Business & Finance

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 22 jul 2014

In the recent ranking of 143 countries on the 2014 Global Innovation Index (GII), India slipped from 66 to 76. Three experts debate the reasons for this fall. Professor Deepa Mani of ISB identifies three issues - (1) Lack of proper measurement of different innovations that happen in Indian companies (2) Traditional organizations lack autonomy, flexibility and customer or business-oriented thinking (3) Access to risk capital, mentorship and linkages between academia, industry and government are required. According to Prof. Mani, 'For things to change, the government, academia and India Inc. all need to work together to encourage people to try new things and provide the risk capital and mentorship for such efforts.' Richard Rekhy, CEO of KPMG India, says, 'Only 1% or less of gross domestic product is being invested in innovation in India. Innovation has to be nurtured. A majority of India's weaknesses arise from the absence of an encouraging ecosystem that fuels innovation.' Moreover he suggests that for emerging market like India, disruptive innovations will be important to propel growth. According to Adil Malia, Head of HR at Essar Group, India as a society is very pattern-driven and slow in adopting new norms and this is the root cause of lack of innovation. He mentions three critical things that are responsible for the level of innovation in India today - (1) Lack of research in universities and institutions (2) Service nature of India's economy results in students getting focused on career-based and structured learning to get better jobs. They lack knowledge seeking approach to learning (3) Most companies, with the exception of pharma and life sciences don't spend much on innovation. He suggests that to foster innovation it has to begin at the student level. Read on...

Livemint: Indian companies' missing innovation DNA
Authors: Zahra Khan, P. R. Sanjai, Arundhati Ramanathan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2014

Social media platforms are an effective tool for communication and marketing for companies. But caution has to be taken while pursuing social media strategy considering its ubiquitous and viral nature. Most often the platforms are not moderated and there is a probability of their been hacked and misused. Moreover companies sometimes also outsource their social media strategies to inexperienced professionals that may result in erroneous and socially insensitive communication. In some instances companies have themselves often been found guilty of poorly judged promotions causing strong adverse consumer reactions. There are numerous examples from the Indian business community where social media management has been found lacking and became a cause for embarassment. According to Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, 'Automation of social media interactions can be useful but without careful human oversight, it can very easily be gamed by rogue elements online.' Read on...

The Economic Times: Social media promotions can backfire, too
Authors: Ratna Bhushan, Varuni Khosla

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 may 2014

Harvard School of Public Health estimates the financial burden of NCD's (Non-communicable Diseases like cancer, cardiac ailments and diabetes) in India at US$ 6.2 trillion from 2012 to 2030. The current state of India's urban healthcare system is insufficient to effectively handle this challenge. But this also provides an opportunity to create and develop India specific healthcare models to fill this gap. Focus should be on urban mass market that is estimated to be 450 million with healthcare spending of Rs 200,000 crore by 2020. Karan Singh and Parijat Ghosh of Bain & Company suggest 4A's for private healthcare companies to effectively tap this market - (1) Awareness: Government and private players should create awareness by focusing on prevention as its most cost effective. (2) Access: Private sector should create a large network of facilities to provide standardized care at low cost that should include diagnostic centers, hospitals and nursing homes. (3) Affordability: Expansion of health insurance is required, particularly in middle class as currently it is below 10%. Lack of coverage hinders many urban Indians to get regular check-ups or early treatment thus increasing the healthcare costs in long-term. (4) Acceptable quality: Minimum acceptable healthcare standards have to be evolved to scale up quickly. Certification for facilities should be less onerous. Read on...

The Economic Times: Urban India's healthcare requires holistic, disruptive and collaborative solutions
Authors: Parijat Ghosh, Karan Singh

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 apr 2014

Promotion as a sales and marketing tool is generally applied to introduce a new product in the market or boost sales of existing products. Sunil Alagh, a marketing expert, suggests - Clearly identify the objective of the promotion; Properly select the type of promotion based on the end objective; Use innovative methods to attract consumer attention and differentiate from existing and competing brands; Use appropriate association of brand with promotional activity; Correct timing and duration of promotion for maximum relevance and effectiveness. Read on...

Outlook: Innovate To Ensure That The Promotion Gets Attention
Author: Sunil Alagh

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 apr 2014

Majority of India's population lives in rural areas and according to estimates its rural markets are growing faster than the urban markets. Although companies are trying to enhance their customer base by reaching the rural consumers but there are challenges particularly in application of customer retention strategies that require consistent and better after-sales services. This is mainly due to small number of consumers that are spread over a vast area and inability to afford to build dedicated after-sales service network. But according to Accenture research this is not discouraging companies to make focused and sustained efforts to effectively and efficiently reach this market through - Devising low-cost methods for after-sales support; Anchoring customer relationships on trust; Investing in community development. Read on...

Business Standard: Retaining rural customers
Author: Sanjay Dawar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 mar 2014

The recent study conducted by SAP and Oxford Economics, "SMEs:Equipped to Compete", based on the survey of 2100 executives across 21 countries (100 per country) and five industries, aims to understand how SMEs are leveraging technology to boost innovation, strengthen customer relationships, improve agility and expand their business. According to the study, 43% consider increasing global competition as the critical issue affecting Indian SMEs while global average was only 26%. This was followed by economic uncertainty (34%) and shifting customer expectations (29%). Another finding of the study reveals that 57% of Indian firms invest in new technology only when there is a clear return on investment. Priyadarshi Mohapatra of SAP mentions that Indian SMEs are now doing business across the world, including Europe and the US and are even considering emerging markets. Some of the areas of business include cycle parts, paints & pigments, and packaged foods. Read on...

Business Standard: Global competition key issue for Indian SMEs, says study
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 02 mar 2014

Developed economies strongly recovered during 2013 and showed continuous improvement in growth rates since 2008 financial crisis. But similar performance is not been observed in case of developing and emerging economies in 2013. This is expected to change in 2014 and according to experts, India's growth rate may reach closer to 6%. Richard Cox points out current account deficit and declining currency value as main problems facing Indian economy. According to him upcoming general elections and expected economc reforms are creating a wave of optimism. Indian rupee will likely see gains. Moreover forex markets in India would be attractive for traders with environment more conducive for taking added risk. Read on...

Epoch Times: Is India's Economy on the Path to Recovery?
Author: Richard Cox

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 02 mar 2014

Social sector can be an effective learning environment for students as it prepares them to better understand the social realities and development issues that a developing country like India faces. Moreover it would also provide them opportunity to utilize their skills and contribute to improve the condition of the society that they are part of. In an interview Nachiket Mor provides his views on various aspects of his professional life and his recent transition to work in the social sector. According to him there is not much difference in his approach to contribute in either corporate or in social sector. He says that in a poor country like India any activity which is done with integrity whether in corporate sector or the social sector has the potential for a very large impact and cites an example of the transformative role that the telecommunications sector has played in India. He suggests - business graduates should work few years with social sector start-ups before joining established organizations; talented young people should consider social sector involvement as part of their mainstream career; future Indian CEOs should be more sensitive and well aware like for example Nitin Paranjpe. Read on...

Pagal Guy: A stint in the social sector can produce better CEOs - Nachiket Mor
Author: Sanjit Oberai

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 mar 2014

'Taylor Rule', developed by Stanford University economist John B. Taylor, is an interest rate feedback rule of how central banks should set short-term interest rates as economic conditions change to meet the goals of economic stability together with desired inflation rate. The rule states that short-term interest rates should be determined by two factors - inflation and output gaps. In the article Professor Tulsi Jayakumar of S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, explores the dynamics of India's policy rates, how they relate to global policy trends and their comparison with rates prescribed by the Taylor Rule. He mentions the findings of recent RBI study that was based on the quarterly estimates for the period 2000-01 to 2012-13. According to the study, proxy policy rate (average overnight call money rate) shows greater divergence from standard Taylor Rule interest rate in the post-crisis period (after the third quarter of 2007-08) than the pre-crisis period. For most of the crisis-period the policy rate has been above the Taylor Rule rate. Also the gap has narrowed in 2012-13. Another significant finding is that the higher the deviation of the policy rate from that implied by the standard Taylor Rule (interest rate gap), higher is the deviation of the inflation from its desired level (inflation gap). Read on...

Live Mint: The Taylor Rule and interest rates in India
Author: Tulsi Jayakumar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 feb 2014

After years of research, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Tata Motors Ltd (TML), has developed hydrogen powered bus which is similar to CNG-type vehicle and has cylinders with high pressured hydrogen at the top. It utilizes fuel cell technology with hydrogen as fuel. According to ISRO's V. Gnana Gandhi, the technical head of the project, the bus is a zero pollution vehicle as the product of cold combustion is water and has the potential to transform the future of transportation in India. Read on...

The Economic Times: ISRO, Tata Motors develop India's first fuel cell bus
Author: NA

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