help. Within seconds, a group of men appear, creating a flurry of activity and finally surrounding him. As they are about to lay their hands on him, Pahwa pulls a lever behind his back. The next shot shows him being pulled up by a harness to the upper floor of a nearby building.A clapboard shot reveals that Pahwa is actually a shooting for a sequence in a film. The people, still chasing him, reach the floor and begin chasing him through narrow corridors. In a typical stunt shot, Pahwa takes a leap from the balcony and jumps onto a trampoline kept ready for him. Towards the end of the commercial, he springs up from the trampoline and, hanging from the harness in the air, does some Kung-Fu action, saying, “Agar safety hai toh sab hero” (Everyone who has safety is a hero). The film closes on a shot of the brand.
Talking about the brief of the film, Rahul Sengupta, national creative director, TBWA India, reveals that the one word brief for the film was ‘safety’. Being quite clear about staying away from the conventional emotional platforms for the category, he tells that as the agency, it presented a couple of options before arriving at the final one.The whole plot is a metaphorical representation of the significance of safety, he explains.But wasn't the humorous skew a risky proposition? Sengupta admits that it definitely was. “If you're going to put up something like this, people are going to take notice. It's sensible to do advertising which is truly advertising and not whispering to each other,” he says firmly.The communication of the 'safety' quotient also may have something to do with the slowdown of the economy. In line with safety, almost every financial brand, especially insurance brands, are aiming to assure consumers in various ways that the respective companies are in good condition and that they need not fear a possibility of losing their investments and earnings.Humour is not newApart from Bajaj Allianz, brands such as Sahara Life Insurance and SBI Life Insurance, too, have adopted humorous stances. Judging by the recall factor of some of these campaigns, it is evident that a breaking away from conventions, coupled with a strong script, pays off sometimes.
This is not the first time that Bajaj Allianz has taken the humorous route. The Ghajini TVC, the boxing TVC featuring Vijendra Singh, and the TVC for Bajaj Allianz Capital Shield are some of the few recent attempts of the brand to tickle the funny bone of the consumer.The Vijendra Singh and the Capital Shield ads have received good responses, with almost 500 SMSes pouring in on the first day of the campaign, reveals Akshay Mehrotra, head, marketing and corporate communications, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.Mehrotra says, “To be clutter breaking, one needs to be different. What more, when the ad is functional and makes people react?”The China Town in Mumbai“Manoj Pahwa was the last guy anybody expected to see doing Akshay Kumar stunts!” exclaims Sengupta of TBWA. A well known actor, he was a perfect choice for a few chuckles and also a casting that Sengupta believes one could rely on.The Chinese set-up was taken into account because such action movies give an altogether different look and feel, and one could draw parallels with actors such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Sengupta adds that with the Chinese twist, it was only an attempt to push the cinematic expression further.While Sengupta would have liked to shoot the film in China, it ended up being shot in Mukesh Mills, Mumbai due to financial constraints. The ‘Chinese’ people who featured in the film came from the China Town of Mumbai, Mazgaon.Creating a Chinese track, with an RD Burman remix to spice it up, was an enjoyable experience. Sengupta recognises this as one of the films that he had a lot of fun executing.Of reviews and more
Rajeev Sharma, national brand planning director, Leo Burnett, feels that the film comes at a relatively early stage of the evolution of the category and views this approach as a little frivolous. However, as the category evolves and becomes more cluttered, the cut-through, too, becomes harder. An approach like this may work during those times.“All it provides is cut-through and has no relevant emotional connect. It lacks motivational pull,” he adds.Shobhit Mathur, associate vice-president and senior creative director, JWT Delhi, says, “Every brand wants to take itself to the 31st second. For sure, humour works in doing so. But does it work in a serious category that involves serious decisions such as money and life? Debatable.”Naresh Gupta, executive vice-president, strategic planning, Publicis India, is confident about the attempt to humour in a financial product such as Bajaj Allianz. “Till the communication conveys what it is supposed to, approach should not be a deterrent,” he says.“You will get noticed for sure. Subsequently, it is purely up to the brand to convert the familiarity into a relationship,” he explains.The collective challenge to Gabbar, Kalia and Sambha in the Sahara Life Insurance ad was an interesting watch for Mathur of JWT. “Besides a smile, it left behind a message of self confidence and introduced the brand in an endearing manner. This commercial for Bajaj Allianz is also based on self confidence emerging from safety but the portrayal of it gives me a sense of déjà vu and somewhere fails to surprise me,” he says.In what seems like a break-free idea for the insurance category, Bajaj Allianz, amongst many others, has taken the humorous route – which surprises many advertisers in the category who have taken the emotional stance in their advertising. Could this make a dent in the always emotional Indians – especially when it comes to something as intimate as insurance? Wouldn't the consumer look for the most reassuring brand rather than the one which they can recall?Sharma of Leo Burnett affirms, “As insurance to the buyer is a serious business, emotionally charged approaches have worked better historically.”He views the insurance category as less about personal safety and more about responsibility. The buyer of such plans is buying it for the people who are dependent on him. “Therefore, showing the protagonist in a situation where his own safety is compromised, however humorously, is misplaced and ignores this basic truth of human nature,” he says.Gupta of Publicis is optimistic about the humour strand. “Personally, I see it as comical and more like Bingo. To see a financial brand doing it in a light hearted way can really make it memorable. Though I am unsure of what impression it will create for the brand.” “The insight is generic and there is nothing wrong in it being generic. But when the insight is generic – the execution should be different. That is where the commercial loses out,” he reiterates.He brings out that internationally, AXA uses humour in a very engaging way. SBI Life has been fairly successful at it. Visa's current campaign, too, is funny and shades of humour have been there in many other financial brands.

Mktg - Tata stirs up responsible brew

2009-02-06T17:10:00.000+05:30

Seema Sindhu

Tata Tea’s Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign is stirring the conscience of young Indians. The campaign, launched in September last year, creates a platform which facilitates citizens’ entry into the electoral process. The website www.jaagore.com hosts a voter registration engine that allows people to fill in voter registration forms online. Almost 250,000 youngsters have registered for voting through the site.The Jaago Re! campaign is an extension of the brand’s previous campaign in which a young man questions a politician’s qualification on being asked to vote.“The
first campaign was a huge success. However, we realised that to make its impact more meaningful and powerful the concept needed to be taken to the grassroots and went ahead with the Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign,” said Sushant Dash, marketing head, Tata Tea.Dash added Tata Tea’s market share increased from 19.4 per cent in December 2007 to 20.6 per cent in December 2008 and the increase could be attributed in part to the two campaigns.“We wanted to combine four of our brands: Tata Tea Premium, Tata Tea Gold, Tata Tea Agni and Tata Tea Life under one umbrella brand. We wanted the mega brand to have a positioning and aura that no other brand could copy. Hence we came up with the tag line Jaago Re! for this umbrella branding exercise. The idea was that while other brands wake you up, Tata Tea awakens you,” Dash added.The Jaago Re! website has emerged as the medium through which people are encouraged to vote. After filling the online voter registration form, one has to take this form to physically register at the regional election office. The site offers an interactive Geographic Information System application to facilitate location of one’s electoral ward. Street-level maps of major cities with constituency boundaries are available. The data is currently available for 35 cities.Bangalore-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Jaanagraha conceived this idea. Jaanagraha works with citizens and the state to improve the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. Tata Tea came in as its corporate partner to provide funding.Jaanagraha provides back-end support to run the site. “The chief election commissioner’s office helped us with data required for voter registration. We are working on integrating data for more cities,” Sharat Potharaju, communications coordinator, Jaanagraha, said.Youth-oriented institutions like Infosys, Wipro, Mt Carmel, St Xaviers, IIT -Madras and IIT-Delhi are covered by a team of Tata Tea and Jaanagraha. The team has visited around 250 colleges across the country. The target is to enroll as many first-time voters as possible. “Post-election, we plan to launch a campaign to encourage youth to participate in politics and educate them on using their vote wisely,” Potharaju added.“We launched the campaign to position tea above a medium of mere physical and mental rejuvenation to a medium of social awakening in consumers’ lives. We have definitely succeeded in this and are now on our journey to awakening the nation with billion votes,” Dash added.He also said the campaign had strengthened brand loyalty. The response from companies, educational institutions and the advertising fraternity was encouraging, he concluded.

Mktg - Disney's KidSense 3 study maps tweens’ psyche

2009-02-06T17:09:00.000+05:30

Sangeeta Tanwar

Kid’s channel Disney has come out with the third edition of its annual research study, called KidSense 3. The study probes and explores the psyche of ‘tweens’ – children in the age group of 8-12 years.In an email interview, Antoine Villeneuve, senior vice-president and managing director, Walt Disney Television International India, says, “KidSense 3 helps in understanding the dreams, realities, environments and aspirations of Disney's audience. The findings guide us in creating content that is relevant, appealing, entertaining, safe and family inclusive.”Villeneuve adds, "There are certain universal truths that apply to kids and tweens across the world. Our global experience tells us that kids behave as kids everywhere in the world and hence have similar aspirations. However, their life environments, local idioms and individual truths govern the degree of fulfillment of these aspirations." The in-depth study attempts to sense the trends followed by the tweens across metros and smaller towns. The study tracks the emerging trends for both boys and girls with three codes or reference points governing their lives. These ‘3C’s or emerging codes are Culture, Clan and Core.
As far as culture and languages is concerned, the ‘Culture’ study indicates that tweens are increasingly falling for ‘tweenglish’ – a language with its own rules. This language forms the unique identity for this age group. Getting good marks is considered cool since it adds to the individual's CQ (cool quotient), in addition to the IQ (intelligence quotient). Interestingly, taking tuition classes is supposed to be the sure shot formula of ensuring success amongst all the respondents.The research study touches upon different attributes under the sub-heading Clan and talks about the group’s emotions, relationships with parents and their outlook towards issues related to prestige, image and hero worshiping. New parental styles are emerging, where the ‘tweens’ revel in greater openness and freedom with parents. However, at the same time, mass tweens are more conventional when it comes to interaction with their parents.Brand Bollywood rules with the trendy as well as the mass tweens. The silver screen influences them in the ways they act, interact, think and emote. Romance and friendship between boys and girls turns out to be an active aspiration and consuming conversation across all tweens, encompassing all SEC’s, genders and regions.The trends under the third category, Core, conclude that by and large, tweens love to sport image tags by being clued in to the latest trends and sporting a confident, ‘chilled’ look. Emotional yoyo is a common phenomenon. Under the cloak of confidence and coolness lies a vulnerable individual.The research study for Disney has been conducted by the Indian research agency, The Third Eye. Gitanjali Ghate, managing director, The Third Eye, says, “Disney’s KidSense 3 is a collaborative research exercise involving embedded observations and co-creation of data. The study involved tween researchers and tween respondents, along with mothers and other experts.” The research covered 300 respondents across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Lucknow. The survey covered children aged 8-14 years belonging to SEC A+, A and B, and mothers belonging to SEC A and B households across five cities in India. The reports were collated after surveys based on four modules, including friendship gangs of boys and girls, trendy tweens (boys and girls), focus groups of mothers with kids and some experts.

Business - Tata Motors may roll out Nano on March 3

2009-02-06T17:04:00.001+05:30

Maulik Pathak

President, PM, Sonia in line for the first cars.

Tata Motors’ Nano, the small car seen as a symbol of India’s expertise in frugal engineering, is likely to be launched on March 3. Billed as the world’s cheapest, the small car’s first recipients may be celebrities, including political leaders, social workers, sports stars and film stars.Government officials said the company had chosen March 3 as the launch date because it is the birth anniversary of Tata Group founder, Jamsetji Tata. However, the details had not yet been firmed up.When contacted, a spokesperson for Tata Motors said, "We have not announced an official date or any marketing plans so far."Sources in the government, however, said: “The Tatas are planning to give Nano to celebrities initially. Senior Tata officials had discussed this at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit recently.”Those likely to figure in the list include President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Opposition Leader LK Advani.The company may also reserve a Nano for Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, where it was to be made initially. Others likely to get it are sports stars like Sania Mirza, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Still others may be those who endorse Tata brands, like actors Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgan and Kajol.Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, who was instrumental in attracting the Nano plant to Gujarat after it failed to take off in West Bengal owing to political controversy over land acquisition, may also be given the car."This marketing strategy will help the Tatas brand the common man's car as people's car. It will be a car for the masses," sources said.However, the masses may have to brave a waiting period as Tata Motors dealers will start taking bookings for the car before the Sanand factory reaches full production. The booking amount is likely to be Rs 70,000 a car.The standard model will be available for Rs 1 lakh and there will two other models priced at Rs 1.24 lakh and Rs 1.34 lakh.

Business - India;Airlines fail to benefit from fare fair

2009-02-06T16:59:00.000+05:30

Surajeet Das Gupta & Anirban Chowdhury

The gap between the average fares of a full-service airline and a low-cost carrier (LCC) for metro routes narrowed by a third in January, thanks to leading players cutting their fares quite dramatically to grab the market share.

According to assessments made by aviation consultant Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), the average difference between the fares of an LCC and a full-service carrier, which was around Rs 1,500 in October-December 2008, has gone down to just Rs 500 to Rs 750 in January.
Executives of Indian carriers think that the difference is even smaller than Rs 500.
“While the average fare for LCCs have come down by around 45 per cent from Rs 3,800 to Rs 2,100, fares for full-service carriers are down by 55 per cent, from Rs 5,500 to Rs 2,500. The fares are back to the levels of 2005-06,” said a senior executive of a Delhi-based low-cost carrier.
In spite of the sharp drop in fares, the airlines could not increase the passenger traffic, which dropped by 10 per cent in January over the same month last year, according to an estimate by CAPA. While the market share of full-service carriers has improved, the widening cost-revenue gap will not be filled since the market is not growing in absolute terms.
CAPA CEO (Indian subcontinent and the Middle East) Kapil Kaul said: “Even though the gap between LCC and full-service fare has come down, it has not led to growth in passenger traffic. In fact with their cost much higher, full-service carriers will face more losses while LCCs have a cushion in terms of costs.”
Experts said low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which achieved an operational break-even in the December quarter, has lost that status since January since its realisation per seat has already gone below its costs.
For instance, the yield per seat, or the realisation from a seat, in the case of full-service carriers has fallen by Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 over the previous month compared to Rs 500 to Rs 600 in the case of LCCs.
With costs of a full-service carriers nearly four times that of an LCC, the move to cut fares without any increase in passenger traffic will force them to bleed further.
Also, the fare cuts in January would have built a 10 per cent gap between the cost and revenue structure for LCCs and a much higher one for full-service carriers.
In its latest report on Indian aviation, CAPA estimates that the fourth quarter (January-March) could be the worst for the airlines.
“Massive accumulated losses from the first three quarters of the financial year, combined with the current softening of demand and yield erosion will ensure the industry posts deep full year losses — as high as $1.6 billion. (Combined losses for the third quarter — the best quarter in the 2008/09 fiscal year, thanks to stronger yields — are expected to be around $300 million),” said the CAPA report.
Not only that, the pressures from full-service carriers, which are cutting down fares so dramatically, might also impel LCCs to go for another round of fare cut so that the gap in pricing is maintained.
LCC executives, however, say that a further fare cut is not possible.
“I believe we have reached a position where we cannot afford any more fare cuts to build that gap between ourselves and full-service carriers. We are already selling below cost and thus subsidising air travel,” said Sanjay Aggarwal, CEO of SpiceJet, a Delhi-based low cost carrier.
An industry expert said that while the cost per available seat kilometer (CASK) for a full service carrier would be around Rs 3.5-5 CASK, for a low cost carrier it would be less than 3/CASK.

Business - Infosys puts 2,200 employees under scanner for non-performance

2009-02-06T16:09:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI: The economic slowdown has made Infosys Technologies, India's second-largest IT services firm by revenues, take a harder look at employee performance. The firm has put 2,200 employees under the scanner for non-performance this year more than double the number last year, a senior executive said. Last year, about 1.5% of IT services staff or about 1,000 employees figured among the bottom performers. This year the percentage has shot up to about 3.5%. About 600 of such non-performers have left the company already this year. Such employees are put under a performance improvement plan, provided mentoring and their performance is reviewed for a quarter. "When the times were good, people got away with things. Our tolerance of non-performance has come down now," Infosys director (HR, education & research and administration) TV Mohandas Pai said. Meanwhile, the IT services major has made about 20,000 job offers to college students across the country for 2009-10. The company will honour the commitment made, Mr Pai said. However, there could be lower or even no wage increases at Infosys next fiscal. "Wage increase next year will be subdued, if there will be an increase," the Infosys director said. The IT services firm said it expects IT budgets of clients to be flat or may even reduce 5-10% next fiscal. "Clients are in pain and they want us to share the pain. Their ability to spend is lower," Mr Pai said.

IT-BPO association Nasscom on Wednesday said it expects software and services exports to grow 16-17% in 2008-09, lower than earlier expected. Mr Pai said growth rates could be even lower. "The probability that the growth rate will be lower than 16-17% is higher (than chances of it exceeding that)," he said. The company has been approached by some clients of troubled rival firm Satyam Computer Services. "Some of Satyam's clients have approached us. Kris (Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan) has said that we will examine such proposals and see if they fit our strategy," Mr Pai said.

India - Kochi port becomes the first e-port in the country

2009-02-06T16:08:00.000+05:30

KOCHI: Cochin Port Trust has become the first e-port in India by implementing an ERP project that covers computerization of all its customer
interface and internal back office processes. CPT chairman N Ramachandran said the system implemented by TCS at a cost of Rs 13 crore will provide single window facility to the trade for filing applications, receiving bills, payments and enquiries. The project also covers integration with the port community system, which is being implemented by the Indian Port Association. Though CPT will go live from Saturday, the manual functions will continue till March 31. CPT will be a total e-Port from the next financial year. TCS and CPT have almost completed the training of 3300 staff. Once fully functional, it will provide a real time interface with customs, port users, banks and the port community system Mr Ramachandran reckons that by becoming an e-Port, the overall efficiency of the port will go up. At a time when the export-import volumes are down by 7 % due to recession, e-facility will help port to save cost. He expects a 10 % drop in cargo by the end of this fiscal.

Business - Toyota sees 4.9 bn dollar annual loss

2009-02-06T16:01:00.000+05:30

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp said it expected its full-year loss would be three times what it had flagged just six weeks ago as the world's biggest
automaker struggles to cut production fast enough to match sliding sales. A sudden dive in demand since late last year has caught automakers around the world flat-footed, but the pain is especially pronounced at Toyota, which is saddled with too much capacity after years of building new plants to keep up with demand. For the year to end-March, Toyota now expects an operating loss of 450 billion yen ($4.95 billion) instead of the 150 billion yen loss it forecast in late December and a similar consensus forecast in a Reuters Estimates survey of 18 brokerages. It would be Toyota's first consolidated operating loss in its 70-year history. Toyota changed its annual net forecast to a 350 billion yen loss from a 50 billion yen profit. For its October-December third quarter, Toyota reported an operating loss of 360.5 billion yen ($3.97 billion) against a year-earlier profit of 601.6 billion yen. It posted a third-quarter net loss of 164.6 billion yen against a year-earlier profit of 458.7 billion yen. Toyota started the current financial year with a bullish forecast to build 8.87 million vehicles in the 12 months to end-March. By November, it had slashed that goal by nearly 1 million vehicles, and has since announced more cuts in North America and Japan. It cut its forecast for 2008/09 global vehicle sales to 7.32 million units from 7.54 million. Shares in Toyota are up around 5 percent so far in 2009 as investors favour stocks with competitive long-term prospects, beating Tokyo's blue-chip Topix index, which is down 8 per cent.

Business - Satyam veteran appointed new CEO

2009-02-06T16:00:00.000+05:30

HYDERABAD: Satyam’s Board of Directors filled the vacuum at the top by appointing company veteran A.S. Murty, the global delivery head, as Chief Executive Officer here on Thursday.
It named Homi Khusrokhan, former Managing Director of Tata Chemicals, and Partho S. Datta, former Director of Finance in the Murugappa Group, as special advisors to the Board.
The Directors’ attempt to fortify the company’s finances bore fruit with banks sanctioning Rs. 600 crore for the working capital. This infusion of funds and healthy collections would help the company tide over its financial challenges, they noted.
While Mr. Khusrokhan would assist the Board in management, Mr. Datta would extend his services in the realm of finance. They, along with the Boston Consulting Group, would work ‘pro bono’ and assist the new CEO and the Board in defining priorities and in executing them effectively.
The Board, which met for two days on Wednesday and Thursday along with the newly-appointed advisors, said Mr. Murty’s appointment came into effect immediately. The meeting was chaired by C. Achuthan.
Board member Deepak Parekh said: “Mr. Murty [ASM] is a Satyam veteran of 15 years, who has been in its forefront since January 1994. He is well respected for his ability to effectively integrate the team and enable a collective decision making, which will be critical as Satyam moves into its revival phase. In our interactions over the past few weeks, we are convinced that Satyam needs an internal leader to steer it at this critical juncture and ASM has the required bandwidth and support.”
A press release quoted Mr. Murty as saying that the exercise of business continuity and confidence building among employees was stepped up. “We will chart a precise and practical 30–60–90-day plan that will encompass and address the interests of all stakeholders,” he added.

India - “Uranium holds key to energy security”

2009-02-06T15:59:00.000+05:30

KOLKATA: Theoretically, India should set up 40,000-mega watt reactors by 2020 to meet its energy requirements and become energy-independent by 2050, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Thursday.
Even after the most optimum use of energy resources including the available thorium and uranium reserves, “we will face an energy deficit of 400 giga watts by 2050.” One giga watt is 1,000 MW.
Dr. Kakodkar was addressing an interactive session on “Perspectives on Evolving Nuclear Power Programme” organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce here. Energy value
Emphasising the importance of uranium import, he said: “Importing uranium has specific advantages … spent uranium has much larger energy value … it will be the source of energy that will multiply to breach the energy deficit gap in the coming years.”
Importing uranium under the international civil nuclear programme would not compromise the country’s autonomy in nuclear programmes.
“The international civil nuclear programme will be pursued without any compromise on domestic autonomy and on the pursuit of usage of nuclear energy for whatever purpose.”
Dr. Kakodkar also laid stress on the importance of thorium in the three-stage nuclear programme being pursued by the country’s scientists.
“We have one of the largest thorium resources in the world that can be used in the three-stage programme … a 300-MW thorium reactor will come up very soon … the objective of the programme is to reach a stage when the country can make full use of its thorium resources.”
Admitting that there were delays in operationalising uranium mines, Dr. Kakodkar said exploration was on and new mines were expected to start functioning soon in Karnataka and Meghalaya.

India - Dominique Lapierre’s joys

2009-02-06T15:52:00.000+05:30

Raktima Bose
PANPUR: “A reincarnated rickshaw puller,” is how Dominique Lapierre likes to call himself. His visit on Wednesday to a centre for physically challenged children, which is named after him, here in Howrah district, was an occasion for happiness for the children and their parents.
Interacting with them, Mr. Lapierre seemed satisfied with the change his City of Joy Foundation, that funds the centre, had brought to them. “Working for the mentally and physically challenged children is great.”
The French author of The City of Joy, who portrayed Kolkata’s zest for life and made the characters of Stephen Kovalski (a Polish priest) and Hansari Pal (the rickshaw puller) memorable, was accompanied by Brother Gaston Dayanand, the novel’s inspirational protagonist.
A fan of Mother Teresa, Mr. Lapierre said his next focus of development projects would be the Sundarbans. “It’s a place close to my heart… the only way to access the numerous islands are the boats and there is wide scope for development in the islands. Drinking water is an issue; salinity and arsenic content of water in that area is rising. We plan to install filters there for drinking water.”
His Foundation would work for cataract patients in the Sundarbans. “On a recent visit... I observed many suffering from cataract… India is giving me a golden opportunity to restore people’s vision.”

India - Potable water from air

2009-02-06T15:50:00.002+05:30

K.Srinivasa Reddy

HYDERABAD: They are now making water from thin air, literally.
Jalimudi village in East Godavari district will get 1,000 litres of potable water every day, produced from air. The water station, the first of its kind set up in any village in India, has begun trial runs.
“The water… has been sent for quality tests and it’s been certified fit for consumption,” Meher Bhandara, director of WaterMaker (India) which manufactures the units, told The Hindu over the phone from Mumbai.
Projected as a boon to people in rural areas, especially in the coastal regions, the system runs on electricity and uses the refrigeration technique to condense water from air. Blower driven air is made to pass through filters and a refrigerant is circulated leading to condensation of water, which is collected in a holding tank.
The efficacy will depend on the relative humidity and temperature. “Each machine will produce water if the humidity is between 70 and 75 per cent and the temperature between 25 C to 32 C,” Ms. Bhandara said. If these are high, there will be more water.
The machine, which costs about Rs. 3 lakh, was installed in Jalimudi by the company free of cost.

World - Russia revitalises cooperation with Cuba

2009-02-06T15:50:00.001+05:30

Oleg Mityayev

Cuban leader Raul Castro visited Russia for a week and during his stay, he and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev confirmed their intention to revitalise bilateral relations. Mr. Raul Castro concluded his first visit to Moscow since 1985 on Wednesday. As the leaders and delegations discussed various issues, Moscow has agreed to provide over $350 million in loans and other assistance to Cuba and to set up several promising Russian-Cuban ventures. Loans and aid
Economic relations between Russia and Cuba were severed in the early 1990s, but in the early 2000s the two countries expressed a desire to resume and expand cooperation.
The first move toward that end was the visit by a Russian governmental delegation to Cuba in September 2006, after which Cuba was granted a $355-million loan for the acquisition of Russian equipment in 2006-2008. By now, Havana has spent nearly all of the money.
This is why the intergovernmental commission co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin started working last year, and Mr. Medvedev visited Cuba in November 2008.
Mr. Raul Castro negotiated state loans worth over $300 million to buy and/or lease agricultural, construction and other equipment, including a Tu-204SE transport plane in addition to the three Tu-204 and three Il-96 civilian planes supplied under the previous loan.
Cuba will also spend $20 million on repair and spare parts for the military equipment it bought during the Soviet era. Russia has pledged to supply two batches of grain, 25,000 and 1,00,000 metric tonnes respectively, worth $37 million to Cuba free of charge. Joint ventures
The two countries have also signed several agreements to establish joint ventures.
Russia’s largest truck producer, KamAZ, will not only sell its trucks to Cuba, which will pay for them with Russia’s loans, but also establish an assembly plant jointly with Cuba’s Tradex, thereby increasing its sales in that country.
Russian state-controlled airline Aeroflot will set up a joint venture with Cubana de Aviacion. The United Shipbuilding Corporation and Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company, are also considering joint projects with Cuba. Since most Cuban power plants use oil, Russian crude producers may soon get a foothold in the Cuban oil and gas sector.
A decision was made in the fall of 2008 to establish a National Oil Consortium at the initiative of Mr. Sechin, who is responsible for Russia’s fuel and energy sector and relations with Cuba.
Russian oil companies will use the consortium to implement their foreign projects. In late January 2009, the consortium signed a memorandum of cooperation with Cuba Petroleo, which provides for joint geological exploration in the Cuban economic zone of the Gulf of Mexico.
Cuba is to turn over available geological information about more than a dozen offshore blocks to the Russian partners. Its processing will take six months, after which the parties will decide on the feasibility of drilling additional exploration wells to be paid for by the Russian partners.
Besides, Russia and Cuba can beneficially develop cooperation in biotechnologies, pharmaceutics, tourism and communications. Mr. Sechin said Cuba and Russia planned to set up a joint pharmaceutical company. — RIA Novosti

World - Drought hits America's "Salad Bowl"

2009-02-06T15:48:00.000+05:30

Dan Glasiter

Los Angeles: Bill Diedrich, a fourth-generation almond grower in California’s Central Valley, expects that many of his trees will not make it through the year. “It’s one of the grimmest water situations we’ve ever faced,” he said. “It’s an absolute emergency and anything to get water flowing quickly is needed.”
The 643-km Central Valley is many things: the world’s largest agricultural area; the “salad bowl” where half of the country’s vegetables are grown. But this year, with water shortages of a severity not seen for decades, many farmers and others are echoing the recent words of Energy Secretary Steven Chu: if current weather patterns continue, Californian agriculture could disappear. John “Dusty” Giacone, another fourth-generation Central Valley farmer, was forced to abandon his vegetable crop and divert his scarce water to save his 4,000 hectares of almond trees. But many farmers are choosing the opposite course, abandoning their almond trees for a season in the hope that the good times, and a wetter than normal spring, might return. In the meantime, the trees are being left to die, or maintained just enough to survive.
The decline in the number of almond trees has led to an unintended consequence: a glut of bee colonies. Bees are used to pollinate almond trees, and beekeepers now face the prospect of an economic collapse as the almond market withers away.
Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, told reporters that the state faced its most severe drought since at least the early 1990s. “It’s imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately, at home and in their businesses.”
The reality, however, is that Californians have been slow to reduce their water consumption. Central Valley farmer John Harris said that he had laid off about two-thirds of his workforce and had stopped cultivating most vegetables in order to concentrate on permanent crops.
“Maybe when people turn on the shower and nothing comes out, that will be the final wake-up call, but agriculture will have taken devastating losses by the time that happens,” he told agricultural publication Ag Alert.
While Mr. Chu warns that he cannot see how California’s cities could survive, their residents are steeped in a culture of challenging nature. Back in 1952, as drought reduced water levels, pulp science fiction writer Robert Heinlein wrote: “Angelenos committed communal suicide by watering lawns as usual ... The taps remained open, trickling away the life blood of the desert paradise.” — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2009

India - Demolition Man

2009-02-06T15:47:00.001+05:30

As the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who virtually presided over the horrific demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 2, 1992, an event that stunned an entire nation and traumatised a community, Kalyan Singh is so completely identified with the destruction of the 16th century mosque that his belated clarification, offered 16 years later, can only rekindle the anger of the Muslim community as it reopens unhealed wounds. Apart from the point that Mr. Kalyan Singh allow ed the sangh parivar vandals to bring down the masjid, he also betrayed a solemn promise that he made to the Supreme Court to protect the structure. Actually gloating over the savagery, he called the demolition “the proudest moment” of his life and gladly went to jail for it. It stretches credulity that the former Bharatiya Janata Party leader should imagine that all will be forgiven if he merely makes some apologetic remarks about the demolition and utters some cosmetic words in praise of Hindu-Muslim unity. More to the point, it appears to be a tactical gesture designed to please his would-be-ally, Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party. Mr. Yadav who sees the Muslim community as a crucial constituency can ill afford to accommodate Mr. Kalyan Singh, tainted as he is by the Babri Masjid demolition. It is therefore imperative for Mr. Kalyan Singh, who hopes for a closer political understanding with Mr. Yadav to mollify Muslims who in the past weeks have openly questioned the growing bond between the Samajwadi Party chief and the once Hindutva champion.
Mr. Kalyan Singh is becoming a vital factor in Mr. Mulayam Singh’s calculations for the coming general election. He belongs to the Lodhi Rajput community which has a significant presence in half-a-dozen or so Lok Sabha constituencies in U.P. A consolidated vote bank of Other Backward Classes, while electorally strengthening Mr. Mulyam Singh, would also demonstrate the SP’s strength to the Congress with which it is engaged in tough seat-sharing talks. But judging from the widespread adverse reaction, ‘Operation Kalyan’ may well recoil on Mr. Mulayam Singh. Not long ago, Muslims deified “Maulana Mulayam.” Today the disillusioned community feels taken for granted even as the Congress seems determined to drive a harder bargain. Whether Mr. Kalyan Singh is such a prize worth losing all else for, is another question. In 2004, the BJP made much of his homecoming. But for all that hype, it performed abysmally in the Lok Sabha election, winning only 10 of 80 seats. For Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, who prides himself on being a leading symbol of secular politics, the dalliance with Mr. Kalyan Singh, reeking as it does of crass political opportunism, is likely to have high political costs.

World - Consular access in spotlight

2009-02-06T15:46:00.000+05:30

A recent ruling by the International Court of Justice in a case where a Mexican national was executed in Texas has turned the spotlight once again on the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The judgment held the execution, carried out in 2008, a violation of the United States’ obligations under the VCCR, a multilateral treaty that codifies the privileges and immunities of consular officials. Article 36 of the VCCR stipulates that authorities must immediately int imate foreigners held in custody of their right to inform the respective consulates of the detention and allow them unfettered access to related services, provided that these are exercised in conformity with domestic laws, which in turn should give full effect to the Convention. Moreover, State parties to the Optional Protocol of the VCCR are bound by the ICJ’s decisions on the interpretation and application of the various provisions of the Convention. The world court’s latest ruling — which has major implications for criminal proceedings against foreign nationals involved, for instance, in corporate fraud and terrorist activities — is yet another attempt to clarify its jurisdiction vis-À-vis national laws of member states. If its 2001 verdict underscored the binding nature of the provisional orders it had issued staying the capital punishment awarded to two Germans, the 2004 judgment called upon the U.S. to review the convictions of 51 Mexican nationals, who were not informed of their rights.
However, the world court’s jurisdiction over the U.S. domestic laws became a ticklish question after Washington’s withdrawal in 2005 from the Protocol and the Supreme Court’s 2008 verdict holding that decisions of the ICJ were not binding with respect to domestic laws. A further complication arises from the fact that federal and state laws preclude the possibility of reopening cases to examine claims not brought up in earlier trials. Attempts are under way to enact fresh legislation to ensure effective compliance with ICJ’s rulings. These are encouraging signs of a new commitment to international cooperation from one of the world’s advanced democracies, moving away from its unilateralist stance of recent past. Washington’s rejoining the Optional Protocol will be in the interest of both foreign nationals and U.S. citizens resident abroad. Nobody knows this better than the U.S. which invoked the Protocol at the ICJ in support of 52 of its men taken hostage by Iran in 1979.

World - Turkey wades into Middle Eastern great game

2009-02-06T15:44:00.000+05:30

M.K. Bhadrakumar
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitious policy in the Middle East should not be construed as abandoning the pursuit of European Union membership or alliance with Washington.
There are ways of looking at the Justice and Democratic Party or AKP, which rules Turkey. Militant secularists and Kemalists allege that it is a Trojan horse of Salafists whose members masquerade as democrats. Others say the AKP is so moderate that it might get ostracised as infidel if it were transplanted in Iran or Afghanistan.
But it appears there could be a third way — looking at the AKP as a progeny of Iran’s 30-year-old Islamic revolution. At least, that is how Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri thinks. He is one of Iran’s senior cleric-politicians, was a Speaker of the Majlis, and is now advisor to the Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr. Nouri explained last Sunday: “When Iranians talked of ‘exporting’ their revolution, they did not mean manufacturing something and then exporting it to other countries by trucks or ships; rather, they meant transmitting the message of their revolution and conveying its doctrine.”
As Mr. Nouri put it, “things have changed” in Turkey, which is what the avalanche of popular support for Hamas in its battle with Israel showed. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s public snub of Israeli President Shimon Peres last Thursday in a television chat show, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in the Swiss resort of Davos, has caught the imagination of the Islamic world and cut across the Shia-Sunni divide. All of a sudden, Mr. Erdogan takes the form of a latter-day Ottoman sultan with an empire that spreads across the fertile Mesopotamian planes, the Arabian desert, the Nile Valley, the Levant and the Maghreb, all the way into the heart of Africa.
Mr. Erdogan, a backstreet boy from the working class district of Kasimpasa in Istanbul, has come a long way in his tumultuous political career. He is undoubtedly one of Turkey’s most charismatic and gifted politicians. All the same, he couldn’t have fancied that one day he would be proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize — or that his sponsor would be a revered figure in the world of Shi’ism. Addressing theological students in the holy Iranian city of Qom on Sunday, Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi did precisely that. Mr. Erdogan’s protest, the ayatollah said, had had a profound effect on regional security.
Mr. Erdogan’s “claim” to a Nobel tenuously hangs on the 56 words he spoke at the Davos television show, in which he ticked off Mr. Peres, “You are older than me and your voice is very loud. The reason for your raising your voice is the psychology of guilt. I will not raise my voice that much. When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you hit and killed children on the beaches.”
That the resonance of a mere 56 words spoken in anguish should so stubbornly refuse to die down speaks something of the profound alienation gripping the Middle East today. Mr. Erdogan overnight joins Lebanon’s Hassan Nasrullah of Hezbollah and Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who criss-cross with enviable abandon the historic sectarian divides in the Muslim world. Surely, here is some food for thought for U.S. President Barack Obama.
Mr. Erdogan returned from Davos to Istanbul to hero’s welcome. Opinion polls show that over 80 per cent of Turks endorse his retort. In Gaza, Mr. Erdogan has overnight become an iconic figure, so much so that pro-West Arab rulers look embarrassed. Turkey’s shadows are deepening on the Middle Eastern Sunni Muslim landscape. Iran is plainly delighted. The powerful head of Iran’s Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, shot off a message to Mr. Erdogan saying, “Your epic stand has pleased Hamas and its supporters and humiliated the lackey leaders of several Arab states.”
In Turkey itself, the ricochet has ripped open the country’s split identity. The oligarchy of westernised elites based in Istanbul feels scandalised that Mr. Erdogan might have marred the cultivated image of the civilised Turk in Europe. On the other hand, the Anatolian Turk, with his seamless sense of history and culture, feels jubilant that Mr. Erdogan is reclaiming Turkey’s habitation in its ancestral home in the Muslim Middle East.Neo-Ottomanism
The AKP’s agenda of “neo-Ottomanism” took a quantum leap last week. An engrossing phase is about to commence where the primacy may incrementally come to lie in the rediscovery of Turkey’s imperial legacy while the country continues its tortuous search for an elusive national consensus that can reconcile the Turk’s many identities. Under the seven-year AKP rule, Turkey began the painful process of coming to terms with its Muslim and Ottoman heritage. Contrary to general impressions, neo-Ottomanism is neither Islamist nor imperialistic. Arguably, it uses the common denominator of Islam to derive a less ethnic idea of “Turkishness” that is much more in harmony than militant secularism ever could be with the multiethnic character of the Turkish state.
But in foreign policy, “neo-Ottomanism” has a grandiose agenda. As prominent columnist Omer Taspinar wrote recently: “Neo-Ottomanism sees Turkey as a regional superpower. Its strategic vision and culture reflect the geographic reach of the Ottoman and Byzantine empires. Turkey, as a pivotal state, should thus play a very active political and diplomatic role in a wide region, of which it is the ‘centre’.”
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Erdogan’s critics among the westernised elites in Istanbul and Ankara view any such pan-Turkic or Islamic openings in foreign policy as adventurous and ultimately harmful to Turkey’s interests.
However, “neo-Ottomanism” does not mean Turkey turning its back on the West. As Taspinar pointed out, after all, the Ottoman Empire was known as the “sick man of Europe,” and not of Asia or Arabia. Being open to the West and western influence was a constant feature of the Ottoman era. Mr. Erdogan’s ambitious regional policy in the Middle East, therefore, should not be construed as abandoning the pursuit of European Union membership or alliance with Washington.
No doubt, Israel’s Gaza offensive and Mr. Erdogan’s Davos episode have created fractures in Turkish-Israeli ties. But with the cooling of tempers, the relationship will resume. The Turkish military has let it be known that military cooperation with all countries, including Israel, is based on the national interest. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: “There is a rift in our relations. This cannot be hidden. But these relations are very important for both countries.” She noted that Ankara was “drawing a distinction between bilateral ties and the censure they are levelling at us over the [Gaza] operation.” Jewish groups based in the U.S. are also trying to calm the agitation.
Mr. Erdogan told the Washington Post that Turkish mediation had brought Israel and Syria “very close” to direct peace talks on the future of the Golan Heights. During his visit to Ankara on December 23, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only hid from Mr. Erdogan that Israel was planning to attack Gaza four days later but also assured the Turkish leader that as soon as he got back, he would consult his colleagues and come back on the talks with Syria. While Mr. Olmert was in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan telephoned Hamas leader Ismail Haniye in Gaza and consulted him on the issues to be discussed with the visiting Prime Minister. Evidently, Mr. Erdogan felt let down. “This operation [in Gaza] also shows disrespect to Turkey,” he said. But then, Israel is used to acting solely in its self interest.Anti-Israeli demonstrations
Meanwhile, Turkey erupted into massive anti-Israeli public demonstrations over reports of Israeli atrocities in Gaza. But Israel was probably lackadaisical. It said Mr. Erdogan was being “emotional.” He shot back: “I am not emotional. I am speaking as a grandson of the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed your forefathers when they were exiled ... History will accuse them [Olmert and Livni] of putting a stain on humanity ... It is unforgivable that a people who in their history suffered so profoundly could do such a thing.”
On balance, it hurts Israel more that a trust deficit has developed. Turkey has many friends in the region, whereas Israel has hardly any. Turkey is an irreplaceable ally for Israel in the Middle East. With the expected U.S.-Iranian engagement and the ensuing realignment in the region, Israel (and the pro-West Arab states) needs Turkey as a “balancer” more than ever before. Iraq can no longer play that role. The effusive Iranian salute to Mr. Erdogan shows Tehran is conscious of the new imperatives too.
Beyond all that, however, an ageless spectre may come to haunt Israel. For the first time in the rolling Anatolian heartlands, a surge of anti-Semitism is visible. If the Ottoman era’s fabulous record of providing asylum to the wandering Jew is indeed becoming a relic of history, do not ask who is responsible. Israel’s leaders must take the blame for it.
(The writer is a former Ambassador to Turkey.)

World - How offshore capitalism ate economies

2009-02-06T15:43:00.000+05:30

William Brittain-Catlin
What lies behind the global recession is a particularly virile form of capitalism, now seemingly in its death throes.
The world, as Schopenhauer observed, is a business that doesn’t cover its expenses. This wasn’t idle metaphysics but first-hand experience. The Schopenhauer family had been wealthy stockbrokers in the free trade city of Hamburg. Then the European economy collapsed and they lost everything. Two hundred years later, there is much that Schopenhauer would find familiar in the landscape of bank failures, collapsed companies and growing unemployment.
What lies behind the global recession is a particularly virile form of capitalism, now seemingly in its death throes. Let’s call it “offshore” capitalism — literally so in the way it had locked itself into a network of tax havens and offshore finance centres that formed the shadow side of the world’s banks and mega-corporations. But this was offshore in a metaphorical sense too — it produced financial structures and instruments so absurdly technical and abstract that the net effect was a freakishly remote economic system, detached from society.
It was in the 1970s that this form of capitalism began, from the margins, to make itself known in the wider world. Multinationals and banks began as a matter of course to expand and grow through tax havens. Financial whizzkids — much like those experimenting with micro-computers at the time — developed instruments that “financialised” everyday assets and commodities and turned them into derivatives, to be traded on their own markets.
The new offshore wizardry soon had an impact on the wider world. Up until this time, nation-states had complete control over their economies and finances. That changed. Offshore tax havens put enormous pressure on domestic banking systems to deregulate and liberalise. In turn, onshore banks and monetary authorities tried desperately to control and regulate the new international capital markets that were based offshore. But it was an unequal struggle; governments across the industrialised west eventually repealed their own regulations and let offshore finance wash up and make a home onshore.
Over the next three decades, offshore finance (and corporations that depended on it in order to expand) asserted its dominance over national economies. Once assured of a stream of finance offshore, corporations worked out how to use tax havens to retain profits and so expand even further. As profits grew, the amount of tax paid by corporations into the public exchequer decreased. There is no letup in this aspect of offshore capitalism today.
Financial epochs — not unlike cultural epochs — go through late periods of excess marked by opulence and a love of ornamentation. The late flourishing of offshore capitalism has produced an array of decadent, and deadly, phenomena. From hedge funds to credit derivatives and collateralised debt obligations — each symbolises an ever widening gap between finance and society, to the point where meaningful contact between the two has been obliterated, the detachment complete.
Over this past decade and a half we have seen the rise and rise of the emblem of offshore capitalism — the hedge fund. These private and exclusive clubs, relatively free from regulation and supervision and incorporated offshore, allowed wealthy investors to pool their money and have it gambled on precise (and, it was believed, predictable) price fluctuations of any security or asset that was traded in the world’s markets — from stocks, bonds and currencies to the complex financial instruments derived from them. The hedge funds took on everything that moved in the markets and made killings by shorting stocks and humbling public companies in the process. But when they targeted the banks, they were undermining the very thing they most needed to ply their trade — the billions of dollars borrowed from banks to make their bets with.
Offshore capitalism was powered by a seemingly infinite supply of cheap money and finance across the world.
So it was no surprise that when the money dried up, the system ground to a halt. And what caused the money to dry up was the most complete and outlandish separation of the offshore world of finance from the bricks and mortar world of onshore society — people’s homes.
As we now know, mortgages were sold to banks for a panoply of complex credit derivatives that were then transformed into new derivatives, and then sold on again until no one knew where the buck stopped. The mortgage business was by and large structured offshore to get the most tax-efficient and flexible arrangements and to keep the deals off the main books of the banks. Thus the property market was stoked up and the bubble grew bigger and bigger — until, like every bubble, it burst.
Pushed to the limit, offshore capitalism imploded. But the fallout is not kept detached, isolated offshore. It is felt onshore — in the mortgage foreclosures, the redundancies and the companies going to the wall; in the costs of the offshore farrago that have now been passed onshore to society and its taxpayers, who end up paying higher taxes.
Schopenhauer’s experience of the economic collapse of his time led him to the gruesome suggestion that the world was a place where people devour and feast on each other in their daily struggle for survival. He would have recognised this behaviour as inherent in the cut-throat, winner-takes-all capitalism of his day — and no less, I believe, in the period of offshore capitalism that we have just endured. It is time, surely, to come back onshore once and for all.
(William Brittain-Catlin, the author of Offshore: The Dark Side of the Global Economy, is an investigator with the risk consultancy Kroll; he writes in a personal capacity.)

Lifestyle - Another way to distribute the printed word

2009-02-06T15:42:00.000+05:30

Naomi Alderman
Paper books come at an environmental cost. Switching to electronic readers could be a much greener way to enjoy the printed word.

I never used to believe in ebooks. How could an electronic device hope to replace the beauty of the printed book form, the elegance of its design, the tactile sensation of turning the pages and the smell of good-quality paper? I love libraries. I love bookshops. I love the scent of the leather bindings and the musty pages. The mere presence of a large number of books induces a profound sense of wellbeing in me.
And this is all still true. But recently I’ve been intrigued by the idea that ebook readers could be a greener way to distribute the printed word.
And since I started using one my position has begun to evolve.
Printed books are not what they were; many are cheaply produced, smell peculiarly of chemicals, and bow or split before you’ve even finished reading them. Many of my parents’ books, paperbacks bought in the 1960s and 1970s, are now unreadable: the glue in the spines has turned to brittle flakes, the pages are yellowed and fall out as soon as you open them. I always thought I’d keep my books for ever but it begins to be clear that they, like so many other products, have a built-in obsolescence.
Meanwhile my iLiad ebook reader is sleek and beautiful. It’s a pleasant object to hold, and with its useful page-turning bar, one-handed reading is simple. The matt non-backlit screen is easy on the eye, the design is elegant and unfussy, and it is simple to make notes in the text using the stylus, or to make the font larger or smaller. Perhaps my attachment to the physical form of the book was a little childish. After all, the words are the same whatever format I read them in, and surely it’s the words that matter.
It’s been striking to me how many book-lovers can immediately see the use of an ebook reader. I’ve taken my iLiad to writers’ gatherings, book launches and meetings with editors. The very people I’d have expected to resist it — bookish people, who both read and write a lot — are the people who have looked at it, played with it, cooed over it and said decisively, “I need one of these.” If these people take to the ebook reader with ease, the future of books may indeed be electronic.
And will this be a good thing for the environment? It’s hard to judge. A report by the U.S. book industry study group last year found that producing the average book releases more than 4kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — that’s the equivalent of flying about 30 km. Then there’s the cost of warehousing and transport to consider and the waste and toxic chemicals produced by paper mils.
What about the electronic alternative? While the digital books themselves have a relatively low impact — recent figures suggest that transferring one produces around 0.1g of CO{-2} — there are other factors to take into account. Charging the reader and turning virtual pages all have an energy cost, as does turning on your computer and downloading a file.
Even so, the balance may still favour the hi-tech alternative. A 2003 study by the University of Michigan concluded that “electricity generation for an e-reader had less of an environmental impact than paper production for the conventional book system.”
The heaviest burden, though, will be in making the reader itself. If one were to buy an ebook reader, then keep it for 30 years, the impact would be small. But many electronic devices don’t last that long, and with the constant advances in processing power and functionality it’s unlikely that we would want to keep a single ebook reader as long as we might keep a book.
Disposal of electronic items is extremely problematic. More than 6m electronic items are thrown away in the UK alone every year, and the cadmium from one discarded mobile phone is enough to pollute 600,000 litres of water. Even recycling electronic equipment — or processing them into constituent parts — isn’t without environmental damage. A recent study by Hong Kong Baptist University examining the environment around a Chinese village intensely involved in e-waste recycling, showed that lead levels in the area — including schools — were raised to an extent that might be dangerous. Paper books are, at least, eventually biodegradable, while ebook readers might pose a lasting environmental problem.
Ebooks present another ethical problem — piracy. Music piracy has become ubiquitous since the advent of the iPod, and authors might fear ebooks for that reason. JK Rowling has refused to allow her books to be produced in digital form, and it’s little use buying an ebook reader if you can’t read your favourite authors on it. As an author I’m more cheerful about the possibilities the ebook reader opens up. I may be a foolish optimist, but I doubt the book world will be so rife with piracy, as long as publishers act now to allow people to buy ebooks cheaply online. The demographics of music fans and readers are different: seekers of new music tend to be much younger, time-rich and money-poor. Seekers of new literature tend to be older, with less time but more money to spend. The ebook also presents exciting creative possibilities for authors. Imagine being able to create a book that gives different content depending on where the reader is; or one which alters itself as it is read. The ebook could become a whole new art form.
Books have been an object of veneration in our culture for centuries. It is natural — and green — not to want to toss them out. It would be best for the environment if we carried those habits over into the ebook. Just as we strive to prolong the life of printed books, passing them on when we have read them, we need to avoid making the ebook reader another annually replaced gadget. If the ebook revolution is to be a green one, we will need not only robust designs but also a new trade: the ebook repairer

World - CSTO: joining forces in a crisis

2009-02-06T15:37:00.000+05:30

Ilya Kramnik
Russia’s ability to act as a powerhouse for its partners will be central to its claims to leadership among the former Soviet republics.
The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) is gradually transforming itself into a full-blooded military set-up. A key factor here has been the decision taken just now at the organisation’s Moscow summit to set up a collective rapid-response force to help bloc members to repulse aggression or in an emergency.
The strengthening of the CSTO has been one of Russia’s main foreign policy successes in recent years. The process was a long and difficult one: the treaty, signed in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, remained on paper for a long time. It was not until 2000, when Russia began regaining its influence in Central Asia, that the treaty took on a life of its own. In 2002, an organisation with a permanent structure was set up on the basis of the treaty. This was a time when Russia and the United States vied for a leading role in Central Asia, where the U.S. set up its bases after 2001 to supply NATO’s troops in Afghanistan.
The rivalry ended with the U.S. pulling out of most Central Asian republics where it originally deployed its forces. The government of Kyrgyzstan has recently decided to scrap its agreement with the U.S. on the Manas Air Base. This step will make the Americans seek new supply routes for their troops in Afghanistan.
Current events show a strong desire on the part of CSTO member-countries and above all Russia to pursue an independent policy in this area, keeping third countries out. A collective rapid-response force will give the CSTO a quick tool, leaving no time for third parties to intervene.
The make-up of the force is not yet defined. Russia was expected to make the largest contribution — an airborne division and an assault landing brigade. Some sources say these are units deployed in Ivanovo and Ulyanovsk, that is to say, the 98th Guards Svir Airborne Division (Ivanovo) and the 31st Guards Independent Order of Kutuzov 2nd Class Assault Landing Brigade (Ulyanovsk). Kazakhstan was to provide a brigade and become the second largest contributor.
It has so far been decided that each participating country will contribute a battalion each. This is due, on the one hand, to fears that big-time players, Russia and Kazakhstan, and perhaps Belarus later, might wield too much clout, and on the other, to the insufficient economic strength of the other members to allow them to contribute more.
Still, even such a limited force can deal with a number of situations — above all the suppression of terrorist and radical movements at short notice. A larger force is better fitted to fighting organised gangs or regular armies, but the CSTO is not yet facing such threats.
The rapid-response force is a major but so far only one of the first steps toward creating a powerful military political organization. The bloc’s future progress will depend on the ability of its member-countries to address the global crisis — without a workable economy it is impossible to build modern armed forces. In this context, Russia appears to play a much greater role and remain the undoubted CSTO economic leader despite the crisis.
Russia’s ability to stay economically sound and act as a powerhouse for its partners will be central to its claims to leadership among the former Soviet republics and to the future role of the CSTO as one of the tools of that leadership. — RIA Novosti

World - US;US estimated to have lost 525,000 jobs in January

2009-02-06T15:35:00.001+05:30

NEW YORK: US non-farm payroll are estimated to have shed more than half a million jobs in January after losing a similar number in December as employers,fearing the impact of a weak economy on sales and profits, shrank their work forces to cut costs

A poll of 82 economists by Reuters produced a median estimate of 525,000 jobs lost in January after 524,000 jobs were shed from non-farm payrolls in December. Estimates of January job losses ranged from 400,000 to 780,000. Manufacturing payrolls were estimated to have lost 139,000 jobs, an unsurprising figure given gloomy readings on regional and nationwide manufacturing indexes. Average hourly earnings were estimated to have risen a slight 0.2 percent after rising just 0.3 percent in December. U.S. Labor Department data is due at 8:30 a.m. EST on Friday. A sampling of forecasts and analysis on the upcoming employment data follows: CARL RICCADONNA, SENIOR U.S. ECONOMIST, DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES: Forecast: Non-farm payrolls -400,0000 Unemployment rate 7.3 percent "Even though on the surface, 400,000 jobs lost in January will look like an improvement from even steeper losses in December, the concern is that the number is related to seasonal adjustment issues. The reason we have a smaller decline than consensus is that all of the layoffs that usually happen in the retail industry after the holiday season won't happen this year because temporary hiring for the holiday shopping season took place on a much reduced scale at the end of 2008.

So the layoffs of those temporary workers that usually occur in January and February will occur on a much smaller scale. The seasonal adjustments thus will probably make job losses look less severe than is the true underlying case. That means labor market weakness will be back with a vengeance, possibly as early as February, but certainly at the end of this quarter and in the second quarter. \
Fanning the flames of that concern is the fact that we had such a large inventory build-up in the fourth quarter which has to be worked down. That means production will be pulled back even more severely in the current quarter, leading to even more layoffs." DAVID RESLER, CHIEF ECONOMIST, NOMURA SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL, NEW YORK: Forecast: Non-farm payrolls -500,000 Unemployment rate 7.4 percent "We're looking for a drop in non-farm payroll jobs of 500,000 and for unemployment to be 7.4 percent. We judge that to be consistent with a variety of indicators showing weakening in the economy and job market. "There is some possibility that the decline will be less than our forecast because of vagaries in seasonal adjustments for retail workers. Stores hired fewer temporary workers than normal for the holiday shopping season so as a consequence fewer than normal workers were laid off in January. We've factored in a small influence for that. If we underestimated that adjustment, non-farm payrolls could show a smaller drop. "This is also a month where the change in employment from December to January is less meaningful. This is the time of the year for seasonal adjustment revisions. We expect them to be negative revisions, but how they'll affect individual months is anybody's guess. RDQ ECONOMICS: Forecast: Non-farm payrolls -400,000 jobs Unemployment rate 7.4 percent "The ADP employment report corroborates other data in suggesting that underlying labor market conditions remained very weak in January. We expect, however, that a technical issue related to seasonal adjustment factors in the retail sector may result in nonfarm payrolls falling by less than recent trends in January and we look for a 400,000 job decline in the month."

Entertainment - NDTV launches video portal ,Tubaah.com

2009-02-06T15:11:00.000+05:30

Kapil Ohri

NDTV Convergence, the digital arm of NDTV group, has launched a dedicated video aggregation portal, Tubaah.com, which will host video clips across various content categories, such as lifestyle, fashion, sports, spiritual and travel. Additionally, news related videos are already hosted on NDTV.com. Speaking to afaqs!, Sanjay Trehan, chief executive officer, NDTV Convergence, says, “Video consumption on NDTV.com has gone up six times in the last nine months. This acted as a trigger to launch a dedicated video clips aggregating site.”Unlike
YouTube.com and other online video aggregating sites, the access to upload videos will remain restricted in the initial phase and only NDTV owned content will be uploaded. In the next phases, the portal will be opened up to other parties.
Already, 50,000 short-duration video clips, sourced from six NDTV channels, including NDTV 24X7, NDTV India, Metro Nation and NDTV Good Times, have been uploaded on Tubaah. The company will soon upload video content sourced from NDTV’s archives. Even video footage, which has not been aired on any of the NDTV properties yet, will be uploaded to the site. Trehan says, “Predominantly lifestyle and news based videos, which were never released on the NDTV network, will be uploaded.”About the name of the portal, Trehan says that Tubaah is a mix of two words: ‘Tube’, which has now become generic for videos and ‘Aah’, which signifies delight. The portal’s name is not prefixed with ‘NDTV’, since the company wants this online video platform to be brand and channel agnostic. Other mainstream TV channels and film producers will soon be able to upload their videos to Tubaah. “By the end of February, we will announce a partnership with a TV channel, not owned by NDTV group, which will upload their videos on Tubaah.com,” says Trehan. The company is eyeing to partner with channels that offer lifestyle, news, entertainment, spiritual, fashion, travel, sports and regional language content. After opening the site to other media companies, Tubaah.com will be offered to users as well. After 12 months or so, users will be able to shoot and upload their videos. Currently, consumers can share or embed the videos hosted on Tubaah on their blogs or websites. The launch of Tubaah is a clear indication that the company wants to tap the rise in the video consumption pattern of netizens in India. The portal will be used as an additional source of revenue through video advertising, whose market is estimated to stand at Rs 30 crore. Currently, NDTV Convergence earns around 8-10 per cent of its revenue from video advertising. Trehan says, “We will be offering pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll, branded skin and text-ads as video advertising formats. Air France and Vodafone have already started to advertise on videos hosted on Tubaah.com.” Apart from monetising its own video content on the Internet, NDTV plans to earn revenue through the videos hosted by other TV channels as well. For video ads displayed on the content hosted by third parties, revenue sharing models will be worked out with the respective TV channels or media companies. Trehan points out that there are plans to offer the Tubaah platform to advertisers as well, who could then create sub domains within the Tubaah URL and host their branded video content on it. The company has started promoting the site through its own media properties and search marketing. Interactive agency, Quasar Media is handling the search marketing campaign. The company will launch the mobile version of the Tubaah.com in the next three to four months.

World - US;Obama's administration may hike H-1B visa cap

2009-02-06T15:05:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama's new pick as commerce secretary, Senator Judd Gregg, may well become the White House lead for expanding the
cap on H-1B visas, a bulk of which go to Indian firms. Gregg, who strongly supported expanding the H-1B visa programme in the Senate, is among a group of people in top White House posts that also see offshore outsourcing as a plus for the US economy, the Computer World magazine reported. Obama himself voiced support early in his campaign for increasing the 85,000-visa cap, which includes 20,000 visas set aside for advanced-degree graduates from US universities. But he has not addressed the issue in recent months. In a talk last April at the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy research group, Gregg pointed to comments by Bill Gates that for every H-1B worker who comes to the US, five jobs are created, the tech publication noted. "It's not like... we are taking jobs from Americans, which is what you hear from labour unions. We're actually creating jobs by bringing bright people into this country," Gregg said. Many in Congress are divided on the H-1B issue. For instance, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley believes H-1B workers are being used to displace Americans. Gregg acknowledged that there has been some abuse in the H-1B programme, "especially involving Indian-related companies and their basic flooding of the market in this area and then having people return to India with knowledge that they gained here." But, he argued, that's an issue "that can be corrected fairly easily with minor adjustments in the programme." Indian offshore firms are the largest users of H-1B visas and consider it critical to their delivery model for moving IT functions offshore. It's a point they have made repeatedly in US Security and Exchange Commission filings. Apart from Gregg another one of Obama's choices, Diana Farrell, may be just as important in shaping White House policy, the Computer World said. The former director of the McKinsey Global Institute, McKinsey & Co.'s economics research arm, Farrell has been tapped to serve on the National Economic Council and as deputy economic adviser to the president. McKinsey, a management consulting firm, has published research that argues that offshore outsourcing to low-wage countries brings "substantial benefits" to the US. Its studies and reports have been cited by the tech industry in support of the H-1B visa programme. Tech industry groups praised Gregg's appointment in statements. TechNet, a bipartisan political network of tech-centric CEOs, said Gregg "will no doubt be a strong ambassador for America's workers, businesses and our dynamic economy

Business - India;TV and the waves of change

2009-02-06T15:04:00.000+05:30

Dinesh Jain

Every now and then, men of great wisdom have paused and looked upon their world as it existed then and made one of two pronouncements; condemning emerging technology to the realm of the 'useless' or declaring mankind's attainment of all that had to be attained, the peak of technological advancement by the human race.
In 1977, Ken Olson, Founder President of Digital Equipment Corp said, "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home". There is no evidence that people want to use these things," said the San Francisco Examiner in 1984 on an experimental pointing device called 'the mouse'.
In circa 1991, cable TV arrived in our homes, and it opened up a whole new wonderland to the 'Desi Alices'. Most condemned it to the useless. Who needs 24-hours television? Why pay for this when a simple antenna gets us the TV we need, for free? My B&W television is happy with this signal quality…go talk to the Merc owners !!
They say time, tide - and technology - wait for no man. There indeed was a market and it swept away the cynics.
Dish antennas, big and small, from the terraces of multi-story apartment blocks to scores protruding defiant from the thatched roofs of slum clusters; unlike the mobile phone revolution, this is certainly not the invisible variety_____****_____
The world of entertainment continues to transform. Every day the Indian consumer is sensing a new whiff of entertainment experience and she loves it. Video on demand is becoming mass. Music has moved from cassettes to MP3. Betas are giving way to DVDs. LCD TV has reached the countryside and today we can boost of being one of the largest market globally of new TVs in both LCD and traditional colour television categories. Yes, if you have guessed what I am leading you up to then, you are right. The digital wave is fast spreading itself into our souls and its manifestation can be seen in the highly dynamic world of cable transmission too.
The statistics bear me out. Pay TV homes already at 74 million in 2007, are expected to expand to 115 million in 2012. Cable TV boom continues to grow at 5% and analogue mode continues to dominate with 60% of the market share. But, what each is looking up to is clearly the manner in which content will be experienced by the new age consumer. The teenager that was 'content transmission through analogue cable distribution' has grown up into a strapping young digital adult and this experience is visible as much from inside as the outside of the house.
Dish antennas, big and small, from the terraces of multi-story apartment blocks to scores protruding defiant from the thatched roofs of slum clusters; unlike the mobile phone revolution, this is certainly not the invisible variety.

Of the various digital broadcast platforms, DTH is evidently most established and aggressive. The aggression of the existing five players is not just directed at grabbing share from each other, but as much driving an agenda of converting the unconverted. DTH sector at this time is touching the 21 million mark from 4 million in 2007, expected to be consumed by more than 100 million television viewers in 2009- 2010 from the glittering megapolis to the sleepy hinterland.
With all this data heavy information if anyone is thinking that this is the death of analogue cable. Well think again. Traditional cable TV is here to stay and thrive but will have to reinvent itself. It is not the one to easily relinquish its early-mover advantage and therefore is changing face too. The introduction of CAS in the year 2006 set the tone for the 'digitalization' of cable. With its partial introduction in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, most major MSOs put together have already seeded over 0.6 million set top boxes. The government plans to extend CAS to another 51 cities. The large outlay on the laying of fiber optic network and high quality amplifiers has already secured traditional cable TV's leadership position in the world of broadcast.
It is my hypothesis that more than the regulations themselves, the vociferous demand for better quality picture and inescapable competition from the sky will ensure rapid upgradation and relegation of ancient technology to the annals of history.
These, in all their magnitude and scale are still today's developments.
We are also the world's largest and the fastest growing mobile phone market. Voice anywhere drove the first phase of the telecom revolution. Will "content anywhere" drive the next?

Knocking on the door is the new and energized Internet - now ready to carry television content with it to the millions of homes, it has already penetrated. The megacorps like Airtel, MTNL and BSNL have already started their IPTV services - Delhi and Mumbai first, and now at least 10 other towns. The game plan between the them is over 50 key cities in the next five years.
When broadband today reaches 4.38 million homes, you may not see this part of the digital revolution as prominently as you do in case of the dish antennas, but this is the silent wave of evolution ready for the sweep.
What the future holds in its lap is the next stage, when we will question the very need for a television set. Viewing content on mobile phone is doing the rounds. MTNL has rolled out 3G. Doordarshan in collaboration with Nokia, Spice Telecom, Qualcomm and Samsung are just some of the stakeholders expected to play a dominant role in nursing this new technology.
We are also the world's largest and the fastest growing mobile phone market. Voice anywhere drove the first phase of the telecom revolution. Will "content anywhere" drive the next? An answer that the future holds up its sleeve. Let's wait and watch!
(Dinesh Jain is the CEO of Zee Turner. The views and the opinions expressed are those of the writer. Indiantelevision.com may not necessarily subscribe to them wholly or partly.)

Entertainment - Join 'The Greenathon' India's first ever 24 hour live programming, only on NDTV

2009-02-06T14:07:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: Taking forward its 'Open Up Tomorrow, Today' campaign to save our planet, NDTV supported by Toyota, will be telecasting a first of its kind 24-hour nonstop programming -THE GREENATHON- urging Indian citizens to take a pledge towards a greener tomorrow. The Greenathon starts across the NDTV network on the 7th of February 2009 at 7pm. The programming will showcase a series of on-the-ground activities such as round-the-clock clean up drives in Mumbai city and Yamuna Ghats in Delhi; a 24-hour marathon run by Milind Soman; a musical extravaganza by renowned Bollywood stars and simultaneous green activities taking place across the country.The Greenathon will be inaugurated by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Nobel-prize winner, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-General of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), and Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV, while the 24-hour programming will be hosted by NDTV's Vikram Chandra and Preity Zinta, who is also the campaign ambassador. VJ Cyrus Broacha will keep viewers entertained for 24 hrs with his witty humour.The campaign aims to raise funds for TERI's 'Light a Billion Lives' project and will provide light through solar power to villages across India, that would otherwise have been without electricity for a decade or more. The funds raised during The Greenathon will go directly to TERI.Speaking about the campaign, Dr. Prannoy Roy, Chairman, NDTV Ltd, said," Greenathon is the biggest event NDTV has ever produced. Because we believe environment abuse and resulting climate change is the single biggest danger we face today. In the 24 hours beginning 7th February 7pm, we hope people and corporates across the country will join hands with us and pledge to make a visible change in their lifestyles towards a greener tomorrow."
Sharing his views on the The Greenathon, Mr. Hiroshi Nakagawa, Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motors added, "At Toyota every issue that concerns nature is our concern. The 'Open Up Tomorrow, Today' campaign that we are conducting in India in collaboration with NDTV has helped create awareness amongst the public about the environment protection and road safety. In accordance with our global policy and this campaign, Toyota in India has been conducting various eco friendly activities like waste water treatment, air pollution control, etc.
NDTV having similar responsibility towards nature and society at large has shown for the last one year what each one of us can do for ourselves and the society. I wish with all my heart that this 24 hour programming becomes a great success"
A host of events have been organized throughout the country as a part of The Greenathon:
Cleaning up the Yamuna - The NDTV-Toyota Environment Campaign in partnership with an NGO Swechha will hold the first ever 24-hour Yamuna Clean-Up Drive on the 7th and 8th Feb '09. In a simple and effective way to bring cause of the Yamuna to the minds of citizens and the government, people from all walks of life including Delhi's Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Activist Nafisa Ali, Designer Rina Dhaka, etc. will join hands to leave a visibly cleaner Yamuna. The campaign will conclude with a monument of waste being constructed by the volunteers. This clean up drive will start at 7pm at Qudsia Ghat, Delhi.Rock Concert at the Yamuna- Performances by some of the well known Indian rock bands like Parikrama, Mrigya, Soulmate, Menwhopause and Advaita amongst others, at the venue of the Yamuna drive to offer support to the cause.Mumbai City clean up Drive - Our campaign's brand ambassador Preity Zinta will sweep the Mumbai city clean and leave it free from plastic. Join Preity Zinta in this clean up drive from 7am onwards on 8th Feb 09 at Worli Seafront, Dadar Beach (Behind Mayor's bunglow) and Carter Road promenade.Marathon Man- Model, actor and our Marathon Man Milind Soman will run for 24 hours supporting our cause of saving the environment. Milind will start his run at 8:15pm from Yashraj Studios, Mumbai on 7th Feb '09.
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Special programmes on environment will also be showcased:
A musical extravaganza where some of India's most popular film stars - Bipasha Basu, Govinda, Madhuri Dixit, Dia Mirza, Arshad Warsi will perform with Shiamak Davar's troupe. Some of the country's talented singers- Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Kailash Kher, Sukhwinder Singh and Palash Sen will also perform at this event. These celebrities take the green pledge on The Greenathon at 8pm on 7th Feb '09. In Your House - VJ Cyrus Sahukar will visit people's home in Delhi to conduct carbon audits and keep a check on how environmentally conscious they are.Children of the Environment Films - Short documentary films on children affected by climate changes and environmental degradation will be telecast throughout the 7th and 8th of Feb '09.Spoofs - NDTV's puppet team will show a series of spoofs on environmental issues and current affairs. Green Gadget Hour - Rajeev Makhni along with Aamir Khan, Malaika Arora and Mandira Bedi will take his viewers through some of the trendy new gadgets which are environmentally friendly at 12 noon 8th Feb 09.
Organic Food - NDTV's food connoisseur Seema Chandra along with Ritu Dalmia will share tips on organic and healthy food that leaves the least carbon footprint. Watch this show at 1pm on 8th Feb '09.Morning Raga Session - A one-hour session of classical morning ragas with Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan and Hari Prasad Chaurasia will take viewers closer to the nature, on 8th Feb '09 at 7am.

Entertainment - India;Star Plus claws its way back, Colors slips

2009-02-06T14:06:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: Last week (week 4) saw Hindi GEC market leader Star Plus and newbie Colors contesting to grab the top spot. Colors was only 6.3 GRPs (gross rating points) behind Star Plus, while its channel share was half a percentage point lower at 25.
However, the TAM ratings for week 5 (25-31 January, HSM 4+ C&S homes) have a different story to tell.

Not only has Star successfully held onto the number one spot with a vice-like grip, but it has also managed to widen its gap with tough as nails rival Colors by garnering GRPs of 317.
Additionally, unlike last week, the channel share margin between the two has also increased with Star Plus pocketing 26 per cent and Colors slipping to 22.
Does this mean that Colors is losing some colour and fading?
"No way!!! The competition is extremely rigourous," says Star India EVP and Star Plus GM Keertan Adyanthaya. "In fact, there is a three way fight at every timeslot and sometimes even a four way battle. We've seen some differentiated content from Colors and Zee is also a resurgent rival. However, this competition inspires us to strive even harder to stay ahead."
Star has grown on the back of the15th Annual Star Screen Award, which delivered around 30 GRPs (red carpet and the event). Aired at 8 pm on 25 January (Sunday), the Award delivered 4.8 TVR over a four-and-a half-hour slot.

The channel claims that the event was viewed by approximately 23 million people spending an average of 55 minutes on the show. The half hour red carpet episode that was telecast at 7.30 pm the same day notched a TVR of 1.5. "The Star Screen Awards were extremely successful for us and we have many more such high-potential shows coming up," Adyanthaya adds.
Meanwhile, on the programming front, Bidaai remained the top rated show on Star Plus delivering an average of 8.0 TVR across five episodes while the Friday special clocked 8.98 TVR to bag the 'highest rated episode of the week'.
When quizzed about why Star decided to slice Bidaai from an hour slot to a half hour daily even after if was grabbing good TVRs, Adyanthaya explains, "Bidaai has been an extremely successful show for Star. We wanted to innovate by providing more of Bidaai everyday by taking it up to a hour of programming. The story of Bidaai, was then at a stage where we wanted to speed up the track and move it forward. The hour long experiment had paid its dividends on screen but it ended up taking a heavy toll on the talent and the technical crew of the show. Providing four hours of content every week, week after week was a herculean task. That's the reason why we decided to switch back to half hours."
For Star Plus, the newly launched weekly Yeh Rishta too has witnessed an 11 per cent growth over week 4's average of 5.6 TVR finishing at 6.2 TVR wherein the Tuesday episode singularly pocketed a TVR of 6.51.
"Yeh Rishta has been the most successful launch of a television show across all channels in the last three years and is rising rapidly," Adyanthaya quips.
Kiran Bedi's Aap Ki Kachehri also managed to bag a TVR of 3.4, a 23 per cent growth over its last week's average of 2.7 TVR.
When asked how the channel plans to maintain this pace in the upcoming weeks, Adyanthaya opines, "The battle for leadership is not fought over just a single week but over months and years. We have planned our content and shows in such a way so as to maintain a steady growth of ratings in coming times."
Meanwhile, for Colors, Balika Vadhu remained as the top rated show for the week with a peak TVR of 7.74; Jai Shri Krishna clocked a peak of 5.49 TVR in the week. Jeevan Saathi and Uttaran also added their bit with peak TVRs of 3.57 and 3.54 respectively helping the channel retain the second spot.
Whereas, the third in command, Zee TV, registered 209 GRPs - down by 11.6 points over last week's (220.6). Interestingly, its newly launched dance reality show Dance India Dance with Mithun Chakraborty as grandmaster opened with a TVR of 3.46 at 9.30 pm. Meanwhile, Zee's top rated fiction Chhoti Bahu at the 7.30 pm slot has climbed up the TVR ladder further to fetch a rating of 4.13.
A close look at the other GECs: Sony Entertainment television has marched 1.2 points ahead from last week to clock 75 GRPs; Star One has pushed NDTV Imagine down to jump to the fifth spot with 63 GRPs. NDTV Imagine GRPs have plunged by 11.8 points standing at 61 GRPs. Sahara One has also seen a 5.9 points fall in GRPs from last week to end at 49. The GRPs for SAB, 9X and Zee Next stand at 47, 35 and 2 respectively.
With so much unpredictable rise-and-fall in the GEC space, the drama in the forthcoming weeks will surely be something to watch out for.

Entertainment - Asin has an international project up her sleeve!

2009-02-06T14:04:00.001+05:30

Reshma Kelkar

Just a few days after Deepika floored her fans with her Kung Fu skills in CC2C, Ghajini fame Asin is gearing up to master an ancient form of Martial art for her forthcoming film 19th Step. Apart from shooting London Dreams Asin is also busy learning Kalaripayattu. Asin has been signed for an international project opposite Kamal Haasan. It’s going to be her second film with the superstar after Dashavataram. Reportedly, the film also stars Japanese star Tadanobu Asano in the lead. Asin confirmed the news. She said “Yes, I have been signed for this International project called 19th Step and it’s not an action thriller, it is more of a periodic drama. I can’t talk more about the film as it is too early to reveal about it.” According to an industry insider Asin will be seen in the role of a warrior princess thus she has been trained in the ancient art. It is based on the theme of the origin of Martial Arts in Kerala. Asin and Kamal Haasan play lead roles in safeguarding these Martial Arts of Kerala while Japanese actor Asano plays a blood thirsty Samurai Kenji seeking to conquer the ancient Indian Martial Arts forms of Kalaripayattu (ancient form of Karate). Interestingly he learns the tough 18 steps and masters the 19th step from an Indian guru played by Kamal Haasan while Asin plays a local princess. It is believed that 19th Step will be directed by Bharath Bala. It is produced as a co-venture by Bharath Bala Productions and Walt Disney. Unfortunately, it will not be released in Hindi. It will be released in three languages English, Japanese and Tamil. “I will start shooting for it as soon I finish London Dreams

Entertainment - Amitabh with Cameron Diaz?

2009-02-06T14:02:00.000+05:30

Afsana Ahmed

Firoz Nadiadwala is the next Bollywood filmmaker to show a fascination for Hollywood. He’s got Rob Cohen, who made hit Hollywood films like Fast and The Furious, The Skulls, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and The Mummy 3, to direct his Rs 300 crore magnum opus Jewel of India. You may hold your breath... for the Feroze-Cohen combine is looking at signing either Al Pacino or Robert de Niro for this film, with glamour being lent by Monica Belluci, Eva Mendes or Cameron Diaz, and — yes, getting Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif to join this eclectic gang of superstars. Feroze, who has made slick hit comedies like Hera Pheri, Phir Hera Pheri and Welcome, believes Jewel of India will generate huge business opportunities for Indian cinema. “It’s going to open up the market in a big way,” he said, “We have good content and talent in India and bringing in Western technology and expertise can boost our economy.” Cohen, who will be in Mumbai soon to discuss the film with Feroze and meet Bachchan, added, “In India, there are vast resources of untapped talent and many vibrant artistes not known to the West. My intention is to bridge the Hollywood-Bollywood gap in a mainstream fashion. I can’t wait to begin the film. Or for the day when Amitabh Bachchan and Al Pacino or Robert de Niro come together in one frame. It will mean the coming together of the fast and the furious.” Jewel of India is the story of a student who discovers a document that leads him to believe that the Kohinoor diamond in the Tower of London is not real and that the real diamond is somewhere in India or close by. “It will be a modern-day action film with Indian history woven into it to create an exciting treasure adventure,” revealed Feroze.

Sport - Phelps handed three-month ban by USA Swimming

2009-02-06T14:01:00.001+05:30

Record-setting Olympic champion Michael Phelps has been banned for three months by USA Swimming amid controversy over a photograph published in a British newspaper purportedly showing him smoking marijuana. Phelps's financial support has also been cut off for the same three-month period, the sport's national governing body said in a statement on its website (www.usaswimming.org) on Thursday.
"This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero," the federation added.
"Michael has voluntarily accepted this reprimand and has committed to earn back our trust," the statement said. The photograph, said to have been taken at a November party at the University of South Carolina, was published by British tabloid newspaper News of the World on last Sunday.
Phelps has repeatedly apologised for the incident and said he may backtrack on his plans to compete at the London Olympics in 2012.
The International Olympic Committee said his apology was proof of his sincerity and the world swimming's governing body FINA is also backing the embattled swimmer.
Phelps has won 14 career Olympic gold medals, making him the most successful competitor since the modern Olympics began 113 years ago.

Business - Kingfisher feels fare war may ground industry

2009-02-06T13:59:00.000+05:30

Nirbhay Kumar

NEW DELHI: The raging war on tariff in the Indian skies is now pitting full-service carriers against low-cost airlines with at least one player,
Kingfisher Airlines, alleging that the race to the bottom would leave the industry grounded. Kingfisher has voiced its concerns to the government through informal channels against budget carriers SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir for bringing down tariffs to “unrealistic levels,”said a top company executive. Currently, a typical Delhi-Mumbai ticket that costs around Rs 3,500 in a full-service carrier, comes around Rs 1,000 cheaper in the budget airlines. “These fares would spoil the sector and leave the industry sick. We have taken the issue at every level. Besides informing the ministry of the unwarranted development, we have also discussed the issue in the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) meeting,” the Kingfisher official, who didn’t wish to be named, told ET. However, the argument doesn’t wash well with no-frills players. “It’s actually the full-service airlines which have lowered fares to unrealistic levels. If they claim to be five-star or seven-star airlines of the country, I don’t know why they are selling tickets at dhaba rates,” said an official with a budget airline on condition of anonymity. When the fuel price reached its peak in August last year, all the airlines under the banner of FIA had flocked to the government for a bail-out package. Considering the poor financial health of the airlines, the government announced relief measures such as extended credit period to clear fuel bills to public sector oil companies and removal of customs duty on jet fuel. Domestic carriers together lost Rs 4,000 crore in 2007-08, mainly on account of high aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price, predatory pricing and excess capacity. Airlines are expected to post an accumulated loss of Rs 8,000 crore in the current financial year. Following a 54% fall in ATF price since September last year, airlines have again adopted an aggressive pricing strategy. “We increased fare by 30% some days ago, but no other airline followed us. This forced us to revert to the same comparative fare level. As of now, fares have come down by 50% as compared to fares a few months back. At this yield, it requires 100% flight occupancy to become operationally profitable. We think all the airlines are equally responsible for the recent development,” SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said. Despite the overall slump in air passengers, budget carriers have been hiking their traffic at the cost of full-service carriers.

Sport - Cricket;New things about IPL 2009

2009-02-06T13:54:00.000+05:30

Damini Purkayastha & Minakshi Saini

Shilpa Shetty will launch a talent hunt for cheerleaders for her Rajasthan IPL team. Katrina Kaif resumes the role of mascot for the Bangalore team.
Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty have invested Rs 75 crore for a 12 per cent stake in the Rajasthan team. Akshay Kumar will not be the mascot for Delhi’s team this year.
Riya Sen is the brand ambassador for the IPL website.Rajasthan’s team will launch a clothing line and a documentary film on the team.
Knights and Angels is a talent show on NDTV Imagine where Sourav Ganguly hunts for cheerleaders. Chennai Super Kings Cheerleaders is also a talent hunt show, to start soon on Vijay TV.Chennai Super Kings Juniors is a talent hunt for young cricketers, also coming on Vijay TV.
Perscussionist Sivamani will perform with the finalists of Chennai’s cheerleader hunt.
Preity Zinta’s Mohali team is also launching a talent hunt and a cricket academy in Mohali.
Pakistani players are out of the IPL Season 2.
England cricketers are in this year, including star players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.* Aussie David Warner joins the Delhi team, while Michael Clarke pulls out of the IPL. * 112 overseas players are auctioned this season. * Rs 600 crore (nearly half the ad budget for cricket in 2009) is the advertising money so far. * Rs 9.6 crore is the spending cap on the teams for 2009.* Bangalore trades Robin Uthappa for Mumbai’s Zaheer Khan. Mumbai’s Ashish Nehra is traded for Delhi’s Shikhar Dhawan.SRK’s team has Eden Gardens, but is checking out Cuttack stadium as well.

Entertainment - India;Will Sony lock in KBC ?

2009-02-06T13:53:00.000+05:30

That's the million dollar question doing the rounds of media circles these days . Apparently, the buzz is that Star has not renewed its contract with Celador – the creator of the format . And that Sony is likely to grab it and air the show in a new avatar.
A source says, "Even if a show with KBC format launches on Sony, It will have a different face with a different title, different host and a different version."
However, MSM business head, Albert Almeida had this to say, "I am aware of such news doing the rounds but all I can say is that I can't comment on it."
MSM COO NP Singh rubbished the news. "There is no truth in a new version of KBC on Sony. It is just a figment of someone's imagination." Even CEO Kunal Dasgupta termed these reports as baseless.
Well, questions are many but the concrete answers few. It's time to make use of our lifelines.
Kaun Banega Crorepati launched in India in 2000. The first two seasons were hosted by superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Shah Rukh Khan took over as host for the third season but the show couldn't quite get the sky-high TRPs like it did in the previous seasons.
Sony has been looking for a big ticket format and since the KBC format comes under its group company umbrella speculation is that it will buy it and air it in India. (Celador International merged with 2waytraffic, which became a Sony Pictures company in 2008).

Entertainment - BIG Pictures acquires rights to fly Kites

2009-02-06T13:50:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: BIG Pictures, the motion pictures arm of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Big Entertainment, has acquired the worldwide marketing
and distribution rights for the to-be-released Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan. Slated for a 2009 Diwali release, the film is being directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Rakesh Roshan. When asked on how much the rights were acquired for, Rajesh Sawhney, president, Reliance Big Entertainment, said: “That amount will be decided at a later date. As of now, we have an in-principle agreement with Filmkraft for the worldwide rights of Kites.” He declined comment on the budget of the film, but merely said it was “expensive”. Apart from Hrithik, the film stars Kangana Ranaut. Kites will also have international names like Mexican actress Barbara Mori, Hollywood action director Spiro and New York-based choreographer Flexi. Big Pictures has ambitious plans for Kites and is looking to make it the widest release ever for an Indian film. Currently, Ghajini holds the record for the widest domestic release and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi had the widest international release for an Indian film. “It is India’s first international product offering,” said Mr Sawhney.

Sport - Cricket;Dhoni wants to finish series 5-0

2009-02-06T13:49:00.000+05:30

The first Indian skipper to lead the team to nine successive one-day wins, four of them against Sri Lanka, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is hungry for more and wants to blank the island nation 5-0 in the ongoing cricket series.
"I am happy for the ninth win (on the trot) but if we can add one more to it, it would be great," Dhoni said after India's 67-run win over Sri Lanka in the fourth match in Colombo on Thursday night.
Dhoni promoted himself to number three in the match and came out with a magnificent 94-run knock.
"I had not batted at number three for a long time. We had a long batting line up with (Irfan) Pathan coming at number eight. So I thought I should bat at the top order," he said.
"There was a ball change in the 34th over and we had to take the second power-play as well. So I thought one of the batsmen had to quickly get his hundred and capitalise in the power-play," he added.
Man-of-the-match Gautam Gambhir, who scored a blistering 150, said it was just the right platform for him to score a big hundred.
"I was always hitting the bowl well in the series and it was a perfect platform for me as we were already 3-0 up in the series and with Sehwag and Dhoni I just needed to play within myself and didn't have to do anything else," he said.
The left-hander also gave credit to Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten for his performance.

Sport - Cricket;I have no cash for top players: Shah Rukh Khan

2009-02-06T13:39:00.001+05:30

Princy Jain

Politics and the recession have hit Shah Rukh Khan’s plans for his Kolkata team in IPL Season 2 — his Pakistani players, Shoaib Akhtar and Salman Butt, cannot play in India; and he does not have enough extra cash to buy other top-rated players.
However, SRK is always an optimist. “I hope Kolkata be the winner this time,” he said. “I also wish the Delhi team well,” he graciously added on Wednesday’s visit to the Capital to launch Tag Heuer’s Carrera Calibre 16.
That’s not cricket! Later in the evening, SRK had a meeting with teammates John Buchanan and Sourav Ganguly. “We have a good set-up,” he said. “We have Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, Ishant Sharma. It should be a good season — as long as all these guys play.” The absence of Akhtar and Butt will be keenly felt, though, especially as the embargo is a big financial burden. “I don’t know which board took this decision. They may have thought ‘Thodasa... achha nahi lagega’. But unfortunately, they [the IPL board] won’t allow the money meant for the Pakistani players to be utilised in buying new players. This is a little unfair.”
It has made things difficult. “We don’t have much money left,” he said. “We couldn’t bid for expensive players like Kevin Pietersen. Their starting salaries are, like, 1.3 million dollars. We’ve already spent that.” His cheerleader talent hunt will, however, be big, SRK tells us. It will show people that “it’s not just about dancing with pom-poms” and that the girls totally “deserve respect” for their hard work.

Sport - Cricket;IPL Season II: Pietersen, Flintoff bought for record price

2009-02-06T12:15:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: It is raining millions for Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff!
The two biggest names in the auction for season II of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have each gone for $1.55 million to Bengaluru and Chennai respectively
The auction was held in a plush resort in Goa this morning with most of the team owners in attendance. Noted absentee was Shahrukh Khan who abstained from the auction.

This is more than the previous highest ever forked out in the past. Dhoni had gone for $1.5 million to Chennai in the first auction. Andrew Symonds had gone for $1.35 million to Hyderabad.
Mallya is no doubt hoping that Pietersen's flamboyant style will help revserse his team's fortunes. He says that this is a very worthwhile investment and that he was ready to dish out a bigger sum to sign on Pietersen.
Mumbai Indians bought South African JP Duminy for $950,000. This was more than three times his base price of $300,000.
Australian pace bowler Shaun Tait went to the the defending champions Rajasthan Royals for $375,000.

Fidel Edwards was sold to Deccan Chargers for his base price of $150,000. Chamara Kapugedera found no bidders and remains unsold. He will be put up again at the end of the auction. Australian wicket keeper Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark also remained unsold along with Phil Jacques, Ashwell Prince and Andre Nel.
After a heated contest Owais Shah went to Delhi for $275,000. The franchise also bought Paul Collingwood for $275,000.
The big surprise though was Tyron Henderson. His base price was only $100,000 but went for $650,000 to Rajasthan Royals who outbid Deccan Chargers.
England's Ravi Bopara also hit the mother lode (Kings XI Punjab) going for $450,000.
The auctioneer mistakenly brought the gavel down on Kiwi opener Jesse Ryder ($100,000) as unsold without realising that Bengaluru had put in a bid. Others joined the fray, but Bengalaru finally got him at $160,000.
All the players auctioned today will be on a contract for two years.

World - Latin America gets first Russian TV station

2009-02-05T10:26:00.002+05:30

PANAMA CITY (PANAMA): The first Russian language TV station specifically aimed at Latin American is to begin broadcasting later this year, the
channel's backers said. The station dubbed Inter Russia TV Channel or ITR TV will hit the airwaves in Panama within four months, later expanding to cover the rest of the region. It will initially transmit 10 hours of programing each day, some with Spanish subtitles, later reaching an estimated half million Russian-speakers throughout Latin America. "It will generate a new cultural space, like the various channels from other countries that already reach Panama," the director of ITR TV, Luis Romero said. The venture comes against a backdrop of an increased Russian presence in Latin America. In September 2008, Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin vowed to make the region a foreign policy priority, shortly before sending a fleet of Russia warships to Venezuela to take part in joint military manoeuvres.

Lifestyle - US;Hilary denied off her blackberry

2009-02-05T10:23:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton too has confessed that she has been deprived of her Blackberry and called for a need to figure
out smarter way of using technology. "I've been deprived of my Blackberry, so - at least during the day," said the former first lady yesterday while responding to a question from one of the State Department employees on use of social networking technological tools like Face Book and MySpace in enhancing department's diplomatic efforts and business goals. Clinton felt the need to figure out a way consistent with security to use these tools that are quite often blocked by the security agencies and secret services. "There are legitimate concerns about security, but I believe we cannot just take that at face value and stop thinking about it. We've got to figure out how we're going to be smarter about using technology," she argued. Referring to the controversy surrounding the BlackBerry of the President Barack Obama, she said: "You've followed the concern of the President about having to give up his Blackberry. It is maddening, and we know that, but we have to figure out how consistent with what is the security that we need - not everything we want or everything that some people want for us, but what we actually need - we can use these." After much diplomatic persuasion, the Secret Services allowed Obama to let him keep his BlackBerry. But fearing his security, he was given a high-tech special BlackBerry in which messages are sent and received through encryption and is not easily available in the market. His e-mail too is known to a very small group of people. Clinton said the US, the State Department and the White House has been lagging behind in the use of latest technologies. "The United States government has been pretty slow in coming to grips with technology," she said. "I remember when Bill (Clinton) and I arrived in the White House, we had rotary phones. I mean, and I'll tell you what, they didn't even still have rotary phones in Arkansas. We were way, way ahead of that," she said. Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas, before becoming the US President. Observing that the government department is behind nearly everybody, except in certain discrete areas, in terms of technology, Clinton said: "We are, in my view, wasting time, wasting money, wasting opportunities, because we are not prepared to communicate effectively with what is out there in the business world and the private world." She said: "So I care passionately about this, especially since I've been deprived of my Blackberry, so - at least during the day, anyway - so, I am, again, soliciting your advice."

Business - China to challenge India's toy ban at the WTO

2009-02-05T10:21:00.000+05:30

Saibal Dasgupta

BEIJING: China plans to move the World Trade Organisation challenging India's decision to ban Chinese toy imports. It feels that the ban amounts to
violating WTO laws, which is something the world body must investigate. This is apparently a desperate move on the part of Chinese rulers engaged in saving the toy industry, which has already retrenched thousands of workers because of loss in export market. More than 1,000 toy manufacturers have closed down in recent months. New Delhi announced a six-month ban on imports of toys from China on January 23. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade from India, which imposed the ban, did not cite any reasons to support it. But Indian industry sources claimed it was meant to protect local manufacturers from cheap Chinese imports. Chinese toys make up nearly half of the total toys retained in India, sources claimed. The Indian decision came after the United States imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on four categories of Chinese imports. Beijing took on the US at the WTO over these decisions last December. The European Union has now slapped an 85 percent punitive duty on imports of screws from China, which will affect nearly 200 local manufacturers. China observers see these decisions as an attempt to leverage WTO rules to protect local manufacturers from trade barriers and punitive measures being put up by different countries. Critics have also dubbed it as a protectionist move by Chinese leaders, who have been advising western nations to avoid protectionism in order to tackle the world economic crisis. Beijing did not resort to moving the WTO during the boom years when its exports grew at a pace exceeding 25 per cent a year. It is only when it has been hit by a sharp fall in exports that the Chinese government has decided to use the world body to protect local businesses. Some estimates show that nearly 70 per cent of the toys marketed worldwide are made in China, mostly in Guangdong province in the south of the country.

Lifestyle - Indian vegetable oils safe for cooking ?

2009-02-05T10:20:00.000+05:30

Kounteya Sinha

NEW DELHI: Don’t get alarmed. The good news is refined vegetable oils, used by virtually all middle class Indian families for cooking, have
negligible trans fat and are, therefore, safe. Laboratory tests conducted by Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on 21 different brands of refined vegetable oils — soybean, sunflower, groundnut, mustard, coconut, olive, sesame and palm — have found that almost all of them have trans fat levels well within limits permitted in the US and Denmark. These limits say trans fat in oil should not exceed 2% of the total oil. In the survey of popular Indian oils used for cooking, only two brands have been found to exceed that limit. They are Shalimar classic basmati rice bran oil with trans fat content of 3.3% and Safola gold blended oil with 2.4% trans fat. The rest of the popular Indian oils — Sundrop sunflower oil (0.3%), Dharma refined mustard oil (0.6%), Parachute coconut oil (0.3%), Figaro olive oil (0.9%), Ruchi Gold palm oil (1%) and Fortune soya oil (1.5%) — are absolutely safe for cooking. Speaking to TOI, chairman and chief cardiologist of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Dr Ashok Seth said all oils aren’t bad. “In fact, oil is needed by our body for absorption of food. Vanaspati is bad but vegetable refined oils are good. Trans fat is found in abundance in preserved and shelved food like cakes and are harmful.” “Products with trans fat must advertise its quantity, much like what cigarette packets do with a health warning. Restaurants in India, like that in New York and Canada, must also start advertising how much trans fat exits in their food.” Dr Anoop Misra, director of diabetes and metabolic diseases department at Fortis hospitals added “Amongst all Indian cooking oils, olive oil, rice bran, soya and canola are best for health. They have a very good mixture of fatty acid and minimal levels of trans fatty acids. However, the quantity of oil consumed by a person per day should be restricted to 3-4 tea spoons.” The study, which had also looked at the safety levels of seven vanaspati brands, sold in Indian markets, as reported by TOI on Wednesday, found high levels of trans fat five to 12 times higher than the worlds recommended standards. Experts say the dangers of trans fat are real. Dr P Prabhakaran from Centre for Chronic Diseases Control said that there isn’t anything like a healthy limit for trans fat. Trans fats are artificially hydrogenated oils used primarily to extend shelf life of food. Extra hydrogen is pumped into polyunsaturated vegetable oils to retain flavour stability of eatables. “Even very small amounts appear to be harmful,” Dr Seth said. It is known to increase bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin levels and reduces beneficial HDL cholesterol. Trans fats also trigger cancer, diabetes, immune dysfunction, obesity and reproductive problems. Meanwhile, even as experts promote the use of vegetable oil, they have issued a strong warning on a common Indian habit — re-heating and re-cooking vegetable oils. Dr Prabhakaran said that even though polyunsaturated oils have been touted as the healthy choice, you have to treat them carefully.

Sport - Cricket;Symonds contemplating playing full IPL season in 2009

2009-02-05T10:17:00.000+05:30

MELBOURNE: Australian all rounder and cricket's original Twenty20 millionaire, Andrew Symonds, has been fined for abusing Kiwi wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum, and while his long-term future will be decided next week by Cricket Australia, he is contemplating another IPL stint with the Hyderabad-based Deccan Chargers. According to Fox Sports, there is every chance that Symonds will be left at home from the South African tour and he may even have his contract torn up. If he is thrown out of the Australian team, he will at least be in a position to collect more than $1.5 million by competing in the entire 2009 IPL competition that begins in April. Active members of the Australian team will struggle to find more than two weeks in their busy schedule to participate in the six-week tournament and so will have their earnings capacity severely limited. The IPL has released a list of players who would be auctioned off next month for round two and Michael Clarke's name was at the top of the list with a reserve price of a million dollars. Clarke is understood to be in two minds about whether he should participate or concentrate on the crowded Australian cricket calendar. He withdrew from last year's auction because his father and his fiance's father were both sick at the time. His manger, Chris White, said the player had a lot to consider but would decide on Thursday after further consultation with IPL officials. The other Australians and their reserve prices for February's auction are: Brad Haddin ($250,000); Stuart Clark ($250,000) and Jason Krejza ($250,000).

World - Pakistan probe links 26/11 to Bangladesh: Report

2009-02-05T10:16:00.002+05:30

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's probe into the Mumbai attacks is likely to indicate that the incident was the handiwork of a network of Muslim
fundamentalist groups in South Asia as investigators have found evidence of a Bangladeshi connection, according to a media report. The report on Pakistan's investigation is likely to indicate that the attacks were carried out by "an international network of Muslim fundamentalists present in South Asia and spread all the way to Middle East" while making a case for regional anti-terror cooperation, the influential Dawn newspaper on Thursday quoted its sources as saying. The daily said Pakistani sleuths were "closing in on a Bangladeshi connection" to the attacks and had "evidence of not only the involvement of a banned militant organisation, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami of Bangladesh, but also of its role in planning the attack and training the terrorists". A reference to this is likely to be made in the report on Pakistan's investigation, the daily said. It is widely expected that the report will be made public and shared with India later this week. The Pakistani investigators were also trying to ascertain "if at least one of the Mumbai attackers was of Bangladeshi origin", the newspaper said. Diplomatic and other sources said that the Pakistani security establishment and the senior-most American diplomats here had been referring to a possible Bangladeshi connection to the Mumbai attacks in the past few days. Both Pakistani security officials and US diplomats have also been making a case for "larger regional cooperation", the sources said. Though the contents of the Pakistani report are a tightly guarded secret, the Dawn quoted sources privy to its contents as saying that it would "emphasise that the Mumbai incident is not strictly a Pakistan-India issue". Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hassan had said in a recent interview with an Indian TV channel that investigations had revealed the attacks were not planned inside Pakistan. His remarks were described by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as "hasty". Besides the Bangladeshi connection, there were "clear indications that some of the planning for the attacks was done in Dubai and there is also an element of local Indian support", the Dawn reported. "Investigators believe it would have been almost impossible to plan and execute an attack of this proportion and sophistication without the local Indian support - a fact India is shying away from," it reported. The sources told the Dawn that this aspect of the attacks had also been touched upon by the two sets of questions Islamabad had given to New Delhi in response to India's dossier on the incident.
India has so far responded to one set of questions. Pakistani investigators have also suggested that the attacks might be "remotely linked to al-Qaida's international network" as Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami was set up in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front. The Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan, which conducted the probe into the Mumbai attacks, has also exchanged notes and actively cooperated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FIA reportedly sought the FBI's cooperation in getting information from Google and Yahoo regarding two email accounts used by terrorists. The agency also sought the FBI's cooperation for obtaining information from Callphonex regarding calls made or received by the Mumbai attackers. The FBI had played a key role in aiding Indian investigators probing the Mumbai attacks and helping India put together its dossier on the terrorist incident. FBI investigators questioned Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested for the attacks, and came to the conclusion that he was a Pakistani. It is believed that this conclusion played a key role in getting Pakistan to acknowledge Kasab as its national after weeks of denial.

Sport - Cricket;Michael Clarke pulls out of IPL

2009-02-05T10:16:00.001+05:30

DELHI: Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke pulled out from the Season 2 of the million dollar Twenty20 tournament -- Indian Premier League (IPL). ( Watch ) Clarke said on Thursday (February 5) that his decision to skip the lucrative Twenty20 tournament was made because Australia has such a busy international schedule coming up. "I won't be going to the IPL,'' Clarke said. The most important thing for me is we've only got a couple of weeks off, we've got a very busy schedule. "With me, with my body and time with my family, I want time off this year." But Clarke said his decision did not mean that he could not understand why so many other players did want to play in the Indian competition. "It's a wonderful thing for cricket, it's definitely improved Twenty20 cricket, it’s played a part in improving One-day cricket," he said. "The lead up to the Twenty20 World Championships is the IPL so it's good preparation so it does not surprise me that a lot of players are going." Clarke was valued at $1 million and was set to be among the top three purchases in the auction to be held on Friday (February 6) in Goa. Chennai Super Kings, last year's finalists, were expected to lead the bidding for Clarke

Lifestyle - Raju's luxurious life

2009-02-05T10:15:00.001+05:30

HYDERABAD: At the height of her fame, the deposed Filipino dictator’s wife Imelda Marcos had more than a thousand pairs of shoes, 888 handbags and
508 gowns. As it turns out, had ex-Satyam Computer boss B Ramalinga Raju not been locked up and his fraud exposed, he may have given Imelda a run for her money in the next few fashion seasons. Raju’s penchant for high fashion had led him to collect more than a thousand designer suits, if sources in the Enforcement Directorate are to be believed. According to documents prepared by Andhra Pradesh police and given to ED, the disgraced IT czar had 321 pairs of shoes and 310 belts. Apart from leading a lavish lifestyle, Ramalinga Raju visited various big temples in Andhra Pradesh regularly and donated huge amounts of gold, which collated would approximate about two tonnes. His stargazing pursuits led him to buy a telescope, which valued at more than Rs 1 crore would be the most expensive in any Indian home. Like many other multi-billionaires, Raju too liked to collect trophy properties around the world. Sources said he had “palatial mansions and villas” in 63 countries

Mktg - Diet Coke Brings Back 'Just for the Taste of It'

2009-02-03T19:13:00.000+05:30

Kenneth Hein

Diet Coke has dusted off its old favorite tagline "Just for the taste of it." The slogan, which debuted with the brand's launch in 1982, has made its initial return as part of the diet cola's partnership with the Heart Truth.Diet Coke and Heidi Klum are taking on women's heart disease in an extensive ad campaign that debuted last night during American Idol. The tagline, which also made a comeback in 1995, will continue to adorn future TV spots starring other celebrities and taste makers. For its latest debut, the slogan is linked with the Heart Truth and its red dress logo via TV, print and online ads. Messaging says: "Good taste is about making a statement" and "Where there is a red dress, there's a way." The ads direct consumers to dietcoke.com to learn more about heart health. Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., is the agency."The tagline still has a lot of equity, not just in that it's great tasting, but also that it's tasteful and sophisticated," said Coke rep Susan Stribling. She said future ads will star other arbiters of style and good taste like Klum. Diet Coke will place the Heart Truth's red dress logo on six billion packages. It will also sponsor "The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection" fashion show on Feb. 13 during Fashion Week. The collection will continue to be featured as part of a traveling roadshow hitting six cities through April. Klum has also designed a red dress charm, encrusted in rubies and diamonds, that she will be wearing to the Academy Awards. Consumers can enter to win a limited-edition charm at dietcoke.com. This is the second year that Coke has partnered with the Heart Truth."With Heidi's help, we hope to continue to keep the spotlight on this critical issue, reaching even more women and their families with information and resources for healthier hearts," said Caren Pasquale Seckler, group director of low-calorie colas at Coca-Cola North America in a statement. Diet Coke spent $26 million on media (excluding online) for the first 11 months of 2008, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus and $51 million in 2007.

Mktg - P&G: Value Messaging Will Drive Growth

2009-02-03T19:12:00.000+05:30

Elaine Wong

In an earnings call with analysts today, P&G chief financial officer Jon Moeller said the packaged goods giant would continue focusing its advertising on the value message, while cutting costs internally to deal with current economic pressures.“We have strong plans at discount channels to win, [which includes] performance-based value messaging across all touch points, [such as] on air, on packaging and in-store,” as well as coupon offers, Moeller said.P&G has also implemented a cost-cutting strategy that involves eliminating senior management staff and reducing the coloring used in packaging to help the company save up to $50 million a year, said Moeller.For the second quarter ending Dec. 2008, the company saw net sales dip 3 percent to $20.4 billion, compared to the year-ago period. While organic sales grew 2 percent due to price increases, the figure is still smaller than that posted by household goods rival Kimberly-Clark, which earlier this week reported an organic sales growth of about 5 percent.But while P&G is growing slower than rivals, it also has a larger portfolio to manage, said J.P. Morgan analyst John Faucher. “They need to figure out how to get some of their brand momentum back. In certain categories, they are doing well, but in general, they are growing at a slower rate,” Faucher said.Nielsen Monitor-Plus shows P&G’s ad spending is down 8 percent to $2.99 billion from January to November 2008, versus the same period in 2007. (This excludes online spend.) CEO A.G. Lafley said going forward the company would focus on maintaining its “share of voice.” The strategy involves purchasing more advertising at a lesser cost. “What matters is share of spending, but more importantly, share of delivery to consumers in the marketplace,” he said.On the retail front, P&G saw consumers trading down among brands within their portfolio: from Tide to Gain, from Pampers to Luvs, and from higher-priced Charmin and Bounty to basic versions of the products. “There is no doubt that in this environment, consumers are looking for value. In many cases, value comes with innovation and higher price points,” Lafley said. One example of innovation that consumers are willing to trade up to is Always Infinity, which has been on the market since October. The product gained a six percent value share, despite being priced at about 60 percent above premium.Private label continues to be a threat, but its penetration really depends on the category, said Loran Braverman, an equity analyst at Standard & Poor’s New York office. In segments like toothpaste, for instance, “it’s relatively low. In batteries, it’s very high,” she said. “As long as [consumers] believe [a product] is really doing something important for them, they’ll buy it."

Mktg - Marketers Make Great Depression the Latest Fad

2009-02-03T19:10:00.001+05:30

Robert Klara

Andrew Shaffer had a problem on his hands. The Order of St. Nick, the irreverent-greeting-card company that the former office manager runs out of his Iowa City home, was gearing up for Valentine's Day -- a bread-and-butter occasion in the card business. But few things can kill a romantic evening like a limp GDP. If your beau just lost his job, chances are you're not getting two dozen long stems and a box of Godivas this year.So when Shaffer sat down to write his cards, he scoured for a theme that was right for the times-memorable, romantic yet realistic.He found it all in the Depression.Yes, that Depression -- the "great" one, with breadlines, shantytowns, work-relief programs and all the rest of it. One card shows a Dust Bowl farmer and his wife cooking a pot of slop in an open kettle. Its caption reads: "William took Martha out to eat for Valentine's Day." Another shows a bunch of down-and-out guys in fedoras loitering outside of an automat. "Box of chocolates?" exhorts the caption. "She'll be lucky to get a box of rocks from me this year.""If Hallmark came out with this, it would be in poor taste," Shaffer admits. "But people need to laugh in tough times. As long as it's approached with humor, even the Great Depression works."Yes, it does-and Shaffer's not the only guy to find that out. From clothing labels to retail chains (and even life insurance), some of the more inventive brands have discovered that, economic times being what they are these days, the Great Depression might just be the best marketing theme you can ask for."There's a financial cry in the country right now -- and that's going to translate into shopping," says Karen Bard, the resident pop-culture expert for online auction site eBay. Bard's not talking about how much people are spending so much as what they're buying. Sales of just about anything related to the Great Depression have been surging since Christmas. In the last three months, eBay's category "Depression Era" has seen a 15 percent increase in sales traffic, with specific spikes recorded for 1930s music (up 8 percent) and cloche hats (up 65 percent). At Amazon, December 2008 sales of Depression-related titles (including The Great Crash, The Forgotten Man and Ben Bernanke's Essays on the Great Depression) were up by a whopping 750 percent (the company does not disclose unit sales).Depression momentum started building just before the holiday shopping rush-which was, not coincidentally, the same time that bad news about the economy began to feel merely like harbingers of far worse. Between September and October, Netflix recorded a 10 percent rise in rentals of The Grapes of Wrath. Evite, the online invitation service, started seeing Depression themes at what had been traditional holiday parties. Then, just before the shopping rush got going in earnest, the Gen-Y clothing chain Forever 21 rolled out several new items that could easily have been plucked from a 1933 Sears catalog, including a wool newsboy's hat, high-waist skirts and Mary Jane shoes.But the Depression's resonance with the buying public seems to run much deeper than the popularity of items that talk about -- or take style cues from -- the 1930s, and this is where the real marketing shift is occurring. Ira Blumenthal, president of Atlanta-based branding consultancy Co-Opportunities, argues that it's not so much the Depression look that's appealing to people, but the values and credos consumers associate with it. "Even in our marketing, advertising and promotions, we seek comfort zones," Blumenthal says. "Our lifestyles, marketing and branding are being swept into the side of going back to find a simpler place in time." In other words, the simplicity, frugality and perceived honesty of the Great Depression period have become potent marketing themes now that Americans see themselves as the modern-day counterparts of the Great Depression generation.

Organic, the upscale clothing line by designer John Patrick, recently debuted a Spring/Summer 2009 collection called "American Gothic," after the famous 1930 Grant Wood painting. The combinations of decidedly rural-styled clothes -- rough-and-tumble cottons in earthy colors -- are what one might be tempted to call "Dust Bowl Chic." (One even featured an extra-wide brimmed take on a weather-beaten farmer's hat.) Metaphor aside, Patrick says that there's an all-too-contemporary foundation to the Depression-era styling. "Flash and pop has lost its appeal now," says the designer. "People are flat broke and starting to realize that more and more each day. So it's appropriate to scale back. We're starved for real things."And he means it. Ultimately, Patrick suggests, an integral lesson of 1930s America reaches beyond the usual themes of despair and deprivation and becomes one of resourcefulness. Americans, he and others point out, ultimately worked their way out of the Depression. Blumenthal adds that while consumers obviously regard the 1930s as a time of poverty, the Great Depression era possesses nostalgia value as a lost period of honestly and simplicity, of "good, old-fashioned morality, integrity, service and durability. What we're seeing," he adds, "is a back-to-basics approach."For insurance giant Allstate, back to basics has become its literal approach. As recently as July, the insurance company aired a spot called "Grocery Store," via Leo Burnett, Chicago, that featured actor Dennis Haysbert commenting, "If this isn't a recession, it sure feels like one." It was the kind of clever, high-fiving line that worked until Nov. 27, when Fed announced that the recession was official. Suddenly, Allstate needed a new tack -- but what kind? With seemingly impregnable institutions like AIG collapsing into speculative heaps, the public was casting wary glances at the insurance industry. It might have seemed the perfect time to avoid any references to the Great Depression, but according to Allstate marketing vp Lisa Cochrane, it was time "to tell the story of what we're about."In Burnett's "Back to Basics" spot, Haysbert walks among a montage of photos of the Great Depression-including the famous 1936 Dorothea Lange photograph of a migrant mother and her children. "1931 was not exactly a great year to start a business," Haysbert intones in his sonorous basso. "But that's when Allstate opened its doors." The script goes on to remind viewers that there have been 12 recessions since then, and the company has survived all of them. As the music builds into an optimistic crescendo of strings, Haysbert speaks of appreciating the "basics" such as home-cooked meals and time with loved ones.Sentimental? Perhaps. That was part of the point. As script co-writer Charley Wickman put it, "Bad economic times are intensely personal." Days after the spot started airing, Allstate began to get phone calls and e-mails thanking the company for the ad. One viewer wrote: "Your new ad...was able to put so many things in perspective and created a truly feel-good moment out of what is a frightening and unsettling time for all of us." The point of the Depression spot, explains Burnett vp and account director Nina Abnee, was "not to be depressing. We meant it to be optimistic, [to say] together we can do this. We wanted to instill confidence in people."

By stressing the kind of assets -- home, family, quality time -- that can't be drained off by securitization, Allstate tapped into a more resonant and uplifting theme of the Depression era: Things were bad, but everybody was in the same boat. Historian Bruce Weindruch, whose Chantilly, Va.-based consultancy The History Factory uses companies' founding stories to develop their branding messages, adds that "the Allstate ads are the closest in tone to those best ads of the Great Depression: Now that we're over the immediate shock, it's time to begin preparing for the future. This is a much more sophisticated, and, I would argue, effective, approach."But it remains to be seen how long the approach can work. While economists agree that the recession will likely deepen before it improves, if life begins looking a little bit too much like the Great Depression, stuff like retro 1930s fashion and bad Dust Bowl jokes are unlikely to get the laughs -- or the sales -- they're enjoying now. As Weindruch puts it, "Nothing will undermine a history-based campaign quicker than the present."Indeed, the online news-satire site CAP News has already parodied the Great Depression marketing trend by recently running a business story on the debut of Green Giant "Sorry Your Assets Are Frozen Vegetables" and "Credit Crisis Cranberries."For now, however, Andrew Shaffer will keep looking for rights-free images of the 1930s to pair with snarky copy for his greeting cards. The way he sees it, if the dark days of the 1930s suddenly have marketing potential, it was only a matter of time. "Every other decade of the 20th century has been plundered," he says. "The Great Depression is actually something that's fresh."

Mktg - Spreading the Good Word

2009-02-03T19:09:00.000+05:30

More than any previous technology, the internet allows companies to ensure that every employee has access to the corporate news, views, and vision. But its sheer availability can mislead managers into believing that communicating effectively is easier than is the case.
Certainly, the internet offers new ways to disseminate the vision of the company’s mission to its staff. Some companies use the internet to explain their ethical code—and to communicate it to their suppliers and customers as well. A good example is Boeing, whose website offers an online “ethics challenge”. Employees can test their moral instincts for such delicate issues as “acceptance of business courtesies” (what do you do if a client offers you a set of golf clubs to swing a contract his way?) and “proper use of company, customer and supplier resources” (should you circulate an appeal for a charity on the Boeing intranet?). Boeing uses the test to give its employees “ethics refresher training,” each year.
Managers can also tell staff electronically where they want the business to go. For example Jacques Nasser, chief executive of Ford, sends the company’s staff a weekly “Let’s chat” note (a curiously matey idea for such a notoriously tough boss). The company runs a purpose-built newsroom; employs a team of professional journalists who update several times a day a website that is available to Ford’s employees around the world and to staff in its recent acquisitions, such as Volvo; and runs what it claims is the world’s largest corporate intranet. The aim is to use company news to help to create a sense of belonging.
Ford thus handles its internal communications with as much care and professionalism as most companies apply to their external public relations. That is surely sound policy. Most companies spend much more time and money on talking to their customers than to their staff. Yet, if a company cannot communicate its values to its employees, how can it expect to sell them to its customers? In addition, in the past (and indeed still today), trade unions have often dominated the connection between a company and its staff. Internet technologies give managers a chance to bridge the divide directly.
Not only does the internet allow managers to talk to their staff: It allows them to discover whether their staff are at least pretending to listen. William Nuti, a senior executive for Cisco Systems, produces a monthly video to send to his staff, explaining where the business is going. What happens if employees choose not to watch? Happily, the internet allows you to track who opens an e-mail and when. “I know everyone who clicks on it and those who throw it away, and I make phone calls to people, saying ‘it’s important you watch this.’” Not surprisingly, Nuti’s monthly videos enjoy high viewing figures.
However, only a foolish boss would imagine that staff who read the “chat” note or watched the video would also buy the spiel. For starters, in a multinational company, the same message may go to people in different countries—and be heard with differing degrees of cynicism or enthusiasm. Moreover, the internet is not a one-way channel. It allows staff to communicate directly, for the first time, with senior executives whom they have never met in person. At Siemens, a large German company, Chittur Ramakrishnan, the chief information officer, has noticed a “very significant number of e-mails to top management. The idea of going through a secretary to get an appointment has changed. People can send e-mails to anyone and expect a response. It’s very democratising.” That assumes, of course, that the top brass do not delegate to a minion the task of replying. The technology, as always, is no guarantee of cultural change. But it creates the opportunity for managers to see what really worries their employees. That opportunity can be amplified if corporate pages feature real questions from employees rather than ones invented at the top, demonstrating that their questions are genuinely being heard and answered.
The erosion of hierarchy, such a primary aspect of the company of the future, is not always welcome. Questions may arise over who should address whom. Once, information trickled down a company, layer by layer, conveying authority to each subset of managers who delivered the word from on high. Now that is no longer necessary. When SAP, a German business-software giant, created an elaborate internet-based communications system, it found that middle managers objected to the chairman’s e-mailing all employees. The middle managers’ authority had rested partly on their role as a source of information, and without it, they felt exposed. As so often with internet-driven changes, the implications of what initially appeared to be a simple, time-saving measure turned out to be more complex and politically sensitive.
Finally, if the chief executive is to be the chief communicator, the job requires a whole new set of skills. It needs that rare quality, an ability to write clearly and persuasively. Managers will frequently need to carry an audience with whom their main link may be the written word. Good writing, as Peanuts’ Snoopy has observed, is hard work. Communication also requires an ability to use video effectively. A chief executive may be a brilliant strategist, but some of that brilliance must emerge on camera if it is to inspire confidence in employees, customers, and investors. The leaders of big companies need to be rather more like effective politicians than they have been in the past, able to inspire and lead from a distance.
If messages travel only from the top down, they will have modest impact and sometimes may do more harm than good. True employee commitment will depend upon creating a sense of belonging to a community or a team. In order to be secure, productive, and creative, most people need to feel they belong to a group.
How, then, to create a new sense of belonging? And can the internet help? One part of the answer is to create smaller units to which people can feel they belong. The Wisdom of Teams, by McKinsey consultants Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith, points out that “large groups of people...have trouble interacting constructively as a group” and suggests an ideal scale of the units in which people operate effectively: “Virtually all the teams we have met, read, heard about or been members of have ranged between two and 25 people.”
Some large companies deliberately encourage small units. At Carlton Communications, a British media giant, Michael Green, the chairman, decided not to consolidate staff scattered in offices across London into a single unit, arguing that smaller groups feel more entrepreneurial. At St Luke’s advertising agency, also in London, the rule is that when a work group has more than 35 people, it splits. Bill Gross, founder of Idealab!, an American venture capital company, argues that people cannot tolerate working in a group of more than about 100, because a group of that size becomes too impersonal. Few people can remember the names of more than 100 colleagues.
People are more committed to other individuals than to an amorphous corporation. Team members. If pay is tied to team performance, peer pressure will encourage members to work for the good of the team. Not only do smaller groups enjoy a greater sense of belonging, but they are more effective. Whenever a company—or indeed a government—wants to achieve a goal, it creates a task force, a hit squad, a committee, or a team. As workers become more dispersed and disconnected, they increasingly need to participate in teams.
The internet not only allows teams to talk to each other around the world. It also makes it easier for several teams or small groups to behave as though they were a single large one, collaborating where they gain benefits from size. The internet fosters lateral connections within a company—or even between people in different companies.

Business - Time shared is money earned

2009-02-03T19:08:00.001+05:30

Radhika Sachdev

How many times have you been waylaid at a fuel filing station by a Club Mahindra executive thrusting a personal data form through a rolled-down window, in lieu of entering you into a bumper draw?
Three days later, you discover you have won the draw but can collect the “award” only after attending a 30-minute presentation at a nearby Club Mahindra office. Never fallen for the bait? Well, you would be in the minority.
You’d be surprised to learn how many do fall for the holiday maker’s offer, going by a record 80% occupancy at Club Mahindra’s timeshare properties for three consecutive years (2006-08). When traditional hotel bookings have been going for a nose-dive, the timeshare business is booming—the growth in 2008 was 25%, against the last five-year average of 18%, according to Group Resort Condominiums International (RCI), the exchange company that provides affiliation to timeshare operators in India and abroad.
A major gainer in this game, you guessed right, is Club Mahindra, thanks to a slew of innovative marketing strategies adopted by the company besides aggressive in-your-face advertising.
“Our income grew 56.32% last year and during the festive month of December 2008, we had an occupancy of 89% against 85% in December 2007,” enthuses Ramesh Ramanathan, managing director, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India. A lead player in the category, Club Mahindra claims a membership base of 80,000, with a compound annual growth rate (in membership) of over 37%, accounting for 67% of the total RCI business in India for the past three years. Heady on the growth, Ramanathan says, “We have 23 more resorts in the pipeline, and plan to double our inventory to 1,500 rooms this year.”
The AIRDA (All India Resort Development Corporation) projects that the Rs 125-crore timeshare business in India that has been growing at 15% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) since 1998 is poised for robust growth even during a period of slump, given consumer need to cut their holiday budgets.
An indication of this is transaction bookings of 28%-plus from January to November 2008 according to a Group RCI-Cushman and Wakefield Hospitality report, The Spectrum of Leisure Real Estate Products in India, tabled last month. RCI estimates that the demand for timeshare products is likely to grow at approximately 16% per annum from 2006 to 2015, facilitated by supply of 12% holiday units per annum. The average unit sales are projected to grow at 3% per annum.
Radhika Shastry, managing director of Group RCI’s operations in the subcontinent, estimates that they transacted nearly Rs 500 crore in business (including revenue for food and beverage sales) last year at the 72 RCI-affiliated resorts run by 40-odd timeshare operators, who, between them, command a membership base of 98,000.
The reason for this spike is not difficult to guess. Over time, not only has the timeshare business proven more budget-friendly for a family of let’s assume four, there is also more variety and flexibility in the offer. For instance, you can club your vacation week to the next year, bring bigger groups of people to your property for a proportionate reduction in stay, choose from a variety of products (studio, one or two bedroom units) at any location (hill, beach or jungle resorts in India or abroad) for a small exchange fee to the RCI Group, and even move between two or more timeshare operators, which is another trend catching up with Indians with whom holidaying is gradually developing into a habit.
“Lately, we have noted growing interest in related products, as well, such as fractional ownerships, private residences and condo hotels,” informs Shastry. And why not? Given that all stakeholders—developers, operators and consumers—stand to gain from the growth in the category. For developers, experts estimate, it’s possible to break-even on a sale of 65% to 85% inventory, varying of course with the project cost. This could be less for players like Club Mahindra who favour mixed use of the property, under which the unsold timeshare inventory is pooled back into the general hotel category for maximum returns.
Arguing that the timeshare business was a product of the downturn, when it was first developed to sell condos at intervals, Ramanathan says, “The ‘mixed use’ approach allows us greater flexibility in the business.”
In contrast, Concept Hospitality, promoter of Vits, Mumbai (erstwhile Lotus Suits), a division of the Kamath Group, allocates a fixed inventory (20 out of 183 rooms) to their timeshare business, after which they purposefully stop sales.
“The inventory for this year is sold, so we are not promoting this category anymore as we have good response from the general hotel category also,” says Param Kannampilly, director, Kamat Hotels (India), and CMD of Concept Hospitality, whose two properties in Mumbai and Goa fall in the business category and have not been severely hurt by the slowdown.
Operators are drawn to the business for its low maintenance (average Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000, per holiday unit, per annum) that is anyway charged to the customer, while for the consumer the obvious gains are—flexible payment (he can pay full fee upfront or in installments during the first few years) and swap it for any resort affiliated with RCI for an exchange fee (Rs 5,250 to Rs 8,550) depending upon the property location (domestic or international) and rating.
“Roughly, a family of four will run up Rs 20,650 (including taxes, food and beverages and annual maintenance) during a week’s stay at a timeshare property compared to Rs 42,000, plus taxes at Manali Resort; Rs 84,000 plus taxes at Fort Chawa, Jodhpur; Rs 1,05,000 plus taxes; Rs 1,77,800 at Anfi Palace, Switzerland, Rs 2,45,000 at Sheraton Vistana, Florida; and Rs 78,750 at Golden Shores, Australia, which are incidentally, all RCI-affiliated properties,” says Shastry, who has worked out the tedious economics of the business.
Again, although it may appear a little daunting to sell a notional product like a holiday through a colourful, printed brochure, Shastry says that with the right focus, its possible to turn this into an easy sell “emotional” purchase product. (See accompanying sidebar on marketing strategies).
For the record, across the world, the timeshare industry comprises of over 5,425 resorts with 6.7 million active members availing 10.7 million timeshare weeks in 200 countries. In India, the industry is still nascent, comprising of 4,640 timeshare units and 1,46,450 members availing 2,41,330 timeshare weeks. Popular destinations, as always are Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan, although offbeat resorts at Coorg and Munnar are also finding takers in recent years. On the flip side, most timeshare products in India are still positioned at the mid-market to first-class categories. “There is a paucity of five-star to luxury suits in the same league as Disney or Hilton Vacation Club, which could be an opportunity for branded hospitality players,” says Shastry. Weak and inconsistent tour flow, high marketing costs, old-fashioned sales tactics leading to inconsistent results, ineffective property management and bad product design can sometime lead to off-schedule cancellations, non-payment of dues or defaults, all of which are highly avoidable.
“In due course, AIRDA would develop enough teeth to regulate the industry, introduce more transparent practices and prevent misuse,” hopes Kannampilly of Concept Hospitality. Till then, the best returns are reported from Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Surat, followed by the National Capital Region, Lucknow, Punjab, Jaipur etc. The west and the east account for 23% of the business. South and east trail at 29% and 6% respectively.

Entertainment - India;GEC - Real's Strategy

2009-02-03T18:59:00.000+05:30

Surajeet Das Gupta & Shuchi Bansal

The first channel of Turner-Miditech is looking to carve out an 'urbane' space for itself in a crowded segment. Will it sell?.

Sunil Lulla wants his new channel to be clearly differentiated from its established competitors. So Real, which goes on air in March, will stay clear of the saas-bahu serials, which started a phenomenon when Sameer Nair, as the programming head of STAR, decided to bet on Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms. Nor will Real show high-voltage mythological drama, which gained currency recently when Nair started Ramayan on NDTV Imagine.
Instead, Lulla, director of Real Global Broadcasting, a joint venture of Turner International and Miditech of the Alva brothers, is targeting a different segment of the market. “Our channel is targeted at the neo Indians: the urbane, upwardly mobile and aware consumer of 15 to 34 years who speaks Hindi. Our programmes will be around real stories, which provide joy and are aspirational,” he says.
But, despite the distinction, industry experts point out that Real, too, is going in for some big-ticket programming backed by big prize money to woo viewers. That will be in line with the strategy of Colors, the new channel from Network 18 which has quickly captured the second-largest viewership.
In fact, the format of one of the early Real shows sounds similar to that of Big Boss on Colors. Sarkar Ki Duniya is a 100-day realty show in which players would live on an island under the autocratic rule of the sarkar. Poker Face, on the other hand, is a game show on which one can earn Rs 1 crore every week. In Vicky Ki Taxi, all kinds of people tell their life’s story.
Get the picture? The programming is meant to be joyful, aspirational and close to reality.
Turner, which already has a distribution joint venture in India, Zee Turner, will pitch in with distribution support. That will give Real easy access to cable and satellite homes. In fact, the channel hopes to begin with 10 million homes. Miditech, known for shows like Indian Idol, will take care of some of the programming.
Difference strategyLulla’s need to be different is understandable. His channel is the new kid on the crowded block of Hindi general entertainment channels (GEC). Just 18 months ago, there were only three large players here: STAR, Zee and Sony. Yet, Real will be the 12th to join the fray, which in the last 12 months alone was joined by Colors, NDTV Imagine and INX.
It is not difficult to see what is driving the new channels. The Hindi GEC segment is crowded for a good reason. It is the largest in terms of both advertising as well as viewership. A third of the total television advertising of Rs 9,000 crore flows into Hindi GECs. While advertising in news channels is slowing, it continues to growth for GECs.
“Like last year, we expect the advertising market for GECs to grow by 13-14 per cent. The slowdown has affected print and news channels, not entertainment, as the key components who advertise here, such as FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) players, are increasing their ad budgets,” says Lulla. STAR Plus executive vice-president Keertan Adhyanthaya agrees: “The category has been growing at a steady pace…and it is sizeable for multiple players to be in it. But it’s also a high-risk, high-gain category…You need deep pockets to survive.”
Together, the new players have splurged Rs 1,000 crore on turning their dreams into reality. INX thought the way to break the clutter was to target women between 25 and 35 years of age. Its promoter Peter Mukerjea, a former CEO of STAR India, was aware that STAR Plus was already the complete entertainment channel for the entire family, STAR One addressed the younger audience, and Zee was for the slightly older group. His own channel needed a distinctly different positioning.
“Half the advertising in Hindi GEC channels is addressed to this segment of women and nearly 60 per cent of the viewers of GEC channels fall in this category. So we decided to orient our programming accordingly and create a tactical differentiation,” says Mukerjea.
Some others call this strategy a no-brainer, since every established channel is also aware of the advertising skew and positioned accordingly. “Every channel is wooing the same target group of women, so there is no special incentive for viewers to go to INX. After all, even Colors is concentrated on the same audience for its core viewership,” says a media planner.
Colors initially targeted the age group of 14-34, men and women, who according to research were ready to “flirt” and experiment with a new channel. “This was not the core audience but the most vulnerable. We targeted them with Fear Factor, starring Akshay Kumar, and of course Big Boss,” says a senior Colors executive.
The strategy worked. The next challenge was to get the core audience of women between 25 and 44 years, who were hooked to other established channels, to sample the new channel. Colors started advertising its mass market shows, Balika Vadhu and Jai Sri Krishna, in a big way during Big Boss and Fear Factor. It also cleverly timed the various programmes based on the assumption that most homes have only one television set. So Balika Vadhu and Krishna were shown between 8 pm and 9 pm, and Big Boss after 10. “Once younger audiences tried Colors through Fear Factor and the core audience sampled our soaps, we saw the TRP of Balika Vadhu soar from 0.8 to 8.5,” says the executive.
NDTV Imagine decided to take STAR Plus head-on.
When it comes to family entertainment, STAR is all things to all people. “STAR Plus is an entertainer that narrates grand stories that brings families together. Our core target audience is a young housewife who is seeking an emotional outlet,” says Keertan Adhyanthaya, its executive vice-president and general manager.
NDTV Imagine, too, adopted the strategy of catering to all age-groups and genders. “The essence of a GEC is that it reaches out to a mass audience. When we launched last year, it was in a sense the return of the GEC. We were always clear that we would be targeting a wide audience… the family audience. We have looked at segmenting that audience base… Our segmentation is currently approached via specific programming and time bands and not on an overall basis,” says Sameer Nair, the channel’s chief executive officer.
That way, Real is being really different, with its focus on the “urbane” Indian and not the traditional GEC bastion of women who like to see saas-bahu serials. “She might be in Indore, 27 years old, and with a child, but she is not traditional and has a say in her life. We want to offer HER a fresh alternative,” says Lulla of his target.
The challengeLulla’s detractors, and even media buyers, warn that his strategy could be a recipe for disaster, that saas-bahu serials and mythology do drive TRPs and advertisers. “Soaps and saas-bahu serials are the daal and roti of Hindi GECs. You can of course always package it differently, but you cannot ignore them,” says the CEO of a competing GEC channel.
Nair wouldn’t want to comment on Real’s strategy (“To each his own,” he says), but does not think it is time to renounce the tried and tested. “The on-going, continuous success of our mythological shows, Ramayan and Mahima Shani Dev Ki, is proof that audiences are looking for quality content. The success of any genre is how attractive you make it for audiences. I don’t believe that the saas-bahu and mythology are past their prime. They continue to be the genres that bring in the big numbers. Balika Vadhu and Jai Sri Krishna prove exactly that,” he says.
A Mumbai-based media expert adds: “This younger audience target in Hindi GECs doesn’t work. Zee Next, Bindass and even STAR One have tried it.”
It does not work for several reasons. There are very few two-television homes in India. Most Indian households — especially the ones that have TAM meters — are single-television homes. So the younger audience does not hold the remote at prime time.
Niche in a Hindi GEC does not work either. You may position it as an upscale channel, but advertisers do not buy the positioning, they buy the gross rating points. If an advertiser is specifically targeting the youth, it may like to opt for MTV or Channel V.
Says an advertising sales expert: “It is not that there are no upmarket, urbane viewers. But whether you can create a genre out of that in the GEC space is another question. It is not that such audiences, who do not wish to watch saas-bahu and mythology, do not exist. But it is difficult to monetise them.”
The marketing director of a telecom service provider, which is a big advertiser on television, says his company puts in its commercials in programmes depending on their TRPs, and irrespective of the channel. “As an advertiser, we are not looking at what new genre you are creating in the Hindi GEC space. We don’t look for differentiation.”
According to Anita Nayar, CEO of media buying house MPG, “You can’t move away from content that works. After all Colors is close to becoming Number 1, but it has saas-bahu and mythology.”
Plateau aheadThere are other challenges. Revised estimates suggest that the growth in Hindi GEC viewership (measured in gross ratings points, or GRPs) will not be more than 9-10 per cent. Says Sanjoy Chakrabarty, chief operating officer of Dentsu Media: “The growth in Hindi GEC is almost flat. With more channels being added to the genre, the GRPs will only get re-distributed.”
L V Krishnan, CEO of TAM, which measure viewership, says the Hindi GEC category accounts for 28 per cent of the total cable and satellite GRP, up from 26 per cent in 2007. “Its growth in 2009,” he says, “will depend purely on content and marketing of these channels.”
Both content and marketing will have to contend with the rising cost pressures. Hindi GECs need cumulative investments of over Rs 800 crore in the first four years before they break even. But these numbers might go awry for many reasons.
The growth of advertising on GECs has slowed from the earlier 20 per cent. Second, the cost of programming is going through the roof. According to an insider in the Essel group, which owns the Zee bouquet, it has gone up by two and a half times in three years. Carriage fees paid by new broadcasters to cable operators to ensure “good placement” is nearly double of or three times what established players pay. This constitutes 30 to 50 per cent of a new channel’s marketing costs.
The subscription revenue for most new channels is zero. Colors promises to go pay at an “opportune” time. But currently it is free-to-air. Real says it will be a paid channel. Second, rates that sponsors are willing to pay for big-budget programmes have sharply come down.
“Earlier the chief sponsor of a big programme paid Rs 7 crore. Today the same is available at Rs 5 crore. That is because earlier there was only one programme of the size of Kaun Banega Crorepati (the game show that revived STAR Plus), but now there are four programmes of a similar stature, so the audiences are getting fragmented,” says the senior executive of a leading FMCG company. The executive adds that new broadcasters are offering discounts of 10 to 30 per cent to companies that buy bulk time.
Surely, it will not be a cakewalk for the new kids on the Hindi GEC block, real or otherwise.

Business - Q&A;Rajeev Kapoor, president & CEO, Fiat India Automobiles

2009-02-03T18:58:00.000+05:30

talian automaker Fiat introduced the Linea in 2007 as a small family car for the markets of Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle East. In India, Fiat India Automobiles (a 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles SpA and Tata Motors), launched the Linea sedan in January 2009 after spending much of last year picking up rave reviews across the markets it was launched in. Most recently, it won the AUTOBEST 2008 Award, where a jury from 15 East European countries rated it over many of its European, Japanese and Korean competitors. But can the Linea pump up the volumes for Fiat in India? And refurbish the company’s image—bunged up as it were by the lackadaisical performance of its earlier models, be it Padmini, Uno, Sienna, Petra or the Palio—along the way? Rajeev Kapoor, president & CEO, Fiat India Automobiles, is confident the Linea would help the beleaguered automaker turn its fortunes in India 180 degrees. He spoke at length to FE’s Malabika Sarkar about the company’s mistakes, the strategy it is going to adopt to establish a strong presence in the country and of course, the Linea.
A new launch in a new year, but not exactly the best of times. The economy has hit a bad patch and car sales are slowing down. Why did you chose this particular time for the Linea launch? How will you persuade consumers to get out and buy your product?
We have not chosen this period. When we are developing a product, the planning starts a long time before that, say one-and-a-half-years before. We cannot stop the process in between because of a downturn. We had planned the launch for the month of December (2008) but it was pushed back to January (2009) because of the terror strike in Mumbai.
Of course, in times of economic slowdown people become extremely choosy. They want to purchase a product that is a combination of good price, comfort, safety and beauty. In that sense, this is the right opportunity to sell a product that embodies all this.
Fiat is a wonderful brand. What bogged you down in India? Was it marketing; was it perception? What are the problems you would work on?
Fiat has had its own share of problems, but all that was five to six years ago. It couldn’t market the product offered. The after-sales service and the spare-parts support was not up to the mark. But things have changed now, not only in India but also worldwide. Fiat today is a very vibrant company. It is doing well across all segments and in every market. The same story is going to be repeated in India. We are not simply launching a new product; we will make sure that the spare availability, the technology that went into the product, and the quality—everything is perfect.
Looking back, what are the things you would have done differently given a second chance?
We have started working on some key areas to establish a strong industry presence. We are using our partner to set up the dealerships. We will use its strength to reach across India. We have decided to pick up only those dealerships that are capable of selling our cars. We will ensure that they hire people who would be technically trained to handle our cars. We will make sure that spare parts are available and they are competitively priced. The technology and services should also be good and hassle-free.
Would you continue to use Tata’s service network or do you plan to have Fiat-owned service centres?
No, we do not plan to open any Fiat-owned service centres. The motive of this joint venture and collaborative effort is to use our partner’s strength in this area. Establishing a dealership is an expensive proposition. Today it is not possible to set up a dealership the way Tata and other people have done. The best model is to use a dealership network that exists and as you go forward, you will see more of it happening in the market.
What is your strategy to take care of service and spare parts availability in India? Can you give some indications.
The strategy is to benchmark the prices across brands. The Linea is going to be highly localised; therefore we will ensure that the parts are also easy to obtain. Customers can now go to the dealers to get exclusive experience of an environment that is very European.
Within the Tata network, we have done exclusive training of the technical people. We have well-trained people for customer interfacing. And we have exclusive set ups for the service of Fiat cars. In other words, we are trying to take care of all the loose ends so as to enhance customer experience.
The general perception is that Fiat cars are not fuel-efficient. How will you address this issue? What technologies are you using to augment fuel efficiency?
You said it. It is just a perception that persists in people’s minds. You compare the latest generation cars—the mileage is almost the same. You may end up with a kilometre here and there, but that is because of so many other factors—such as the condition of the road on which you are driving, whether you have the air-conditioner on or not, whether you are doing hill driving or plain driving.
These are the many things on which the mileage of a car depends. And all the new generation cars are almost on the same scale in this respect. See, people talk about just two things—mileage and spare parts. Let me tell you that today Fiat parts are available all over and they are competitive both in terms of price and quality.
What would be your communication strategy for 2009? Mass media or below-the-line?
Our marketing strategy would be to encourage more and more potential car buyers to go out and drive our car.
Our ads are very different from the regular auto ads that you see. We are going to maintain the same standards. We are looking at print medium and the outdoors aggressively. Television commercials and the internet are also part of the plan. We already have a dedicated website, www.fiatlinea.com.
One more issue with Fiat cars. You seem to be launching your models in India long after their global launches. Your competitors, say, a Hyundai or a Toyota, would do it differently. They have made a virtue of, to use an industry parlance, simul-launch.
We were actually waiting to have a local manufacturing base, so that we can launch it from here to price it economically. We are also trying to set up a strong manufacturing base. India is an important market. It is a market that is growing and highly competitive.
You have showcased the Linea sedan, 500 and Grande Punto at the Auto Expo 2008. What was the feedback for the 500 like, and when do you plan to launch Grande Punto in the country?
Oh, it was fantastic. We already sold 56 cars. It is driven by some of the best faces and the reviews and feedback are excellent. We plan to launch the Punto in the second half of this year.

Business - Mobile phone makers moot free handsets for 50 million poor families

2009-02-03T18:46:00.000+05:30

Esha Madhavan

Taking rural telecom penetration to the next level, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) in a proposal to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested free of cost mobile handsets and connections for the 50 million families living below the poverty line (BPL) in India. The ICA has suggested that “an investment of approximately Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from the Universal Services Obligations Fund (USO) for the free phones has the potential of transforming the life of many families/ individuals in this category. The mobile handset provided can be a basic phone with an AM radio. The AM radio can be very useful for listening to relevant local language content. These radio stations should be made interactive and calls to these radio stations should be made free of cost”. The Indian Cellular Association represents handset makers including Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
According to Pankaj Mahendroo, President, ICA, “A free calling package of up to 100 calls per month free of cost for a period of two years should be provided along with the skills mapping of these families, which needs to be done at the time of providing these connections/ handsets. These families have unutilised/under utilised skills and competencies, which can be used, provided these are mapped out and then aggregated in a particular geographical area, for example, say 20 sq km. These skills/competencies can be made available based on requests received through voice calls and SMS. The IT backbone along with local language call centres need to be created.”
The industry body has estimated that free calls would enable these families to save Rs 15-20 a month by cutting down on the transportation cost as they would have better access to information in local languages on their mobile phone. “As the cost saving starts accruing, these families, after the initial period of two years, would be willing to start paying for the mobile services at the rate of at least Rs 25 per month” as suggested by the ICA.
In addition to the USO subsidy, the handset makers have sought the abolition of the VAT of 4 per cent, which would help in bringing down costs of handsets to below Rs 1,500. Mahindroo has stressed on the importance of getting the rural population educated on the usage of handsets and has made suggestions on repairs, after sales service, and setting up of service stations. He further pointed out, “The resultant action by taking our points on board can revolutionise the rural economy of the country and also create major transformations in the below the poverty level population’s economic status.”
At a time when the potential of the rural economy of India is on the verge of getting harnessed, the rural telecom penetration is considered highly relevant in the context of rural health, I.T. infrastructure, VAS and rural economy.

Mktg - Matrimonial websites go offline, local to create perfect alliances

2009-02-03T18:38:00.000+05:30

Esha Madhavan

It is said that marriages are made in heaven, but in today’s wired world, they are increasingly being made via the cyber space. However, marriages still need to be solemnised on earth, especially in India, where the entire extended family is involved in the process. It is this ground reality that matrimonial websites in India have realised and have lately taken to shifting their focus towards various offline initiatives and also begun targeting the smaller towns.
As a result, they are devising newer methods to reach the new category of non-Internet using market. Whether this shift in focus has happened due to a fall in paid subscribers of matrimonial websites following the recession or the sudden growing potential of the huge mass of customers in smaller Indian towns is yet to be judged statistically.
Some of the factors that could, however, be taken into consideration include the fact that there has been a growing number of Internet users across the country; the small town markets dominated by local marriage bureaus are yet to be tapped by the matrimonial portals; and there has been a significant fall in the NRI customer base of these sites. So, what followed has been a range of new initiatives by most of the marriage portals in the lines of matrimony magazines, matrimony meets, marriage centres, reality TV shows, Internet TV and so on.
Some time back, Bharatmatrimony.com, a matrimonial portal from the Consim Group, launched Actve Matrimony on TataSky. Actve Matrimony features 1,000 new matrimonial listings every week and classified according to multiple languages and communities. With this service, the Group claims to have increased its user base in addition to its existing base of members. Bharatmatrimony has also launched an Internet channel that features videos for audiences across the globe.
Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder & CEO, Consim Info Pvt Ltd, said, “We would like our services to reach consumers who are also not so net savvy. The products remain the same, but services offered will depend on the consumers’ comfort level. So, it’s a matter of extending the services to use our product better. We want to offer a variety of services to people to make it more user-friendly and easily accessible to all.”
Through its offline centres, Bharatmatrimony caters to the non-Internet users. Its magazine, ‘BharatMatrimonyTimes’, features success stories, interviews with celebrities and various aspects of marriages, including trends, relationships, and the wedding industry itself.
Said Murugavel, “We do grassroot marketing to reach consumers in the smaller towns and help them experience our services.”
Recently, Shaadi.com and Star Plus forged a partnership for a show, combining reality and entertainment. The show traces the journey of participants’ right from their initial meeting, selection, discussion and drama, culminating in an Indian wedding, showcasing a slice of Indian family life. The show is open to all eligible Indian residents.
According to Vibhas Mehta, Business Head, Shaadi.com, “Matrimonials through reality TV is one great concept that Indian television lacked. With our expertise in the domain, being one of India’s most trusted matrimonial sites, a dedicated team at Shaadi.com will screen each registration before entries are passed on to Star Plus.”
Coming to the question of whether the matrimonial sites would be able to harness the local regional markets, we have seen a lot many sites coming out in the regional languages. Commenting on this growing localisation and regional language sites in India, Murugavel said, “We see it as an important investment for the future. As the Internet penetration into semi-urban and rural markets goes up, localisation will gain momentum.”

Sport - Shilpa Shetty & Kundra snares equity in Rajasthan Royals

2009-02-03T18:36:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia. Can Shilpa Shetty be far behind? Apparently not. Indian Bollywood actor and Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty now has joined the ranks of the top stars who own a piece of a franchise of the IPL (Indian Premiere League). She has bought a 12 per cent stake in the 2008 inaugural IPL winning team Rajasthan Royals.
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Shilpa Shetty and her partner - UK based business man Raj Kundra - have invested $16.8 million (Rs 820 million) in the Rajasthan Royals. That puts the valuation of the franchise at around $140 million (Rs 6.83 billion), more than double the $67 million that the owners, Emerging Media, paid for it a little over a year ago.
Rajasthan Royals is led by Australian spin legend Shane Warne and has international stars like South African skipper Graeme Smith and Aussie all-rounder Shane Watson playing for it.
"I relate with the Rajasthan Royals because they were the underdogs last year just like me. It's an honour and a pleasure to be associated with the Rajasthan Royals," said Shetty.
She will also play a role in the team's promotional activities this year and she signaled that there could be a music video in the pipeline.
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Rajasthan Royals chairman and co-owner Manoj Badale notes that the franchise has been able to bring a different ethos to the IPL. "Our aim is now to make the Rajasthan Royals a global brand. Our fan base has grown rapidly thanks to iconic players like Shane Warne. We were looking for a partner who would give us a different level of international presence and also help us exploit commercial opportunities. We had the benefit of being champions. We had earlier examined the possibility of an IPO but shelved those plans in December due to market conditions. We are not looking to raise more funds."
Kundra says that investing in the IPL is a long-term proposition. "I decided last year that I wanted to buy into an IPL franchise. It was a question of waiting for the right opportunity. In these difficult times one relies on a proven success formula. The IPL is just that. The IPL story has been inspirational."
Shetty now joins the ranks of fellow actress Preity Zinta who owns the Kings XI Punjab team along with her partner Ness Wadia, while Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan own the Kolkata Knight Riders team.
Last year's matches saw Shah Rukh Khan jumping all over Shoaib Akhtar; Preity Zinta hugging Yuvraj Singh. Will Shilpa Shetty do a sizzling number and inspire the Rajasthan Royals to get onto the winners' podium once again? Going by her winning habit she well might! Going by Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta's performance last year she well might not. Who knows? Watch this space!!!!

Entertainment - ESS to air its first animation show across Asia

2009-02-03T18:35:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) will air its first sports animation series on Star Sports across Asia from 2 February 2009.
Sponsored by Caltex, the show will air every Monday at 7 pm and will be repeated on Saturdays at 11.30 am. There will be 13 half-hour episodes of the animated football series.
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Targetted at youths, the broadcaster says that the show complements Star Sports’ brand of sports entertainment as a feel-good story of a young boy, Shakes, who realises and lives his dream against all odds, bringing a message of hope and inspiration to young kids and adults alike across the globe.
The animated television series follows the fortunes of the Supa Strikas F.C. as Shakes and his teammates take on the world’s best teams in the Super League.
ESS adds that the programme adds a new dimension to its line-up of football programming, which broadcasts top properties such as the Barclays Premier League, Uefa Champions League, FA Cup, AFC Football tournaments as well as shows like Football Focus and Nokia Football Crazy.
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Supa Strikas started off as one-minute animated shorts that were first aired in South Africa in late 2006, and became a huge success across various regions. This ultimately led to the development of the full animation series, which has been watched by more than 10 million people around the globe.
The Supa Strikas animation series has been broadcast across other Caltex and Texaco countries in Africa and Latin America where Chevron sponsors the programme.
The animated television series started broadcasting in South Africa in November 2008 and is currently showing in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Colombia, Panama, El Salavador, Nigeria and Kenya. The programme has been dubbed into Bahasa Melayu and was launched in Malaysia in December 2008.
The Asia broadcast of Super Strikas comes just as the world gears up for two years of soccer madness with the Confederations Cup in 2009 and Fifa World Cup in 2010, which will be staged on African soil for the first time.