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| November 27, 2008 | | IT can fight rising costs: Ramadorai
Cost cutting has always been on our agenda be it on power, travel or communication, says S Ramadorai, the chief executive officer, TCS.
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| November 24, 2008 | | 'India has to work on its patent laws'
Paul Herrling, global head of Novartis' corporate research, spoke to Business Standard about the changing concepts in R&D and Novartis' strategy.
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| November 20, 2008 | | 'Price cut decision only next year'
Reliance Capital AMC gets nod to operate in Malaysia
'Investing for the short-term does not make financial sense'
'There is a long-term bull market that commodities will witness. This can take 2-3 years to start. There have been some large moves in foreign exchange. We have seen the pound depreciate by 25 per cent against dollar. We have seen the yen appreciate against the dollar. When the markets start stabilising, these trends will reverse. This will give good trading opportunity. But it is not clear whether any one should do anything yet,' says Robert Morrice, MD, Barclays Wealth.
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| November 19, 2008 | | 'Someone who wants a Chevrolet won't buy a Nano'
"We probably could have sold another 20-30 per cent if there was an easy availability of vehicle finance. People continue to be interested in buying cars, but the sheer lack of finance is a concern.The buyer has to decide what his money can get him. I don't feel threatened that a customer of Chevrolet is going to buy the Nano instead," says Karl Slym, president and MD, General Motors India.
'India is likely to recover in 4-6 quarters'
Asia will avoid a full-blown financial crisis. Banks are reasonably well capitalised in India and other Asian countries. Non-performing assets are less than 5 per cent in Asia excluding Japan, says Rajat M Nag, Managing Director-General, ADB.
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| November 17, 2008 | | How Subhiksha is coping with the crisis
There is pain in the business when you expand and bank credit is difficult to come by. Everybody has to readjust the pace and speed with which they are growing, says R Subramanian.
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| November 10, 2008 | | 'Growth will not be below 8% in worst-case scenario'
While most estimates of India's GDP growth this year are in the 7-7.5 per cent range, CMIE expects the economy to trot along at 8.7 per cent. Even in a worst-case scenario, the growth is unlikely to dip below 8 per cent, Mahesh Vyas, CMIE's managing director and CEO, tells Vandana Gombar.
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| November 07, 2008 | | 'There's no need for irrational pessimism'
'We're still going to see 7 per cent GDP growth. Sales for companies may not grow at 30 per cent, but they will grow at 15-20 per cent. Profits may not go up by 20 per cent, but even if they grow 10 per cent or are flat, it will be a good performance. We've had four very good years and you cannot expect that kind of growth year after year. We will still be the second-fastest growing economy in the world,' says Deepak Parekh, chairman, HDFC.
'This is worse than the dotcom crisis'
Nobel Laureate Joseph E Stiglitz had predicted the global financial crisis and talked about its impact on emerging economies like India and China three years ago. In an interview with Business Standard at his Manhattan residence, Stiglitz says the crisis will last a couple of years.
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| November 05, 2008 | | 'Our exposure to the market is minimal'
"The general insurance penetration accounts for just 0.6 per cent of the country's GDP. There is clear potential for robust growth and we intend to leverage this opportunity. We have the financial capital, technology, distribution and brand to do this," says Vishakha Mulye, executive director, ICICI Lombard -- the largest private-sector general insurance company in India.
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| October 31, 2008 | | Meet India's biggest fund manager
Thomas Mathew T says the public sector company bought 25 per cent more in the stock markets during the second quarter as valuations were attractive.
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| October 29, 2008 | | 'There is a lot of liquidity pressure'
ICICI Bank had a tough second quarter, with its consolidated net profit down by over 27 per cent to Rs 651 crore. After the results, the bank's Joint Managing Director and CFO Chanda Kochhar said, "The core operating profit is higher, the fee income has increased, the operating expenditure is under control and the specific provision for NPAs is Rs 10 crore lower. We are watching the global environment and it will take some time to recover."
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| October 15, 2008 | | 'ICICI Prudential to list in 3 years'
Our partnership with ICICI Bank continues to remain strong. We have an exceptional relationship with them, says group CEO of Prudential.
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| October 07, 2008 | | 'Very few Indians do world-class research in India'
Romesh Wadhwani, founder of the Symphony Technology Group and the Wadhwani Foundation, which promotes the National Entrepreneurship Network, says our best scientists and researchers do not do their research in India because of the many obstacles they face; from the lack of focus on research to lack of equipment and supplies.
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| October 06, 2008 | | 'Singur... has dented investor confidence'
'Investors abroad will think if a big company in India faces such hurdles, what will happen to us. But this is an isolated case. I was in West Bengal a month back and there is a whole series of investments lined up. But investors waiting in the sidelines with their plans to come to India may have second thoughts because of this incident,' says Commerce Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai.
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| September 30, 2008 | | 'People must want to continuously develop'
The programme in India takes in 25-odd executives who have already worked for a few years. Upon passing out, they are expected to be future 'growth' leaders at GE, which earns about $2.6 billion (Rs 12,135 crore) in India a year and employs over 14,500 people across the country.
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| September 29, 2008 | | We are targeting 10,000Mw in 5 years: GVK CFO
GVKPIL Chief Financial Officer A Isaac George says that the company has targeted to increasing its power generation capacity to 10,000 Mw in five years. It also has big hopes in oil and gas exploration and in nuclear power generation.
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| September 25, 2008 | | 'This is a good time for building businesses'
"When we are building businesses with a long-term view, we are less concerned about short-term impacts. The basic growth in India, the high savings rate and low penetration of financial products suggest there is a huge yet-to-be-tapped opportunity. We believe this is a good time to be building businesses to tap that potential," says Ajay Srinivasan, CEO, Aditya Birla Group's Financial Services.
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| September 24, 2008 | | 'There is no way domestic coke production will go up'
"We do not have it anywhere else other than the Jharia coal fields in Jharkhand. The quality is also not very good for steel-making. So the Indian steel industry will continue to depend on imported coal," says Arun Kumar Jagatramka, MD, Gujarat NRE Coke.
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| September 23, 2008 | | 'Indian B-school students can beat MIT-ians'
In an exclusive interview to rediff.com, Prof. Balachandran spoke about his association with MDI, Gurgaon, Indian School of Business and his plans as the dean of the Great Lakes Institute of Management.
'I do not see AIG selling stake in India'
An interview with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) Chairman J Hari Narayan. He is charting the road map for strengthening the regulatory framework and also dealing with the turmoil in the US.
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| September 17, 2008 | | 'We wish to provide water as an esoteric experience'
'Our vision is to create next generation beverages with water placed on the wellness platform. The Himalayan brand is our first step in this direction and will be available across the country in the next 6-9 months,' says Pradeep Poddar, managing director and CEO, Mount Everest.
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| September 12, 2008 | | 'Ranbaxy will always be run independently'
"It will be the team I choose to have with the approval of the board. It is really our call on how to run the business. Certainly, the growth will be higher and so will be the size and scale of the investments. You will see a lot more aggression in terms of leveraging opportunities for the next few years," says Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh.
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| September 11, 2008 | | 'Opening up banking will offer new opportunities'
"Opening up will give us new opportunities such as greater freedom to open branches. On the inorganic side, there could be opportunities to take larger stakes in banks or to take management control. If anything of that happens, we will be interested," says Standard Chartered's regional chief executive for India and South Asia Neeraj Swaroop.
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| September 08, 2008 | | 'Foreign clients want Indian buyers'
It has been nearly four months since Sidharth Punshi, 34, former executive director at Goldman Sachs, joined Jefferies International, a global investment bank and institutional securities firm, as the managing director and country head for India. In a recent interview, Punshi told Business Standard that despite the tight liquidity scenario and a challenging global situation, Indian companies continue to chase merger and acquisition deals abroad.
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| August 27, 2008 | | 'We are targeting 40% credit growth'
"Our target is to disburse at least Rs 2,000 crore this year. Retail business constitutes 94 per cent of our business. Our total disbursal last year was Rs 7,100 crore and we plan to grow by 40 per cent this year," says LIC Housing Finance's new CEO and director, R R Nair.
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| August 26, 2008 | | 'We will do it the telecom way'
Big TV DTH's chief executive Arun Kapoor is aiming for a 40 per cent share of the market in a year, by which time the total number of DTH subscribers may treble to 18 million.
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| August 16, 2008 | | An interview with Rama Prasad Goenka
"My life has been full of interesting people", Rama Prasad Goenka tells Business Standard when asked about memories of an era when the open Indian economy was converted into a closed one based on the licence raj by the person whom he openly idolises, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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| August 13, 2008 | | Quality of growth, not rate, more vital to us: Philip Clarke
After negotiations with many Indian corporates including and Bombay Dying, UK's Tesco has decided to go alone and partnered with Tata's retail arm, Trent, for a technical tie-up. Philip Clarke, director, Europe and Asia, talks to Clarke about Tesco's India plans.
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| August 12, 2008 | | 'Pension Bill: More players within 6 months'
After years of waiting, finally there seems to be hope for the passage of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, thanks to the Left's withdrawal of support from the government. The passing of the Bill will provide statutory backing to the regulatory agency, enabling it to issue guidelines and allow non-government employees to save for the long-term. PFRDA Chairman D Swarup spoke to Business Standard about the issues involved.
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| August 11, 2008 | | British Gas, Mahanagar Gas JV has big plans
An equal joint venture between British Gas (BG) and GAIL, Mahanagar Gas (MGL) provides piped natural gas (PNG) in and around Mumbai. The company says it is now planning to extend its reach by entering more cities in Maharashtra.
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| August 04, 2008 | | 'Biz building happens during a market slowdown'
The turbulence witnessed by the stock market this year has adversely affected brokers but Motilal Oswal, Chairman and Managing Director, Motilal Oswal Financial Services says he is unruffled. "Revenues have been hit if you compare them on a quarterly basis. The earnings were exceptionally high during the last two quarters of 2007, as the benchmark indices rose more than 30 per cent during the period. Given the swift rise in share prices, this slowdown was expected."
'We spend Rs 750 cr a year on training our workforce'
Training a person for 16 weeks (4 months) in the US costs something like $50,000 (around Rs 21.25 lakh). However, the education system is much better in the US. So we provide short-term training courses of about 15 days for new recruits there
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| August 02, 2008 | | Datacom Solutions has big plans
Consumer durables major Videocon Industries' subsidiary Datacom Solutions, which has received telecom licences to begin pan-India operations, is planning to commence network rollout starting August 15 and services by year-end, becoming one of the first newcomers to launch operations.
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| July 30, 2008 | | IBM plans to ready students for the 21st century
We are looking at both soft skills and technology skills; skills that will allow them to adapt, and become change agents. They also have to keep abreast of the latest technology developments
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| July 29, 2008 | | 'We are headed for a distressed real estate market'
Unaffordable real estate prices, hardening interest rates, fall in home loan disbursements and reluctance of developers to cut down prices do not augur well for the real estate market in India, feels V Hari Krishna, CIO of Kotak Realty Funds Group.
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| July 17, 2008 | | 'We may have to weigh possible price hike'
Masaru Tamagawa, Managing Director, Sony India, believes that higher duty structures on imports and the depreciating rupee are coming in way of making Sony products in India more affordable.
Malvinder Singh on Ranbaxy's setback
All medicines that have USFDA approvals continue to be produced in the Poanta Sahib facility. The USFDA has not given any approval for new drugs as they have some concerns. We are addressing them, Malvinder Singh said.
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| July 16, 2008 | | 'Hotel occupancy rate may dip in next quarter'
With the current slowdown in the travel market, the occupancy may take a hit in the next quarter. But business travellers will have to travel, no matter what. The leisure travel might slow down. But business travellers will help us shore our business, says Chander Baljee, MD, Royal Orchid.
'I am not a businessman trying to build a hospital'
When Fortis Healthcare wanted heart surgeon Naresh Trehan out of its new acquisition, the Escorts Heart Institute in New Delhi, last year, Trehan's ambitions to set up his own healthcare facility -- Medicity -- was cited as the cause. However, Trehan's plans were not new. Medicity, to be set up in Gurgaon, was first announced in 2005, the year Fortis acquired Escorts Heart Institute. Trehan continued as the Escorts' executive director for two more years.
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| July 15, 2008 | | 'India will need flexibilities in very few instances'
On July 21, trade ministers from nearly 50 countries will converge at Geneva to finalise proposals on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (Nama) which are part of the Doha Round of world trade talks. World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy tells <I>Business Standard</I> why the ministerial is crucial.
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| July 12, 2008 | | We're optimistic despite negative sentiments: Infy chief
Infosys Technologies generates over 60 per cent of its revenue from the US, which is witnessing a slowdown. A falling rupee did help the company tide over the quarter, and S Gopalakrishnan (popularly addressed as Kris) says that new opportunities, geographies and centres of excellence will have to be balanced against billing cycle delays and other pitfalls of the market.
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| July 10, 2008 | | 'It's good that credit growth is higher than RBI's target'
Banks will be able to get over the problem of growing inflation and rising interest rates by increasing the deposit rates, hiking prime lending rates and mobilising low cost deposits, according to K Ramakrishnan, chairman and managing director, Andhra Bank. Ramakrishnan, who started his banking career with Bank of India as a probationary officer in 1970, is retiring by the end of this month.
'It's expensive to do BPO business in India'
In India, there are so much of added costs in the form of providing food and transportation to employees, says S Nagarajan, Co-founder, 24/7 Customer.
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| July 05, 2008 | | Why DLF has opted for a buyback
In both good and bad times, we will do things that are good for the company and its shareholders. We are not a company that decides strategy on the basis of newspaper articles or analyst comments.
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| July 02, 2008 | | Cairn expects a 6-fold growth in revenues
Cairn India, a unit of UK-based Carin Energy, will have the potential to account for 20 per cent of India's oil production in the next decade once oil starts flowing from its three fields in Rajasthan.
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| June 30, 2008 | | 'To curb inflation, focus only on food prices'
As common people grope for means to counter the ever-increasing prices of essential commodities, the economists and financial analysts fear that the recent hike in fuel prices would soon push inflation past 9 per cent. In an interview to rediff.com's special correspondent A Ganesh Nadar, Economic advisor to the Tata group Siddhartha Roy, shared his thoughts on the vexing issue of India's inflation.
'Inflation, rates to rise further'
The Indian market has corrected a lot already. Valuations are clearly more attractive than they were earlier this year.
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| June 27, 2008 | | 'Once Nano is here, we'll all have a lot to learn'
K K Swamy is between jobs. After spending a little over a decade running Toyota Kirloskar Motors as its deputy managing director, he made a quiet exit a month ago to move to Volkswagen India as its first managing director. He is moving lock, stock and barrel from Bangalore to Pune, where he is set to take charge on July 21.
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| June 21, 2008 | | 'Employers are not being transparent in good times'
When the International Labour Organisation appointed Assane Diop as executive director to kick off its social protection initiative in 2000, it couldn't have found a man with better credentials for the job.
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| June 20, 2008 | | 'Bill Gates' strength is his curiosity'
He is truly fascinated with advances in science related to computing. And he has a good eye for seeing how those advances can be integrated together in powerful ways in a combination of software and hardware, says Steve Hamm.
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| June 14, 2008 | | Malaysia beckons Indian tourists
Visa on arrival applies for all Indians, except for people coming in from Chennai. Anyway, if you get a visa in India itself, it works out cheaper, and what's more, you get a visa for multiple entries.
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| June 10, 2008 | | 'India is the world's value creation centre'
The entrepreneur is endlessly curious. He will not give you copybook answers. He is in constant search of all the things he can do better than others, says Bill McDermott.
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| June 06, 2008 | | ESPN MD on the Tata Sky spat
With its three sports channels - ESPN, Star Sports and Star Cricket – getting dropped from the basic bouquet of direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky, ESPN India is exploring legal options against the DTH operator.
'We're cheaper and better than DTH or cable'
Consumer mindset and lack of awareness and also the fact that the existing players -cable and DTH -will make life very difficult for us. They are very aggressive and create confusion on IPTV, through newspaper articles.
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| June 05, 2008 | | 'Luxury spirits have a huge potential in India'
Credited with introducing eight new brands from the stable of the world's largest liquor maker Diageo Plc, Asif Adil, the managing director of its India subsidiary, Diageo India Pvt Ltd, has set himself a target of achieving a sales turnover of over Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) in India in three years.
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| June 04, 2008 | | No slowdown, growth is robust: HSBC
Naina Lal Kidwai, group general manager and country head for HSBC India, does not seem to be too perturbed about the slowdown or the rising delinquency levels.
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| May 30, 2008 | | 'SMEs, retail clients can't borrow at current rates'
It's a difficult time for banks both at home and abroad. But Sanjay Nayar, Chief Executive Officer, Citi India, shrugs off Citigroup's problems in the US saying they haven't really impacted the Indian operations. Nayar admits there have been a few problems with the consumer finance business but tells Business Standard that Citi's India operations are well-positioned to see double digit growth over the next few years.
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| May 27, 2008 | | 'Indian retailers must stop imitating the West'
Paco Underhill says traditional advertising no longer works as effectively as it did in the 1990s, and retailers need to focus a lot more on point-of-sale shopping experience.
'Indian consumers want organised & unorganised retail'
Even if our findings are not to the liking of our sponsor groups, we always stand by them, Icrier Director and Chief Executive Rajiv Kumar tells <I>Business Standard</I>. The study took a long time to come and the perception is that the data have been 'fixed' to arrive at tailor-made conclusions that suit the government (the sponsor of the study).
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| May 26, 2008 | | Computerisation of I-T dept a major gain
Computerisation of the Income-Tax Department has played a key role in raising tax compliance and higher tax collections over the past few years.
Mittal on why the MTN deal was called off
We will continue to look for opportunities around the globe, says Sunil Mittal.
'India has the highest number of hungry people on earth'
'Food grain availability for India's poorest is now approaching levels that haven't been seen since the British left. This has everything, sadly, to do with the rapacity of India's elites,' says Raj Patel, author, Stuffed and Starved.
'Indian ad professionals are thought leaders'
Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman, McCann-Erickson India, who will chair the outdoor and ambient media jury at the 55th International Cannes Lions 2008 in France to be held next month, talks to Business Standard about the performance of the Indian advertising industry at Cannes and his vision for McCann India.
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| May 23, 2008 | | 'Audi won't be made in VW's Pune facility'
Despite a general slowdown, Audi India has posted a dizzying growth figure of 123 per cent, selling 321 units in January-April 2008. All set to launch the new A4 sedan in July, Benoit Tiers, managing director, Audi India, tells Business Standard about the company's objectives.
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| May 22, 2008 | | NGC Network plans 4 new channels
After a decade-long presence in the country, National Geographic Channel (NGC) India, part of the NGC Network, is set to add four new channels including Nat GeoWild, Nat Geo Adventure, Nat Geo Music and Nat Geo HD (high definition).
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| May 20, 2008 | | CK Prahalad's tips on CSR
CK Prahalad, professor of corporate strategy at the University of Michigan and author of books on innovative business models that can help end world poverty, talks about corporate social responsibility in an interview with Business Standard.
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| May 15, 2008 | | 'Diesel car option for India under study'
Honda Siel Cars India President and CEO Masahiro Takedagawa, in an interview with Business Standard, shares the company's India strategy, including the launch of hybrid technology (a first on Indian roads), small cars and
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| May 14, 2008 | | Will he succeed Kamath at ICICI Bank?
Corporate India is not bothered about the subprime crisis. I have not seen any large business house walk away from a deal on account of lack of funding.
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| May 13, 2008 | | Why firms must treat employees better
Companies are going to realise that employees do not have just financial needs. They have spiritual, health and financial needs. They have long-term needs. People always want to be valued and respected for what they like to do.
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| April 30, 2008 |
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Managing
inflation is top priority: Reddy
Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) Governor Y V Reddy, who presented his last Annual Policy
Statement on Tuesday, spoke to Sidhartha on the challenges the
central bank faces in balancing growth and
inflation.
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| April 23, 2008 |
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'Ranbaxy
will gain from Orchid's R&D'
Ranbaxy Laboratories
on Tuesday announced a business alliance with Orchid Chemicals
and Pharmaceuticals across multiple geographies and therapies,
for finished dosage formulations and bulk drugs. The new
alliance will explore new products and markets without
disturbing the existing alliances. The deal is independent of
any commitment related to management control and is a pure
arm's length, independent strategic biz alliance. Ranbaxy will
benefit from Orchid's future products
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| April 19, 2008 |
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'The
35 per cent growth pattern is history now'
On Friday
(April 18), Premji in a clear signal of giving more powers to
the management, elevated Girish Paranjape and Suresh Vaswani
as joint CEOs of Wipro Technologies, which reported a topline
of $4.3 billion. Read excerpts of an interview with Girish
Paranjape and Suresh Vaswani, joint CEOs of Wipro.
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| April 09, 2008 |
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'We'll
wait and watch on interest rates'
Three years after
IDBI became a bank, Yogesh Agarwal, bank's third chairman and
managing director in as many years, is trying to put the
pieces in place. After all, as he pointed out in an interview
with Business Standard, the erstwhile development financial
institution is grappling with a unique situation, where IDBI
and the two commercial banks it acquired since 2005 offer
loans at different interest rates.
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| April 02, 2008 |
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How
Raghu Menon plans to put Air India on track
"I recently
flew on one of our aircraft and I was pleasantly surprised.
Our aeroplanes are brand new and a pleasure to travel on. They
can give any airline a run for their money," says Raghu
Menon.
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