Saturday, November 24, 2012

SPICEJET: STAKE SALE

It’ll be tough to turn around SpiceJet without a radical reorganisation

“The financial markets have shown great sensitivity in valuing airlines on the basis of the direction of fuel prices. In the last week for example, a fuel price decline of around 10% has seen the share prices of some major US carriers increase by up to 40%,” informs Somaia. SpiceJet began operations in February 2005. Posting losses of up to Rs.7.5 million on a daily basis, it speculated to break even before 2009-10. Thanks to mounting fuel costs, its shares have lost almost two-thirds of their value in 2008. This bleak situation has resulted in reducing routes, rescheduling aircraft orientation and the need to raise an additional $100 million.

The WL Ross deal undoubtedly seems to be an opportunity to start afresh for SpiceJet. It will provide a platform for correcting past losses and restructuring operations to be more efficient and hopefully more adaptive to market demands and competition.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Dam’d if you do; dam’d if you don’t!

Governments rarely consider rehabilitation while drafting dam projects

Dam’n it! We’ll jump directly to the point. There are over 50 million people displaced in the country so far since 50s. Land owners or tenants who occupy the land were compensated monetarily which was never enough to resettle.

The example of Hirakud dam (1957) is a case to point. The government acquired over 727 sq. km of land under the imperialistic Land Acquisition Law, which displaced over 1.8 lakh people. Though later, experiencing the severity of displacement and sufferance of affected families, a policy was finally adopted for rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced people; but as always, it remained on paper only. On another front, after the uproar of the Narmada project, a special World Bank team, Morse Committee, concluded in 1992 that relocating displaced people is impossible (unless resettlement plans have been made in advance); but Indian governments continued with the projects without any such plan.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

The current inflation can turn out to be too dear for UPA

Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri
Hony. Dean, Centre For Economic Research and Advanced Studies, IIPM    
  
For any country like ours, which houses the maximum number of poor households, any form of price distortion in basic commodities invariably remains a sensitive issue. And probably it is for this very reason it has been observed that citizenry has historically pardoned various elected governments of poor overall governance but has never pardoned any government for general prices mismanagement. And that is all the more reason, it becomes even more intriguing to analyse as to why the current UPA government has allowed the inflation to go beyond control and that too, at a point in time when the elections are ‘round the corner. On the face of it, it looks like that two reasons, i.e. complacency and miscalculation had been the villain of peace for the ruling UPA. For they could never pre-empt that the crude oil prices would spiral to this extent, and even if they had, then they had blatantly avoided it by thinking that they would be able to tide over the situation riding on the growth plank. This is also evident from the statements that are being issued from the Finance Ministry, wherein the onus of the inflation is put on crude oil prices!

Well, the fact cannot be denied that crude oil prices have created a havoc globally, throwing almost everything out of gear. But then, this is also true that the signals for such price hikes were evident from last year itself. Then the question that arises is why didn’t the UPA take adequate measures to mitigate the crisis back then? Was it that they were thinking that they would be able to peacefully manage their own tenure and leave the mess for the next government? Whatever might be the case, this cannot be denied that it is sheer lack of prudence and proactive thinking that has driven the inflation to insurmountable heights to touch a 13-year high! In fact, in one of my earlier columns, I wrote how this current global food crisis and resultant price rise has come as an opportunity to the ruling UPA government, wherein the tables could be turned in India’s favour for becoming the global food supplier. For India possesses every resource to become the world’s food bowl. But then it seems that the policy makers are content blaming the global crude price rise and passing the buck to the Reserve Bank of India to mitigate this monstrous inflation.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Technology and dating communities

Technology and dating communities stay in step with the changing times...

Two years ago speed dating came to India with the first event being held in Mumbai. Speed dating is at times described as a, ‘formalised matchmaking process’. In truth, it is nothing more than throwing an equal number of guys and girls together and each guy gets some three minutes to chat with every dame before moving on to the next. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, it has its own catch; you would get the girl’s number only if she has also shown an interest in you.

And oh, guys get charged more for the same services! Why? Well, isn’t it obvious? Although yet to take-off fully in India, the concept has proven to be sound and successful and usually safe. The reason could be that as a society we are yet to fully de-stigmatise dating as a concept, with people who take the help of dating agencies labelled as losers or of a loose moral character. Take Sanjana for example, she runs a ‘friendship circle’ (another name for what essentially is a dating agency) in Delhi called Cool Friends. “Our aim is to find like-minded friends for people in this unfriendly world,” she says with a straight face when asked about the friendship circle.

With metros like Delhi and Mumbai serving as a veritable melting pot for all of India’s religions and countless castes, it is getting harder for parents to insist that their child marries within the ‘community’. This, coupled with ever greater interaction between young people of different regions (with the coming of age of the Internet and greater mobility overall) has ensured that dating has been demystified, although risks remain.

“I started dating a guy I met through Facebook. He really seemed wonderful and funny. But I later found out that along with his age, he had lied about many things. He turned out to be four years younger to me after claiming that he was three years elder!” says Monica laughingly. Well, at least he was not a repressed freak…


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

An Indian hero’s animated adventures?

Is the world ready for an Indian hero’s animated adventures?

For such animation film enthusiasts, in the pipeline is Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, an animated version of the award-winning Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Yash Raj film’s and Walt Disney co-production Meet the Roadside Romeo, Pritish Nandy Communication’s animated version of popular films like Howrah Bridge, Amar Prem, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat and Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina; with the aim to recreate the magic of these films using animation. Interestingly, Ghatothkach-Master of Magic, directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao of Appu Raja and Pushpak fame, produced by Shemaroo Entertainment and Sun Animatics, made both in 2D and 3D, has been released in English apart from Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali to reach a wider audience. Revolving around the escapades of Ghatothkach, the mighty son of Bhim, the prince of the forest blessed with magical powers, this film has managed to generate a lot of curiosity amongst both the Indian and International audience.

“Most of the animation films made so far have been based on well known gods and goddesses. But this film is based on a lesser known mythological character which does not enjoy a ‘God status’ in Hindu mythology, thereby making it very interesting in terms of characterisation and packaging,” reinstates Maroo. Such is the magic of Ghatothkach...that the film happens to be the very first Indian animation flick to be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. “Last year we had promoted the film at the Cannes and by God’s grace the film received a very good response. There are no boundaries to creativity in animation, and with such films’ market flourishing, I think it is the right time to move towards the unknown,” adds Smita Maroo.

With trends changing fast, it is difficult to predict what future holds for this genre (animation). For now, just sit back and sing along... “Main hoon Ghatothkach…” 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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