Will my tomorrow be safe?

As the global banking giants head towards their worst time ever, Indian customers are worried about their money parked with them in India

Mitali, a call-centre executive, still remembers how her friends persuaded her to change her decision when she was planning to park some of her hard earned money in a safe investment avenue like fixed deposits. They argued against her decision to opt for a public sector bank, talking about the foreign banks’ service qualities, global reach, high standards et al. And today, when she is worried about the safety of her money, all those so-called advisors have ran out of words. But then, Mitali is not just one the only one going through this confusion, there are many more like her who are currently going through it. The basic question that’s in their mind is whether their money is safe or not in the hands of these glitzy, glamorous foreign banks?

Everyone must be remembering the whole frenzy episode attached to the adverse news that hit ICICI Bank in September last year. Almost all the ATMs of the bank were drained out in one day, only because there was a rumour which said that the bank had a major exposure in Lehman Brothers, the giant US investment bank that collapsed last year. If a link to a collapsed bank can create such panic in the minds of millions of the customers of India’s largest private bank, one can easily understand feelings of those whose money is placed in banks like CitiBank, which is currently undergoing the worst phase and struggling to survive. Explaining the impact of global turmoil on Indian units of the global banks, Karthik Srinivasan, Co-Head, Financial Sector Ratings, ICRA said, “It would definitely affect the foreign banks operating in India as in many cases these units are more like branches of their global counterparts, not standalone entities. So they cannot keep themselves away from the hit taken by the original company. However, at the moment it’s too difficult to say to what extent they suffer.”

Apart from the current financial health of the other factor that aggravates this skepticism is the guarantee cover for deposits made in India, which is pegged at just Rs.1,00,000 compared to 50,000 Pounds in the UK and $1,00,000 in the US. Interestingly, the DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation) cover has not been revised since 1993 unlike other major countries who have already taken the initiative. Considering the global scenario and the domestic norms, it’s definitely a difficult time for Indian depositors to have faith on the foreign banks. So much so that in a recently conducted 4Ps B&M and ICMR Survey on Indian banking industry only 17% voted for foreign banks when they were asked their preferred banks.

However, before jumping on to any conclusion, consumers must actually understand that the situation is also dependent on the host governments’ attitude towards respective foreign banks. For example, Barclays can be a safer option today as compared to Citibank for the fact that the British Government is reassuring its banks a big way. The corporate status of the bank is also a major decisive factor for the banks at the moment as those banks, which are working as a subsidiary of a foreign bank are relatively safer than those which just have their branches operating in India. Thus for the confused bunch of people like Mitali, it’s actually the time to first know their banks. So who is ready to prepare the KYB norms?

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Why has IIPM always been opposed to B-school rankings?
IIPM : One of the leading and most respected business schools
IIPM students on NDTV Television Chat Show
Four Phase of IIPM Global Plans
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri says
30 professors of international repute to IIPM

It’s all about timing

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

With blue-chips trading at their rock-bottom levels, it’s time for investors to strengthen their portfolios

American humorist Arnold H. Glasgow rightly said, “Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.” And it’s time for the Indian investors to understand the value of his words. After a year-long carnage, most of the high-voltage stocks seem to be trading at their rock bottom level. That means stocks, earlier which were out of reach for the retail investors, are now standing right at their door steps to be picked up, but of course, not without following the basics.

Rajen Shah, Chief Investment Officer, Angel Broking Limited, advises, “This is the best time to buy into the market as all the stocks are on a low and once the market improves and stocks value picks up gradually, the investors would surely earn a fortune. The equity market is likely to roll back to normalcy soon and we would see the BSE’s Sensex again touching the 21,000 mark and going beyond three years down the line i.e. probably in February 2012.” Going by his words, this is actually the right time when retail investors should seriously consider some asset building exercise in the stock market with a long-term perspective in mind. Also they should look up to blue chips or such other stocks, which have already proven their metal in the market during earlier recovery phases, for a better output in future rather than indulging themselves in mid-cap and small caps that tend to be highly volatile. Agrees N. Wadhwa, Managing Director, SKI Capital Service Limited, as he says, “People should invest in large cap companies with a sound business model. They should keep themselves actively involved in the market dealings and keep themselves constantly updated about the market conditions to pocket a better return in the long run.”

Large caps like L&T (trading at Rs.580 today as against a high of around Rs.4,300 last year), Hindalco industries (trading at Rs.39 as against last year high of Rs.215), ACC Ltd. (trading at Rs.531 today as against a high of around Rs.1,030 last year) and Sterlite Industries (trading at Rs.250 presently against Rs.1,033 last year) et al can actually do wonders for an investor down the line. These are shares of such companies, which have the potential to shoot up really high once the markets witness recovery. But, investors investing at the moment must be a little patient in their approach and hold on to those scrip for the right time to arrive. After all right time is what matters the most in the stock market.

Deepak Ranjan Patra

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Death of Windows OS?!

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Google’s Android OS is all set to rewrite tales in the OS market. But can the newcomer really beat the big daddy?

After making inroads into the mobile phone market (with its G-Phone), Google has now decided to get back strong at where its journey started, the PC. Yes, the Mountain View giant is widely speculated to be working on getting its Android Operating System running soon on computers by 2010, thus challenging the dominance of Microsoft’s Vista and XP(which have been estimated to garner 95.4% share in the OS category by end-2009, by Gartner). Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group asserts, “It is part of Google’s strategy to eventually displace Microsoft. If it is successfully able to get into the market, one would definitely think of incorporating a platform which is an open source and can be customised...”

What would however stand in favour of Google is its brand that has earned a reputation for being simple, user-friendly and secure. This also means that Google might just be able to get its software loaded onto low-cost PCs and notebooks, a field where Microsoft has failed miserably so far. Technically, the Android OS is based on the Linux operating system and is open to any programmer who wants to develop features for it. As per Gartner, today, Linux accounts for about 15% of the mini-notebook market compared to 85% of Windows. The report further went on to reveal that Linux had less than 1% share in overall OS market; this therefore is also an opportunity for Linux to gain good ground. Android would carry forward all the features of Linux, which definitely makes it a safer and more secure OS than Windows. For instance, it will be based on a multi-user design, built from ground-up to isolate users from applications, files and directories that affect the entire OS. Each user will be given a directory where all the data files and configurations will be stored. Thus, it becomes impossible to send a virus through email to an Android user. On the other hand, Windows has only recently evolved from a single-user design to a multi-user!

Then there is the modular design that Android would ape. From the kernel (the core “brains” of Android) to the applications, no two application would be inextricably intertwined with any other application in the OS. This is an advantage over the Windows OS which basically is monolithic in design (and not modular). The OS will also not be constrained by a Remote Procedure Call (RPC) model which are potentially security threats. An RPC is when one program sends a message over a network to tell another program to calculate something and then return the result. The reason it is called RPC is because it is immaterial whether the parent program is running on the same computer, or any other cube over the internet, anywhere. (Un)Fortunately, this is also where Android scores over Windows, as Windows users reply heavily on the RPC model which can’t be disabled even with firewalls!

Finally, the Android would be ideal for ‘headless’ (system hardware sans the monitor) non-local administration. For servers, this is often the ideal type of arrangement needed as a remotely administered server is not exposed to the same risks of security breach as a locally administered server. Really, it’s too early to predict whether Google will do to Os what it did to SEs (Search Engines, of course!). The interesting part of the story is how Windows reacts to the change in OS market dynamics... Perhaps, Microsoft has finally found a real worthy adversary; the war is on (hell ya)!

Arun Kumar Roy

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Mob’ile attack!

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Will Dell make a successful foray into the smartphone market? Or is’t just a distant dream for the American?

Dell is rumoured to be planning an annoucement of its smartphones at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to offset slumping sales of personal computers. As per market reports, Dell plans to introduce smartphones that can compete with Apple’s hugely popular iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry. As per a report in WSJ, the phone will in all probability be based on Google’s Android OS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software. It is said that the Round Rock, Texas-based computer manufacturer, which is the second-largest producer of PCs in the world, has been designing the prototypes for quite sometime now. It is also being widely speculated that Dell has set up a core team for the same purpose at Chicago. The team is said to have been working on a top-secret smartphone project for the last year. This release of the cell phone would also work well for Dell, especially considering its year 2007 acquisition of Zing Systems, that could allow it to grant its users facilities of music streaming across its devices, for some price of course!

One question however remains: can Dell establish a position on the smartphones platform that can compete with the smartphones of Apple, RIM, Palm and others? Given the cool down in Dell’s core PC and server business in the face of the current donwturn, there is no doubt that the given launch can help it tap newer markets. But many analysts also don’t agree to this. As per them, in the face of a formidable competition from Apple, RIM, and the forthcoming Palm Pre success in the smartphone market is easier said than done. “There is a $3 billion opportunity for smartphones, but at present smartphones have a very small fraction of that. This means that the market at present is far from settled, thereby allowing new entries to more easily prosper,” avers Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group. “Smartphones market has grown at a tremendous 30-40% (annually) over the past few years, and is expected to grow in the future as well,” adds Shushmul Maheshwari, CEO, RNCOS. The happy news is that today, everyone wants to move up the value chain and therefore own a smartphone. “If successful, Dell is likely to get a great piece of this significantly rising demand,” says Maheshwari.

Then there are many experts who foresee a bright prospect for Dell’s smartphone. Dell is well known for its online retailing, and if leveraged well, it could make its smartphone a compelling device. On the other hand, if Dell’s product is successful in gaining attention of end-customers, it will definitely have an adverse impact on other smartphone manufacturers. This would cause a reshuffling in the current market landscape, with Dell finding space in the market which is currently dominated by players such as RIM, Nokia, HTC, and Apple. Realistically however, it will take it some time to create a dent in the market.

Thankfully, analysts do not find anything wrong in Dell’s decision to enter the smartphone market, though it also depends on the final execution of design. “The iPhone could have been disastrous for Apple but they executed it so well that it is now one of their greatest assets. If Dell can execute it similar to how Apple did, this will prove to be very successful for it.” Wonder, if the day will ever come when Dell will have to choose over which product line to drop; but if at all, that will only be likely in the next recession, another decade later!

Arun Kumar Roy

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Detail of all IIPM branches
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

THANK TELCOS FOR SMALL MERCIES...

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

Cheap services and small handsets fueled India’s telecom boom. The stakes are not about to change anytime soon

The latest buzz to have gripped the telecom world is the launch of Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) GSM service. In a bid to increase subscriber tally, RCOM is targeting people whose Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is less than Rs.300 per month, unlike the old ideology of chasing high-usage customers. With the second largest telecom operator making this move in the highly competitive telecom industry, it won’t be long before we see others treading a similar path. “RCOM’s GSM foray was expected to cause some disruption and their strategy to chase lower ARPU customers and giving away prepaid connections at virtually throwaway prices of Rs.25 each (along with free talktime worth Rs.900) are steps in that direction,” avers Prakash Gaba, an independent telecom analyst. But then arguably telcos had always taken pro-active steps to ensure getting even low-cost customers into their net. Vodafone’s chhota recharge was undoubtedly a step in that direction. Further, entry of new players like Unitech, Videocon, et al, would eventually make for still cheaper tariffs by at least 20-50%. Some say local calls would soon become as low as 10 paisa/minute!

“On VAS front too you find that micro-payments driven services are more popular and the trend is expected to only gain momentum,” explains another telecom analyst. Clearly, ringtones and caller tones will continue to be the most popular VAS after SMS. Also, analysts feel that the year would see a further reduction in SMS charges so as to ensure that the volume of SMSs do not fall in 2009.

A similar trend is also expected on the handset front. Though the low-end category in handsets have always been doing well, but of-late handset biggies had begun focusing profusely on the premium segment. The failure of Apple’s iPhone coupled with the slowdown induced fear instinct among consumers has made Nokia, Sony Ericcson, Samsung, et al, look afresh at the category. This year, they expect new customers in the mobile markets to be much higher than people opting for replacements. So, market leader Nokia has already announced the launch of Nokia 1200, very similar to their iconic Nokia 1100. To give more teeth to their entry level portfolio, the company has also launched handsets like Nokia 1208, Nokia 1209 and has plans for 1202, 2330 classic, 2323 classic... Even Samsung’s success (the company has now bagged the second spot in the handset market) is mainly attributable to the slew of entry level phones it launched last year. In 2009, this Korean handset maker is looking at expanding its base in the entry level handset market, positioning its sub-brand handset Guru300 as their star product.

The race to offer value-for-money, affordable handsets continues with Spice Mobile launching a people’s phone that costs only Rs.800 (minus a display screen & SMS sending services). But more popular perhaps would be Sony Ericsson’s R300 and R306, both AM/FM phones that are competitively priced. Clearly, slowdown or not, India’s telecom segment is going to be ruled by small ARPU’s, smaller recharges, cheap VAS and value-for-money handsets; while the phones themselves will get lighter, slimmer and yes, smaller on the pockets!

Surbhi Chawla

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers
IIPM Admission Detail
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!