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VOLUME 11 ISSUE 5 MAY 2012

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MAGAZINE

Seasonal www.seasonalmagazine.com

EDITORIAL

Vol 11 Issue 5 May 2012

let lawyers and economists make way for an entrepreneur as PM

Managing Editor Jason D Pavoratti Editor John Antony Director (Finance) Ceena Senior Editorial Coordinator Jacob Deva Senior Correspondent Bina Menon Creative Visualizer Bijohns Varghese Photographer Anish Aloysious Correspondents Bombay: Rashmi Prakash Hyderabad: Iqbal Siddiqui Delhi: Anurag Dixit Director (Technical) John Antony Publisher Jason D

No, that was not a typo. It is PM itself. Nobody with a practical bend of mind would be too much bothered about the Presidential election.

But yet, one the finest quotes of 2012 was from the mouth of a former President. But that was more due to the quality of that person rather than the fact that he was President once. Lokpal will only serve to fill our jails, Dr. Kalam had said. The simple but powerful words were enough to split the anti-politician camp into two.

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MEMBER

Those were words that were bold, so bold, not to have come from any career politician in any party. Career politicians are also famous for their poverty in creativity. Otherwise, why no brain in Congress could conjure up this idea, even when it was embattled by Hazare and team? There is no doubt that in posterity Dr. Kalam’s words would be credited with delivering that definitive and mortal body blow to the populist anticorruption movement.

Though a few sceptics were there who found issue with Dr. Kalam’s timing, thinking that he was trying to be liked by the Congress camp, that idea is likely rubbish conspiracy theory.

But what followed from APJ was what makes him Gandhi-like. “What we want is nobody should go to jail, as we want good human beings.” Now what would have APJ meant by that - good human beings? By being the multi-faceted high achiever he has been, it certainly wouldn’t be saints or sannyasins.

entrepreneur working his ways up-close, you are definitely at a loss. They set impossible targets for themselves, scheme up the processes that can achieve it, identify the special people who can execute it, and thus achieve the impossible. They never take no for an answer and get things done in one way or another.

Anyway, by anyone’s definition, good human beings are ideally people of not just high integrity but having high commitment to achieve great things for society’s common good. They will also morph into leaders or role models, because people follow integrity and quality in their unconscious quest to turn good themselves.

That of course brings us to the question. Isn’t Dr. Singh a man of integrity? Even his most ardent detractors would shy away from questioning his integrity. Then, isn’t he a man of achievements? He sure is, personally and on the social front due to his role in liberalizing the economy in the 90s.

Just two Indian examples would suffice. Who would believe that Ratan Tata, whose Tata Motors is yet to make a globally competent car in India, could take over a doomed JLR from auto granddaddy Ford and powerfully turn it around within a couple of years? That is Indian entrepreneurship in action.

Or who would believe that an unassuming group of 7 first generation entrepreneurs could create Infosys, one of the largest and most respectable IT Service companies in the world that employs more than 1,50,000 professionals today?

It is high time that India figured out how to bring in ‘good people’ - with commitment, entrepreneurship, and creativity in their blood - to all the top roles including that of PM. Otherwise, gaining that competitive edge over China or US, or even Brazil or Russia, in the long run, would remain a mirage.

John Antony

MMS was just a metaphor. It could well have been Vajpayee. Nobody questions ABV’s integrity or achievements. But then why is India where it is now? What is the missing link? It is obviously in commitment.

That is why it is time to make an entrepreneur as the PM. Because, in no other career-class do we see the kind of sheer commitment to goals that we see in entrepreneurs. Not in lawyers, not in scientists, not in economists, definitely not in career politicians.

If you haven’t been blessed to see an

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Contents

COVER STORY

Choose Your Career @18 Through 10 Easy Lessons Keep in mind that the road to career happiness is usually full of bumps, curves and tangents rather than a straight, direct path from point A to point B. While peer pressure and post-study placements could be major influences affecting your decision at 18 years of age, there are those who end up regretting their decisions even when they are 30 or 40. So, what are the mistakes young people make while deciding their careers? Where exactly are they going wrong?

Doctor, Engineer, or Entrepreneur?

He has come a long way from being an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and spotting young entrepreneurs. The latest project by the Hyderabad wing of TiE under Sateesh Andra is 'TiE Buddies', which is catching entrepreneurs when they are in school itself...

LIC Housing Gathers Strength Due to Budget, Fund Infusion, & Core Performance One of the clear beneficiaries of the recent Union Budget is LIC Housing Finance due to its greater focus on affordable sector housing loans.

“We have Taken University to the Farms”

KR Viswambharan IAS needs no introduction to Keralites anywhere in the world. In his various roles during a long administrative career, this bureaucrat-with-no-airs has touched more Malaylee’s lives than many..

5 Lessons from Instagram Recently the world changed. The globe shifted on its axis. Planet Earth spun a bit faster. The moon blinked. The seven seas parted. Tech entrepreneurs like me, saw the light. Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Cough, cough.

Are you saying you’ve never heard...

Exercise Boosts Your Brainpower Your brain isn't a muscle, but as you age exercise can improve your memory and other thinking skills, a new study shows. Middle-aged adults who cycle or stretch improve memory.

Which is Better?

Exercising or Just Not Sitting?

One lesson I’ve learned while writing about fitness is that few things impinge on an active life as much as writing about fitness..

24 Foods That Can Save Your Heart

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GADGETS Lytro Camera: Is this the Future of Cameras?

What if, just by clicking around a photo on your computer screen, you could choose which part of the image should be clear and which part should be blurry? You can with a new camera called Lytro...

IIM-K

“Be Choosy, Stay Focused, and Keep on Innovating” When you drive in to the sprawling but hilly campus of IIM Kozhikode, you are greeted by words of wisdom at every turn. Some of them are quite un-MBA, like the Socrates quote which reads, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Finally, after many winding turns, you get to park near a giant statue of kneeling Arjuna..

AUTO 7 Cars Under 10 Lakhs Coming This Year With the Union Budget 2012-13 behind them, carmakers in India are finalising the launch dates of their upcoming cars.

V-GUARD

Growth Appetite & Financial Discipline are the Keys to Our Performance Kerala is not known for its industries.

But if the southernmost state will ever have an industrialist for a Brand Ambassador, it will be Kochouseph Chittilappilly. From humble beginnings more than three decades back with just two employees, Kochouseph is today the strength behind a business empire that spans the listed...

Sony Tablet P - Will the iPad Killer Deliver?

In recent times, we've seen the tablet market overflow with devices claiming to be 'iPad killers'. Every other tablet just wanted to prove itself to be better than the iPad but while none have been..

Talk about the new Ertiga and the chatter usually veers towards Maruti Suzuki's first attempt at making..

India to Force Higher Mileage and Display of Mileage Label

Luxury Projects

Take Care After a Car Change

Worth Buying Now

If media hype is to be believed, realty is set for a hard landing soon. But if that were the case, the riddle remaining is why homes are still not a hard-sell in India?

You get calls for everything from luxury cars to luxury holidays, but almost never for luxury homes. Is it due to the reality that luxury projects that make sense in most ways, still have their own niche pool of buyers?...

Should you buy a Maruti Ertiga?

41 Megapixel Nokia 808 PureView Coming to India Finally, Nokia's 41 megapixel camera phone - the Nokia 808 PureView - is going to hit the Indian market this month. Nokia has confirmed that the Nokia 808 PureView will start..

When Buffett Picked a Sportsgirl Instead of a Stock Ariel Hsing was 11 when Warren Buffett first recruited her to play ping pong at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Five years later...

India to Impose British-style Fitness Certificate for 3-Year Old Cars Volkwagen is the New Official Porsche Importer in India Datsun Developing India Car Entry Level Sedans Steal the Show How did Swift Outsell Alto in April?

Luxury Auto Market Slows Down in India

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GADGETS

Lytro Camera: Is This the Future of Cameras?

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W

hen cameras went from analog to digital, it was one of those once-in-a-generation shifts, like going from blackand-white film to Kodachrome. But whether you're using a 35-millimeter or a point-and-shoot, the steps you take to shoot a picture have remained the same: you focus on something, then push a button to record the image.

But what if you could take a picture and refocus it after you had taken it? What if, just by clicking around a photo on your computer screen, you could choose which part of the image should be clear and which part should be blurry?

You can with a new camera called Lytro, and it's astonishing. With a Lytro, you take a picture as you would with any camera, but the digital file it creates can be refocused after the fact.

This is fairly mind-blowing.

Imagine a wedding photo with the bride in the foreground and

the wedding party in the background. Click on the bride, and she's in focus while the bridesmaids are blurry.

Click on the groomsmen and the focus shifts to them. Do this over and over all around the frame - the picture readjusts on the fly, smoothly moving from one focal point to another.

The effect makes photography almost like cinematography, revealing things vividly in the foreground and background.

Refocusing a Lytro image, I felt like one of those C.I.A. agents in the movies who is looking at satellite images and asks some technician to 'enhance' the picture until Carlos the Jackal comes into focus.

The Lytro, which shipps from lytro.com on Wednesday, can do this because its image sensor captures more data than your standard camera does. Not only does Lytro's sensor register the usual things - like how bright the

incoming light was and what colors it contained - it also knows which direction the light came from. Armed with that information - known among scientists as light-field data - the Lytro's onboard software can create multiple focal points. A view of the Lytro's inner workings shows how this array of tiny lenses and microprocessors makes this happen.

This all happens in a camera the size and shape of a stick of butter.

It's an unconventional design, with a lens at one end and a small, iPod-Nano-size touch screen at the other. On the top of the camera is a recessed button for the shutter release and a strip of bumps you slide your finger across to control the 8X optical zoom. On the bottom

is a USB port and the power button. It's a simple and elegant package, but the shape and feel take a little getting used to; you kind of feel like an ship captain of yore with a spotting scope.

The Lytro weighs 7.6 ounces, a bit more than some pointand-shoots, but not so much that you would notice. There's no removable storage or battery: the camera comes with either eight gigabytes of memory (350 pictures, costing $399) or 16 gigabytes (750 pictures, costing $499).

Since the Lytro captures light rays, not pixels, its sensor is rated at '11 megarays' (11 million rays) instead of pixels.

Both models come with a lithium-ion battery that is good for up to 600 shots between charges, the camera's maker says.

Sony Tablet P - Will the iPad Killer Deliver?

I

n recent times, we've seen the tablet market overflow with devices claiming to be 'iPad killers'. Every other tablet just wanted to prove itself to be better than the iPad but while none have been better, only few such as Motorola (Xoom) and Samsung (Galaxy Tab 10.1) can claim to have come anywhere close.

And then there was Sony. It did not claim to be the next iPad killer, rather tried to in-

novate and come up with something new that would grab the attention of the tablet market. Sony finally launched the Tablet S, with a foldable magazine-like design and the Tablet P, which folds in the centre like Nintendo's 3DS console. On first impressions, the device looked like the Nokia communicator on steroids which isn't a good thing.

GADGETS

Toshiba Portege Z830 - The Lightest Ultrabook

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olks at Intel will be smiling today as Ultrabook revolution is almost here. We have seen quite a few Ultrabook launches in India in the last six months or so, and each of them has taken the concept a little further.

Toshiba Portege Z830, the socalled world's lightest Ultrabook, is the latest one to join the mix. At Rs 96,290, it is certainly not the cheapest one, but does it justify the price with a great performance and awesome features? We will find out in this review.

Portege Z830 feels really light and Toshiba has certainly done a nice job in keeping it slim despite putting in all the full-size ports. It comes with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, Kensington lock slot, SD reader, headphone & mic ports, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA and the power ports, all this in just 15.9mm thickness. As most of these ports are present on the back, they can be really hard to reach at time. It also lets down in the looks department. Available only in the lifeless graphite grey, it makes us wonder why Toshiba didn't spend a little

more time on the looks or atleast should have added other colour options.

From the boring grey, Portege does not disappoint in the hardware. At 1.12 kgs, it is indeed the lightest ultrabook till date (yes, even lighter than Macbook Air) and the weight difference is certainly noticeable while you carry it around. It is made up for magnesium alloy casing and comes with "enhanced honeycomb rib design", which according to the company offers great rigidity, shock absorption, but when you handle Z830, it feels very flimsy and fragile.

The version of Protege Z830, which we are reviewing today, came with Intel Core-I5, 6GB RAM and 128GB SSD. Overall performance is quite snappy and there is no noticeable lag during the dayto-day working.

Overall, Toshiba Portege Z830 is a pretty nice Ultrabook and comes with

Zync Launches Android 4.0 Tablet for Rs 8,990 The Noida-based Apple Group's Zync today launched a tablet running on Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich called the Zync Z990 for Rs 8,990.

"The Zync Z-990 tablet has features such as control over data usage, new lock action, new user interface, new

camera capabilities and fivepoint touch," Apple Group chairman Ashish Garg said.

The company claimed this China-made tablet is the country's first Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. Other features of the tablet include a 7-inch capacitive display with 800x480p resolution, 1GB RAM, 0.3MP camera, 3500 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, memory card slot and support for 3G via USB dongle.

some great features like robust selection of ports, decent battery life, snappy performance and it is also the lightest of all, but the main issue with it, is its pricing.

Toshiba wants you to shell out Rs 96,290 for this machine, when in the alternatives; you can have a better resolution and design with Asus Zenbook or Macbook Air in less price with just 2GB less of RAM than Portege Z830 and a little extra weight.

Toshiba Portege Z830 could have been one of the best Ultrabooks in the market, but it is the pricing that lets it down.

Alternatives When you look at the Ultrabook market in India, we have quite a few options apart from Portege including HP Folio 13 (Rs 69,990 - Core I5, 4GB, 128GB SSD), Asus Zenbook (Rs 89,990 - Core I5, 4GB, 256GB SSD), Lenovo IdeaPad U300 (Rs 67,990 Core I5, 4GB, 128GB SSD), Samsung Series 5 (Rs 48,990 - Core I5, 4GB, 500GB HDD), Acer Aspire S3 (Rs 49,990 Core I5, 4GB, 20GB SSD+320GB HDD) and 13inch Macbook Air (Rs 73,900 - Core I5, 4GB, 128GB SSD) (not traditionally dubbed as an Ultrabook).

GADGET

Canon 600D - Record HD Video in a Still Camera

The 600D is a great beginners camera that offers a great megapixel count along with the capability to record HD video, however, it suffers from some pitfalls.

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he first, in our opinion would be the body's construction. While this is purely a personal preference, we like the sturdy and solid build of the magnesium-alloy based 7D. The 600D sort of feels like it might crack if it took a tumble, something that made us very vary of how we carried it around. The lack of any kind of weather sealing didn't help our paranoia either.

Those looking to use the 600D to record live performances will be disappointed as there is a recording limit of 29 minutes and 59 seconds (or 4GB, whichever is reached sooner) that Canon has placed on the camera. We are not sure whether this was to preserve sensor integrity, or just a ploy to get people to invest in

higher-grade bodies, but either ways, it was not appreciated.

The camera is not all bad though. The ability to control remote flashes and a dedicated video button come straight from the high-end 7D and are a very pleasant addition to the feature set. The small form-factor will also be appealing to those with small hands who are looking to avoid lifting anything heavy.

The Canon 550D is a cheaper DSLR, though we wouldn't necessarily call it an alternative. The difference in price comes with a serious trade-off in terms of features as the 550D has a smaller megapixel count, does not have a swivel screen and also lacks the ability to control external flashes remotely. The Nikon D5100 does offer some competition to the Canon 600D with its lower price point and amaz-

ing color rendition, but loses out due to the fact that the 600D sports the same beefy sensor as the Canon 7D. Another consideration we would like to elaborate on is the fact that if you were to spend an additional Rs.10,000, you could buy the bigger Canon 60D, that boasts of better ergonomics and a host of improvements to the AF system, along with some level of protection against water and dust. The video mode on the Canon 60D works just like the one on the 600D, but it includes live focusing (the ability to use auto focus while shooting).

Other than that, you also get double the shooting capacity (for stills) over the 600D.

Pros 18-megapixel sensor, the same as in the 60D and the 7D Records full HD video at various frame rates Vari-angle 1,040K dot swivel screen is great for shooting in awkward positions USB and mini-HDMI output Compact form factor that doesn't feel cramped Excellent dynamic range for shooting in harsh lighting conditions Nice in-camera effects that can be applied to any photo Cons Video limit of 29 minutes and 59 seconds Significant noise in video in low light conditions Noise is prominent in photos shot at ISO 1600 and above No weather sealing Autofocus is unable to perform in lowlight Price Body only: Rs. 46,990 Body with 18-55 IS Lens: Rs. 50,990 Body with 18-135 IS Lens: Rs. 67,990

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COVER STORY

Choose Through

Your Career @18 10 Easy Lessons eep in mind that the road to career happiness is usually full of bumps, curves and tangents rather than a straight, direct path from point A to point B. While peer pressure and post-study placements could be major influences affecting your decision at 18 years of age, there are those who end up regretting their decisions even when they are 30 or 40. So, what are the mistakes young people make while deciding their careers? Where exactly are they going wrong? What can you do to avoid getting into a situation like that? Here is the easy, structured way out, by following 16 easy steps: LESSON

Arts & Humanities Majors are Employable Humanities majors usually provide training in basic areas called transferable skills such as interpersonal communication, writing, research, and critical thinking.

Transferable skills indicate those skills that are learned in one area can be readily utilized in a wide range of other areas.

These skills that one learns are sought after by many employers. Arts majors are employed in a wide range of careers. Al-

though humanities graduates sometimes take more time finding a "niche" in the working world, it's usually because they don't know what they can or want to do or they are not aware of the options available to them. So, do not assume that a certain stream will open up your opportunities for the future. It is skills that matter in every stream. Arts students are seen as excelling more in civil services and they have more options open before them when they pursue university teaching careers.

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1

LESSON

2

Hotness of All Careers Wax and Wane Selecting a major or pursuing a career just because it's hot can be dangerous.

There are two things you must understand before opting for this approach. First, what is 'hot' today may cool down, or disappear completely, in the near future.

Secondly, such a choice fails to take into account the interests and abilities of the student, or the kind of environment in which they are most likely to succeed.

But career satisfaction involves far more than simply being able to do a particular job -- it requires interest, commitment and passion. These are far better indicators for career choice than any fad of the moment. New career fields and jobs emerge every year as a result of changes in public policy, technology, and economic trends. Therefore, you are on much firmer ground when you select a career goal that genuinely interests you. Never

Doctor, Engineer, or Entrepreneur?

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As a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), entrepreneur-turned venture capitalist, Sateesh Andra has been actively involved in creating a common platform for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and academicians to interact and help build successful enterprises.

He has come a long way from being an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and spotting young entrepreneurs. The latest project by the Hyderabad wing of TiE under Sateesh Andra is 'TiE Buddies', which is catching entrepreneurs when they are in school itself. It is a development program being run for them on the second Saturday of every month in Hyderabad. The first session started in August, 2011 and the graduation ceremony will be held this summer.

What was the inspiration behind starting TiE Buddies?

I was in Silicon Valley, the hot bed of entrepreneurs, before shifting to India. If you look at some of the most successful companies from the Valley like Google, Facebook, Sun Microsystems, you will see that all were started by youngsters who were in college. They didn't have any industry experience when they started their own enterprises. In today's time and age, with information available right at their finger tips, students are exposed to many trends and opportunities. My inspiration was twofold. One, encourage students who have ideas to start their own ventures. Two, make students aware of different career choices.

I want the school students to move away from the stereotype of becoming only doctors and engineers. I want them to see the choices in front of them. I also want them to look at finance, marketing, sales, etc. Entrepreneurship is definitely a career choice. You are building something of value and creating employment and wealth.

Whether you build a Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) company or a Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) company, both are basically entrepreneurship.

Successful entrepreneurship does not mean you have to be on the front pages of newspapers or TV channels all the time.

LESSON

3

Realizing Your Aptitude is Essential Psychometric Assessments (Aptitude Test) can provide additional information that may be helpful as a part of the career planning process. Assessments would provide a clear idea as to ones aptitude, strengths and weakness and their mental capabilities, which aids in selecting a career, but with thorough brainstorming with the career counsellor, who can chalk out various career options based on the match between the student profile and the career. Of course, it's upto you whether you want to pursue what the

counsellor advises you to, but do not skip this step. But it always pays to know what your aptitude is before choosing a career.

Despite the importance of this step, many students either skip the test or ignore the test result.

LESSON

4

Follow No One Everyone is different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another, even if that other person is someone with whom you have a lot in common. Yet, there are more students selecting careers just because their friends, seniors, or role models did such courses. If someone you know has a career that interests you try and get more details about the career in terms of the job description, the skills required and market demand of the career. Then match the description with your traits and then make a choice.

Also, be aware that what you like may not necessarily be a good fit for you.

Sateesh Andra

LESSON

5

The Right Career for You Won't Come Searching for You It is unlikely that you will just "bump into" the occupation that will perfectly match your skills and interests. The more information you gather about yourself and the occupations you are considering, the more likely it is you will make a wise career decision. It is true that some things beyond your control will influence your life, but you must take an active role to determine your own fate. Look around you - those people who are unhappy in their careers most likely just "fell into" something without careful planning. Do you want the same thing to happen to your career graph? So think wisely and plan the process.

Aren't school children too young to think of marketing, sales, etc?

I do agree with the reservation but you look at a 11th or 12th class student, I don't think they are too young to think of these options. Yes, if you ask them complex marketing jargon, they may be at a loss to explain but basic concepts of marketing, advertising, etc are not too complex for them.

How did you select the students and schools to be TiE Buddies?

We announced the program in June 2011.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has been a supportive partner of TiE. TiE and ISB have made most of the school children in the city aware of this program and chose 40 students from 15 schools that include IB, CBSE, ICSE and local

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forget that What's hot today may not necessarily be 10/20 years later. The best recent example for this phenomenon is engineering seats remaining vacant in many private colleges, while there is a resurgent rush for conventional BCom degrees.

LESSON

6

Money is a Factor, But Only One Factor While salary is important, it isn't the only factor you should look at when choosing a career. Countless surveys have shown that money doesn't necessarily lead to job satisfaction. For many people enjoying what they do at work is much more important. The ingredients of fulfilling career also includes passion and commitment to growth. It is not uncommon these days to find youngsters choosing cashrich careers but burning out soon. Keep in mind that if any career is paying extraordinarily well, for example surgeons, chances are that it is pretty stressful too.

schools. We selected them based on a simple questionnaire like asking them to write about themselves and why they wanted to be entrepreneurs, who their role model was, which sector impressed them, etc; I call it a Statement of Purpose.

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How did the students respond to the questionnaire?

I was very happy with their response. This happened before Steve Jobs died but majority of the students mentioned him as their role model. Quite a few wrote Narayana Murthy's name. Based on the answers and our interaction with them, we chose 40 students. It was followed by an orientation session. The biggest challenge was scheduling as schools have both 5 and 6 day weeks.

What aspects of entrepreneurship do you teach them?

The curriculum stresses on exposure and awareness on entrepreneurship. The course started in August 2011 and ended on March 31, 2012. We have 2-hour classroom sessions every second Saturday. Besides guest lectures, I also take classes. We give them an overview of entrepreneurship, all aspects of

LESSON

7

You Will Change Your Career, Most Probably If you are unsatisfied in your career for any reason, you can always change. Discussing your interests with knowledgeable people who could guide you towards another career could land you in a satisfying job profile. Remember just being in a job without a lack of interests would hamper your performance. So it would be better if you make a wise choice later.

In this modern age of rapid changes, many people do change careers several times over the course of their lifetimes.

“ It took more than 50 years to build the Silicon Valley. Great schools like Stanford and Berkeley with a lot of focus on research, and venture capital and seed capital being available to a lot of adventurous kids - that was responsible for Silicon Valley to happen. “

Bill Gates

And chances are that you won't be knowing what career you will eventually retire in 35 years from now. Maybe that career doesn't exist still! Think of Bill Gates. If one of the richest men in this world had mid-career blues, most probably all of us will have one too.

LESSON

8

No Skills Ever Go Waste on a Career Change It is true that certain jobs require some specialised skill set. But note that mostly jobs require a common type of skills which most of the individuals possess.

Your skills are yours to keep. You may

Mark Zuckerberg

Kevin Systrom

LESSON

9

Avoid Impulsive Decisions Though one can keep options, but having a sound academic background always proves beneficial while making a career.The two years of Junior college

Think of Mark Zuckerberg. He 'outlived' the other co-founders of Facebook because FB was always his hobby. (class 11 and 12) are vey essential as they form a base for a particular career. One cannot ignore the knowledge gained whilst studying. But waiting to decide after results are out sometimes leads to impulsive decisions as, the possible educational qualification may not be applicable to the area of work that you plan to pursue in later life. Planning in advance prepares you better to deal with the Ifand-Or situations better. Impulsive decisions lack planning and direction, and will often end up in compromising.

business, product and service creation, marketing, sales, finance, team building.

All the sessions are interactive. We also had four company visits of 3-4 hour duration. By the end of the course, each student works on a business plan. At the graduation, they will revisit the Statement of Purpose (SOP) they have written and talk to us about what they have learnt.

The best business plan will be submitted to the global business plan competition for students.

Larry Page

What do the students learn from company visits?

They get to learn about the company, its products or services, customers and business Model. Also they get to shadow the Management team.

Do you plan to replicate this in other cities too?

I plan to have another TiE Buddies program in Hyderabad next year. We will document what we have done so that others can replicate this in other cities. I like this happening in small towns.

Sergey Brin

Now that the first year of TiE Buddies is getting over, are you satisfied?

LESSON

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The Best Career for You is Probably Your Hobby If you love what you do, you will not feel like you are working. An oft repeated line, it explains why part-time hobbies like cooking, stock-trading, photography, programming, and design that were once pursued during weekends are now being pursued as full time careers. And most of these hobby-turned vocations pay really well if pursued professionally. If your hobby becomes a career, then there's nothing stopping you from being satisfied in your job and life. Think of Mark Zuckerberg. He 'outlived' the other co-founders of Facebook because FB was always his hobby.

It was a satisfying and challenging experience. The major challenge was to come up with a calendar that is acceptable to all students as some students had to appear for the Board examinations. My dream is to see some of these young ones turn successful entrepreneurs. I tell them not to worry about failure.The aim of the program is not to make all the 40 of them entrepreneurs.

If one out of the 40 becomes an entrepreneur, will you be happy?

I would like to see 2 or 3 of them turning future entrepreneurs!

Why doesn't a Silicon Valley come up in India?

It took more than 50 years to build the Silicon Valley. Great schools like Stanford and Berkeley with a lot of focus on research, and venture capital and seed capital being available to a lot of adventurous kids - that was responsible for Silicon Valley to happen. There was also a local market that absorbed the products. All these are very essential for something like Silicon Valley to happen.

(As told to Sobha Warrier)

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not use them in the exactly same way, but they won't be wasted. Being multi-skilled allows you to learn and adapt accordingly. For example, if you were good at coordinating a large project, it applies equally in a factory as well as in a bank.

Even more is this theory applicable when it comes to soft skills like verbal or written communication.

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STUDY ABROAD

WHY YOU MUST CHOOSE NEW ZEALAND FOR HIGHER STUDIES

Suchitra Surve, Global Education Counsel insists that lower education fee, quality programmes and security are attracting more students to study in New Zealand New Zealand is fast becoming a first choice for international students, who wish to seek quality education at affordable cost. Students who have studied in New Zealand will tell you how most universities and educational institutions here offer students a great learning experience. What makes the experience enjoyable for international students is the pleasant weather and hospitality of the country, which makes them feel at home.

Some of the common reasons why students prefer to study in New Zealand is the lower cost and high standard of education besides security and studentfriendly programmes. Education system in New Zealand is very student-friendly and mostly encourage students to work in groups. Students can choose from a wide range of diploma and degree programmes, as well as vocational and polytechnic courses. Some of these technical programmes are quite popular among international students. Students can also choose from government funded universities which provide undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. After completion of studies, students can also apply for employment (or internship) in case they felt the need to include work experience as part of his/her studies.

Students may also be eligible for permanent residency if they qualify the point system for permanent residency.

International students are offered a job search visa whose validity equals the number of years of study. So, if you take a one-year programme, you are entitled to a one-year job search visa. During this period, students can work anywhere in the country provided the profile meets the educational qualification and once they get the job, they will be awarded points

that will make the student eligible to apply for permanent residency later.

Students applying for any undergraduate or postgraduate programme in New Zealand will have to take either the IELTS/ TOEFL exam.

IELTS The minimum IELTS score band for admission are, Undergraduate: 5.5 to 6.0 (no section score lower than 5.0 to 6.0) Postgraduate: 6.5 to 7.0 (no section score lower than 6.0 to 6.5)

TOEFL The minimum score for admission are Undergraduate: 80 Postgraduate: 100 Other standardised test scores like GRE, GMAT and SAT is not mandatory. But before applying to any of the universities for admission, students should check with the admission team or the website of the respective universities regarding the mandatory requirement.

Admission Intake In New Zealand, February and September are the two main admission intakes for international students. So, if an international student wishes to apply for universities in New Zealand, they should first look for the desired programme to study find out the month of intake the programme is offered in, so that they can accordingly plan and apply before the deadline.

Ph.D: NZ$21,200(approx) The living cost for international students will round up to NZ $1000-2000 (approx)

Scholarships International students in New Zealand are eligible for a wide variety of scholarships through the New Zealand government and educational institutions. The New Zealand government gives a limited number of scholarships for international students pursuing bachelors or Masters course only with high academic achievement and also to Ph.D students.

Accommodation The International Office of each university in New Zealand provides accommodation placement services to all international students, who receive an offer from the university. There are several accommodation options available for international students like residential colleges, university flats, private flats and so on. Students can first book a temporary accommodation before the arrival and later move to private accommodation later depending on his/her lifestyle.

International students will need to spare NZ$500-600 (approx) for accommodation.

Here's a ist of top ranked universities in New Zealand you can consider AUT University Lincoln University Massey University, Palmerston North

Before you enrol into any of the colleges, ensure that you have enough funds to finance the study and bear the additional living costs.

Massey University, Auckland

The advantage of studying in New Zealand is that it is less expensive when compared to other foreign countries like UK and US.

Kingsland Institute of New Zealand

Massey University, Wellington SBG New Zealand School of Business and Govt.

University of Auckland University of Canterbury University of Otego

Tuition Cost Bachelor: NZ$15,000 (approx) Masters degree: NZ$18,800 (approx)

University of Waikato Victoria University of Wellington

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he vibrant flora and fauna also makes New Zealand one of the world's beautiful countries to live and study which is why it has emerged as a favourite destination for students across the globe. Largely, a cosmopolitan country, New Zealand boasts of a clean and secure environment.

As per an official report, more than 60 per cent of its international students are from India. With the above merits, the country has great potential to gradually expand into a new hub to pursue international education. Educational degrees and certificates from New Zealand are acknowledged world over in all areas of study and research biotechnology, forensic science and marine engineering being the more popular.

CONTROVERSY

Australia Accuses Apple of Misleading Consumers

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IT giant Apple has been accused by Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) of misleading consumers by selling the latest version of 4G enabled iPad, which cannot connect with the 4G mobile network in the country.

he company, meanwhile, has offered refunds for customers who believe they were misled and also offered to put corrective notices at the points of sale for the new gadget, according to an AAP report. Apple, which released its latest version of iPad – iPad Wifi + 4G -- in Australia, is now reportedly refusing to put corrective stickers on packaging for the product claiming it would be "cumbersome".

It said the product supports ultra-fast mobile broadband but is not compatible with Telstra's long-term evolution for the fourth-generation network.

Acting for Apple, barrister Paul Anastassiou, told the Federal Court in

Melbourne today that "ultimately at trial, it will be contested by Apple there are in Australia networks - that according to international definitions are 4G – are properly described as 4G. "What Apple says is that other networks operated by Telstra are in fact properly described by international standards as 4G even though Telstra itself does not so describe them," he said.

Anastassiou also said the company is prepared to email customers to say the device was not compatible with the Telstra 4G network.

Apple, the world's most valuable company, is willing to offer a refund to any customer who believed they had been misled by references to 4G. ACCC Barrister Colin Golvan SC said

Apple did not have an iPad that would meet consumers' requests to use the 4G network. During a court hearing today, the market watchdog said ACCC was first wrote to Apple about its concerns on March 15, the day before the new iPad went on sale, and on March 20.

It sent formal demands on March 23 but that Apple's response was to comprehensively deny that there was any misleading conduct, Golvan told the Court. The ACCC is seeking for Apple to publish corrective advertising within three days on its website and in 11 newspapers, to stop Apple using its model name "iPad with Wifi + 4G", unless and until the device under this name can, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile network in Australia.

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MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

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“BE CHOOSY, STAY FOCUSED, AND KEEP ON INNOVATING”

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hen you drive in to the sprawling but hilly campus of IIM Kozhikode, you are greeted by words of wisdom at every turn. Some of them are quite un-MBA, like the Socrates quote which reads, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Finally, after many winding turns, you get to park near a giant statue of kneeling Arjuna in the battlefield, with the engraved words, ‘Arise, Arjuna!”. Under its Director Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, IIM-Kozhikode is really going places. Unlike some comparable 15-year old B-Schools, IIM-K is finding no difficulty in getting its students placed with the best organizations in India and abroad. But ask the person himself, and he is not overjoyed. That seems strange, when one realizes that by any metric, the placements were good.

135 world-class companies rushed in to get 317 students.

Soon, every single student was placed. The highest international offer to a student was Rs. 75 lakh by a European investment bank, while the highest domestic offer was Rs. 32 lakh. The companies were the finest available like IBM, Deutsche Bank, TCS, Deloitte, Facebook, Hindustan Unilever, Microsoft, Amazon, Nomura, Goldman Sachs and similar such companies. So, why is IIM-K Director not overjoyed? That kind of performance is expected of us, he says. That is Prof.

Debashis for you. Always self-introspecting and always radical with his thoughts. Ask him any question - positive

or negative - and you are likely to be contradicted. But that is not to show any superior airs but to widen the questioner’s understanding of the issue. It is doubtful whether any other IIM Director has put in so much of unique personal experience and achievements into developing his institution’s overall competence. His wide consulting and training programs has benefited more than 10,000 managers in more than 100 companies, across all six continents. His clients included Fortune 100 firms like Motorola, Ford, BP, AT&T, Lucent, Tata Steel, & Infosys. But he has been also good at using that experience to grow the consulting business of IIM-K. Similarly, his experience from teaching at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and consulting to three Heads of State, have come in handy in IIM-K’s coaching program for Kerala Cabinet. On the social front, IIM-K has benefited from Prof. Debashis Chatterjee’s long-time and perhaps India’s best-known teacher training program, with IIM-K offering a structured program for teachers called ’Leading Schools in Search of Excellence’. His courage for his convictions is also evident from IIM-K’s motto, ‘Globalizing Indian Thought’. He was twice Fullbright Scholar at Harvard & MIT, and Prof. Debashis Chatterjee’s area of specialisation has been Asian Models in Leadership. Dr. John Kotter, the renowned Harvard Business School professor calls him as one of the ‘thought leaders’ of the world. Seasonal Magazine in conversation with Prof.

Debashis Chatterjee:

Are you feeling very satisfied with this year’s placements, with IIM-K performing as though there was no difficulty in the economy, with Pre Placement Offers (PPOs) also on the rise?

First of all, there was difficulty in the economy and it could have affected us.

But we could perform satisfactorily.

But then, isn’t that expected of us? IIMs are the most premium institutes, and we should be doing well, come what may.

I often tell my students that recession should stop at our gates. Not enter this campus. Anyway, regarding the performance, I am not overjoyed or anything, but just satisfied.

Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM-Kozhikode

Everyone is speaking about innovation, because it is so important.

Can you share one instance where IIM-K has innovated recently?

Well, as you might know, there are two opportunities before every organization market opportunities and opportunities outside the market. For example, consulting to business is a market opportunity for IIMs. We do that pretty well too. But not too long back I thought why we should be confined to this? Can’t we add value to outside of the market? That is how we came to consult for and coach the Kerala Ministry. And the good thing is that, such innovation brings us more fruits than regular work. Today, wherever I travel, especially in Middle East, IIMK is instantly recognized for coaching the Ministers, more than anything else.

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Why do you say recession shouldn’t enter IIMs? What is recession really? Beyond the text-book definitions, it is just a fear in consumers that reduce spending. And what can overcome that fear? Only more attractive and innovative offerings. And what is the business IIMs are in? Teaching how to innovate. So, in difficult times, smart companies should be recruiting more talents. And some of them indeed do that.

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One trend that was visible in this year’s placements was the interest shown by SMEs, start-ups, and entrepreneurial companies, as well as your students’ interest towards such entrepreneurial roles. How do you assess this trend?

Yes, there was a small increase on that front. There are two aspects to this development. One is that such companies are more ambitious as well as well-planned than ever before. At early stages itself they realize that they need the best management talent to achieve their objectives. The other side of the issue is that today’s management students are willing to take that risk.

They assess the opportunities and offers and realize that they could have more powers, more meaningful opportunities at such smaller entrepreneurial firms.

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Percentage of new recruiters was rather high at 47%, which means your team’s hard work in improving visibility is delivering. Were you also giving preference to first-time recruiters?

Yes, definitely, our efforts have delivered. We are also a 15-year old institution now, which helps. To an

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extent we can give preference to specific companies. And we do that by carefully screening the companies and their offered job profiles. We want only the best companies to have access to our graduates.

Placements at IIMs are said to offer a window to the future of various sectors. For example, domestic and international e-commerce took significant students from IIM-K this year. Any other similar trend that you really liked this time?

Yes, that was a small trend this time with e-commerce companies recruiting from here. Another notable trend was that demand from conventional recruiters as well as new recruiters continued to be strong. To tell an example from the IT space, apart from the regular consulting majors, the largest IT product companies like Facebook, Microsoft etc also recruited our students.

When one compares the highest international CTC and domestic CTC from IIM-K, or for any other IIM, there is still more than a 100% disparity. In your case, it is 75 lakh vs. 32 lakh. The disparity would be

even higher on average CTCs. Do you think India Inc should be paying its IIM candidates much better?

Not really. They are already being well paid. Which other profession offers these kind of salaries? Not even medicine. You shouldn’t forget that these are starting salaries for very young people. A doctor or an engineer would take years of additional education and experience to reach these levels. Even in this difficult year for business, average salary offered has grown by 7%.

But compared with what European or American positions offer, isn’t there a wide discrepancy?

Of course there is, but then you should also look at the GDP and per capita GDP differences between India and those advanced countries. Also, look at the cost of living there. When you compare with those metrics also, Indian salaries to IIM MBAs would come across as quite high.

What role did your alumni network play in making this year’s placements a grand success?

They played an important role as before, but it is getting better with the

years. But it is only natural, as IIMKozhikode is a 15-year old institution now, and many of our alumni are in key roles, including that of CEOs. We actively network with them, and since they have been here and keep updated about the developments here, they can better appreciate how worth is our grooming and the quality of our students.

IIM-K is starting a campus in Kochi in October that focuses on executive education. Initially, this satellite campus will be at Infopark.

the best teachers and offering them a 4-day workshop on how to transform themselves to the modern age, and in turn, transform their schools and students.

Is the program a continuation of the work you have been doing personally in this field for some time now?

Yes, it evolved from a personal project of mine. I have trained thousands of teachers across India as part of this personal passion. Now it is more formalized using the IIM system, and I was instrumental in getting collaborators like Ajit Balakrishnan and Malabar Gold. I think the most profound work that has to be done, for this country to improve holistically, is jumpstart its schooling standards. I have been appalled at the condition of some

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Can you explain us the women’s empowerment program that you have recently launched? Why is IIM-K selecting only teachers for this program?

Firstly, our intention is to empower women to have the maximum impact on society with this program. So, teachers came as a natural choice.

When we train a teacher, we are also training her students, which means the future generations. Secondly, this is an offshoot of our ongoing Management Development Program (MDP) titled, ‘Leading Schools in Search of Excellence’, where we have collaborated with thought leaders like Ajit Balakrishnan, Founder of Rediff.

We have tied up with Malabar Gold Group for offering this course to women teachers now. We are selecting

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schools where I have went for workshops, even here in Kerala. At one school in Alappuzha, I told them on the face - “How can you call this a school?

The noise, the confusion, and the pitiable infrastructure is just like in a market. How can you blame students for not performing here?” And the management and teachers were shocked at something they had taken as the unchangeable till then, and thus they are willing to change too.

Recently you inked a deal with Leeds University Business School. What are the intended objectives? Are more such deals on the anvil?

Leeds University Business School is of high repute and track-record. They had come searching for an Indian business school, and we became a natural fit for them. The objectives include student and faculty exchange programs as well as all other possible forms of collaboration. We will tie up with other international business schools too, if they come up with solid plans.

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Why do you think these institutions are tying up with Indian B-Schools?

Well, times have changed, and nowadays work experience in India and China is regarded as a global passport for success. Growth is here, innovation is here, all good or challenging stuff is

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happening more in India and China, than say in US or Europe. It was bound to happen soon. That is why these international B-Schools are coming to India now.

You seem least surprised by this development…

Why should I be surprised? For years I have been predicting this transcontinental shift. My special interest field is Asian models in leadership.

India had evolved so much wisdom in leadership and management in ancient times, that is yet to be recognized by the world. I have developed a three dimensional model of leadership, that I call the wisdom leadership, which is made up of four values of life - Gyan

which I define as right knowledge, Bhakti which I define as the right way to organize, Dharma as the right way to transform, and Karma as the right action. I believe that world will come to embrace such systems.

As the youngest Director of an IIM you are noted for your critical views of your own field - MBA education.

Why do you criticise it as ‘hire education’ and MBAs as ’Mind Boggling Aspirations’?

As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” To tell you an example, it is like Kerala saying it is God’s Own Country. As an aspiration the motto is fine, but when we believe it blindly or take it for granted, the problem begins. It applies to MBAs too.

Lest we not forget, we have written the Socrates quote on a big board in the campus driveway. You would have noticed it. It is not enough to have tall ambition. MBAs should constantly inspect themselves to see whether they are picking up the right competencies, especially when they are looked upon as leaders in the challenging environment of business.

How do you view your convocation speaker Resul Pookutty’s view that his main struggle in life after education, was to create a need or role for himself in the industry, a

You have gone on record stating that success in MBA program is not corelated to success in managerial roles.

What all are the steps IIM-K is taking to better bridge the academiccorporate divide?

Yes, I have said that often and would repeat that any day. Business environments and the challenges they pose are very dynamic in nature. It requires constant learning, risk taking, emotional intelligence, and above all self-improvement. To expose our students to these real-life situations we bring in the finest leaders from business and academics into our campus for workshops on a wide variety of actual challenges.

You have been a CEO Coach, corporate trainer for Fortune 100 companies, and recently architect of the leadership programs for Kerala Cabinet ministers. Can you explain the insights you have gleamed from such programs?

One thing I would stress here is that while coaching such leaders, the coach is also benefited, as these are people who have already made their own marks in life. I deliver value to them by being frank with them. Often these leaders think they are performing above par, or at least adequately. But I point out to them, where all their strategies are lacking, and how things can be improved to a great degree by following a systems approach and innovation. I would say that Kerala’s Chief Minister,

Oommen Chandy has been very receptive. He and some of his Ministers are also very hardworking and willing to listen, to improve.

What is your leadership style? Which all management gurus have inspired you?

I won’t accept lazy or sloppy behaviour from anyone. I have even fired security staff for repeated mistakes like sleeping on duty. Here in Kerala, there is a trend to take things for granted, and backing it up is the trade-union culture among some employees. There have been

Business environments and the challenges they pose are very dynamic in nature. It requires constant learning, risk taking, emotional intelligence, and above all self-improvement. To expose our students to these real-life situations we bring in the finest leaders from business and academics into our campus for workshops on a wide variety of actual challenges.

attempts to threaten me for such actions. But to all of them, I had only one thing to say - “I have no need to cling on to this job by compromising.”

But having said all these, let me also tell you that I give a lot of stress to emotional intelligence. You should be able to work with people peacefully and productively, if you are to improve them. As I said earlier, innovating to go beyond market opportunities is also very important. Regarding Gurus, they need not be from management alone.

Dr. Peter M Senge of MIT and Prof.

John Kotter of Harvard Business School have been great inspiration from the management field. Then there are other inspirations, like Mother Theresa.

What would you advise young MBA aspirants?

Don’t be in a hurry to choose any career. Experiment with your various interests, talents, and aptitudes, and try to develop a conviction on what you really want to do with your career and life. That may not be possible when one has just left 10+2 or even degree. You may need to work for some years in a couple of fields. But finally when you make up your mind on anything, go for it with a zeal for excellence. At that stage you will have to start developing a sharp focus and stay focused on the goal like our great warrior Arjuna.

Are you a spiritual person? What motivates you?

I think management, especially leadership values have everything to do with spirituality. India’s ancient wisdom and traditional knowledge recognized it from time immemorial.

We should always remind ourselves that we will have leave this body soon. This body has been created not just to become rich and enjoy, but to do good to others, the society, the future generations, the human civilization.

When you are always in awareness of that spiritual fact, right leadership is bound to develop.

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struggle that took nearly 10 years of his life? Are MBAs not coming up to the mark often in industry because there is no such struggle for them?

MBAs do have to struggle. The only difference is that it is a struggle not to enter a profession, but to make their mark as a CEO in an environment where every other MBA also aspires for the same. Obviously, not everyone is going to make it. So, the struggle is there and it is quite intense.

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“We have Taken AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

University to the Farms

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”

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KR Viswambharan IAS needs no introduction to Keralites anywhere in the world. In his various roles during a long administrative career, this bureaucrat-with-no-airs has touched more Malaylee’s lives than many other officers. Viswambharan was formerly Collector of Ernakulam District, and his achievements would be a matter of envy for many. Goshree Bridges project work, land acquisition for CIAL, grant of pattayams for 15,000 people, record collections for Kargil & Gujarat Earthquake relief funds etc are only some examples. This graduate in law and postgraduate in science has also proved his mettle in organizational roles, by turning around TELK as its CMD, and giving the right direction to Vegetable & Fruit Promotion Council Kerala as its CEO. But when he retired from service recently, the brightest feather in his cap was his achievements at Kerala Agricultural University during the last five years as its Vice Chancellor. Even his critics would agree that Viswambharan has succeeded in awakening this sleeping giant of an organization and taking it right from the classrooms into the farm lands, working side-by-side with farmers.

Academics, research, and extension activities among communities were improved, finally culminating in a Rs. 100 crore grant in the recent Union Budget to KAU in recognition of its achievements. Apex body, ICAR has rated KAU as the best among 52 agricultural universities for 5-years in a row. A winner of the prestigious Dewang Mehta Award for outstanding contribution to education, KR Viswambharan is confident that Kerala Agricultural University will scale even greater heights in the years to come. Seasonal Magazine in conversation with KR Viswambharan IAS:

political leaders or other influential bureaucrats in this regard?

Yes, of course, we needed the support of our people’s representatives for making such a large allocation a reality.

Though a few leaders from Kerala helped us in this regard, most noteworthy is the contribution made by PC Chacko, Member of Parliament from Thrissur. We also note with gratitude the support of Cabinet Ministers for Agriculture and Finance, Sharad Pawar and Pranab Mukherjee.

You mentioned that part of this onetime grant of Rs. 100 crore would go towards academics. Are you planning new courses?

Yes, the grant is basically for three projects, one of which is new academic courses. Here, what we plan to do is start new-generation courses in agriculture and allied subjects. If you

are a keen watcher of the agricultural sector, you will be knowing about the ever increasing momentum with which new technologies are coming in into the agricultural field. To cope up with such changes, as well as emerging challenges, academics should improve significantly with the introduction of new courses. Kerala Agricultural University is already a pioneer in such courses, and we want to continue that edge. One recent example, of new challenges mandating new courses is our program on Climate Adaptation.

And examples of new technologies would be…

We do a lot of work on bio-technology, on improving farm productivity through seed research etc.

Mechanization is another area where big strides are being made. All that should come into mainstream

KR Viswambharan IAS

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Kerala Agricultural University has obtained a Rs. 100 crore grant in this year’s Union Budget. What led to this?

We have been trying for such a one-time grant since the last few years. We needed large funds to take this University to a higher orbit. But each year, our request couldn’t be met by the Government as they were allocating such grants on certain criteria like 100years track record etc. But in our latest proposal before Government, we had highlighted our national level academic performance, which is the country’s best among all agricultural universities for the last 5-years, and requested that it be considered as a criteria. Since a significant part of this grant is for academic purposes, it was a valid request. So that is how it came about this year.

Did you enlist the support of any

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KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY academics. Allied fields are also important. For example, agricultural journalism is one such field. This nation and sector requires knowledgeable writers who can powerfully convey our innovations to farmers through massmedia.

Do you have any initiatives in GM Crops?

No, we don’t have, as Kerala is opposed to Genetically Modified Crops as a matter of policy. What we do is all other kind of seed research & development, other than GM.

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Which are the two other projects coming under this grant?

Research into improving farm productivity through seed development etc is one area, and the third is construction of a new administrative block. Due to the rapid growth during the past several years, infrastructure at KAU needs an overhaul.

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You have almost completed 5 years in office. What all would you list among your major achievements?

I think that I could rejuvenate the entire setup here at Kerala Agricultural University. Fom being just a think-tank on agriculture, under my guidance, our professors and students got our hands soiled for the first time doing actual farming with farmers. You all would have noticed the best known among these initiatives, which happened in Kuttanad. But in our state, everything is criticized and this initiative too was viewed by some with suspicion. But it is heartening to recall that an impartial mind like that of Late Sukumar Azhikode had come to our support.

Azhikode Sir had replied to critics back then that an agricultural university vicechancellor has proven that he needs to be a farmer first. We also spearheaded the move to reclaim significant hectares of barren land and put it to effective agriculture. We were also quite good at improving our extension activities.

Can you elaborate on that for our readers? What exactly is meant by extension activities?

Kerala Agricultural University, by

design, is not just an academic facilitator. It is intended to transmit the latest knowledge to farming communities. We do that through our extension infrastructures like Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs). During my tenure we overhauled the entire activities of KVKs by proactively coming to the help of Community Based Organizations (CBOs). Just to give you an example, we have been very effective during recent years in minimizing the impact of mite problem that affects coconut palms. Our extension activities also involve innovating new technology solutions like the coconut plucking machine, which has proven so simple to use that even women are doing it. Our Krishi Vigyan Kendras are some of the best in this country, and one of them was rated as the very best. I could also mobilize support for programs like Paddy Mission, Friends of Coconut, Green Cadet Corps etc.

How well does Kerala Agricultural University interact with other Government agencies in the agricultural field like CPCRI? Were there any improvements on this front during your tenure?

There were improvements, but it is a field where there is infinite room for improvement. Much of the problem is that many organizations are often doing similar kind of work. In recent years, everyone concerned has woken up to the ineffectiveness of this model, and interactions between these organizations have increased. It is only a matter of time now, before a formal and integrated sharing of responsibilities and results are achieved. KAU is very open to such ideas and is already into doing combined work with other organizations. Recently we had signed an MoU with Tamilnadu Agricultural University.

Speaking about MoUs, you had recently signed an MoU with International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). What is the value proposition for KAU through this

Dr. Charan Das Mahant, Union Minister of State of Agriculture & Food Processing Industries congratulates Dr. Viswambharan

agreement?

As you might know, we have semi arid land only in Palakkad. Maybe they can help in climate change issues too. But what we are really eyeing from ICRISAT is their core expertise in improving soil quality. They have done impressive work in Andhra in this

Kerala Agricultural University

Dr. S. Ayyappan, Director General of ICAR & Secretary DARE, Govt. of India, congratulates Dr. Viswambharan

regard, and we want Kerala too to benefit from their expertise.

On the academic front, apart from new generation courses, what will be Kerala Agricultural University’s priorities?

There are many academic initiatives,

There has been a row over higher staff remuneration for top leadership during your period. What is your take on it?

Well, when I assumed charge, the staff were not very motivated as they had not received promotions and increments for long. What I have tried to do is just correct this injustice. Due to my proactive intervention, today you would find most of the KAU staff as highly motivated in their work. But then, in our state, every good initiative is also resisted, and we just have to take such things in our stride. Some elements of the media also blow up such things out

of proportion. I won’t be intimidated with such issues, as my intention is always to work for the greater good of people.

As someone coming from the IAS cadre, would you advocate more bureaucrats from outside the university setup to take up the apex job here?

As a bureaucrat myself, it is not right that I comment on this. It is not necessary that top leaders should be from outside, as much as it is not necessary that it should be from the inside. What should only count is the person’s track-record and ability. I have always performed be it in TELK where it was said that an engineer is required, or here, where generally academicians are entrusted with the top job. What we need is just the attitude to get our hands soiled, and achievements would follow like in our lab-to-land program.

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but one that is receiving special attention is exchange programs, twinning programs, knowledge exchange etc. We have already tied up with some international universities and more such tie-ups will follow, which will benefit our students and faculty, as well as Kerala agriculture.

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AUTO INDUSTRY

Partnership Trouble at Honda Siel Reflects Industry Trend

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co’s Indian marriage is on the rocks. Accusations by its local partner of “inappropriate” corporate governance and a tussle over future investment have exposed the perils of operating in a business model that has run out of gas for foreign automakers in India’s booming car market.

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s sales and their confidence rises, overseas manufacturers are tearing up local partnerships and pumping billions of dollars into wholly-owned Indian units, encouraged by the government’s handsoff policy that gives it an edge over Asian rival China. With more foreign car makers choosing to have complete control of their Indian businesses, investment is increasing, capacity is rising, and Asia’s third-largest economy is fast challenging Thailand and China as an automobile export hub. “The automotive industry requires significant investment, particularly at the initial stages, coupled with a lengthy product development cycle,” Michael Boneham, president of Ford Motor Co’s whollyowned India unit told Reuters. “Such capital intensiveness can be burdensome on partnerships, and the need for large investment and R&D can be difficult to maintain if it’s not your core business.”

Like Honda, Ford entered India in a joint venture, with Mahindra & Mahindra in 1995. That lasted 10 years and sold a total of 120,000 cars. By comparison, Ford’s subsequent solo venture, which

has committed $2 billion to India, shifted almost 100,000 cars in the last financial year alone. As companies look to tie-ups and joint ventures in Europe and other developed markets to cut costs and share technology, eight of the world’s top-10 car manufacturers operate in India without a domestic partner. “Carmakers now want to do further value addition and bring in proprietary technology, and want to run it on their own ... So they determine the fortunes,” said Chandresh Ruparel, managing director of the Indian unit of Rothschild, who has advised Indian automakers on partnerships with foreign companies. Honda’s troubles stem from a battle over 32 billion rupees worth of fresh investment. The Japanese company wants to boost diesel engine production to meet a surge in demand.

Local partner Usha International isn’t happy. “The relationship with (Honda India) has been weakened recently through inappropriate behaviour by Honda in the governance processes adopted by its board on significant decisions,” said Krishna Shriram, Usha executive chairman. “We have heard through press interviews that Honda would like to merge their companies in India together for greater flexibility,

partly because of difficulties with their Indian partners,” Shriram told Reuters.

“We’re quite hurt by these statements due to our belief we have been committed and true.” A spokesman for Honda in Tokyo declined to comment on whether the company is considering consolidating its two-wheeler and automobile operations in India. “We are constantly in close contact with our

too long for a lower tax bracket rivals enjoyed. “We’re late, but not too late,” Renault India Managing Director Marc Nassif said this month as the French car maker takes a second crack at the market - this time on its own. Joint ventures in India used to be all the rage. Devoid of car making expertise, India scouted for foreign companies to kickstart an industry best known for the Ambassador, a chunky sedan based on Britain’s 1948 Morris Oxford that is still made in Kolkata by Hindustan Motors. In 1982 it sold the idea, and 26 percent of nationalised Maruti Udyog, to Suzuki Motor Corp, and the concept was born.

At the time, India was an automotive backwater where annual sales, mainly of foreign knock-offs, were below 40,000 - or one car for every 14,000 of its then 550 million people.

Subsequently, global majors such as General Motors and Toyota wanted local expertise to help scout for suppliers, set

up sales networks, negotiate land purchases and - most important navigate India’s infamous bureaucracy.

That’s no longer the case. While India makes it tough for foreign operators in many industries, it has rolled out the red carpet for foreign car makers. States offer huge discounts on land for employment-boosting factories and the domestic supply chain for components and materials is well established.

“Today, it’s easy to come in alone,” said Vishnu Mathur, director-general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, a domestic trade group.

“Traditionally, an Indian partner was always required to take you through a labyrinth of government process, procedure and policy,” Mathur said. “But when the policy is so transparent ... then the need for a local partner diminishes.”

Late arrivals such as Nissan and Volkswagen entered with wholly-owned units. Those still weighing up the joint venture or subsidiary model, such as Japan’s Mazda, are unlikely to pick the former, analysts say. Foreign subsidiaries accounted for 73 percent of India’s car sales in the year to March 2011. Joint ventures in which foreign firms hold stakes accounted for just 7 percent. Total passenger vehicle sales in India were around 2.6 million in the year to end-March 2012. India’s open-door policy towards foreign car makers, which has allowed for 100 percent foreign ownership since 2002, mirrors the approach taken by Thailand, and stands in direct contrast to China, where foreign manufacturers must join up with a local player and get the deal stamped by authorities. It’s an approach that has paid off. Unfettered by partners, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai have set up export bases in India, and total installed capacity has doubled to 3 million vehicles over the past five years. India exported 520,000 cars in the year to March 2012, against Thailand’s 2011 exports of 735,000 and China’s 850,000.

Honda, shackled in an unhappy partnership, is finding it tough to ramp up capacity. “We do not wish to stand in their way, but will insist on transparency and acknowledgement of missteps in a mature manner,” said Usha’s Shriram.

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partner,” said Tomohiro Okada. Honda has been here before. Insiders at the company had privately lamented the difficulties of getting things done at Hero Honda, the Indian motorcycle joint venture between the Japanese firm and India’s Hero Group. Since Honda exited that joint venture last year in an $851 million deal, the company’s fully-owned subsidiary has raced to second place in India’s motorcycle sales rankings. And Honda’s troubles are not unique. Fiat, which has a joint venture with Tata Motors, is severing its distribution agreement with the Indian company in an attempt to boost sluggish sales. Tata’s chief financial officer said in February that the relationship was not producing the expected results. Renault’s threeyear joint venture with Mahindra was dogged by disagreements and poor communication between the partners: its sole product, the Logan sedan, was mauled by critics and was 25 centimetres

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CIAL is Aiming VJ Kurien IAS is again setting his eyes on high peaks.

Even as he and his team at CIAL are diligently beefing up security, safety, and convenience for passengers and visitors, even bigger plans are on the anvil, including upgrading the MRO facility to world standards, eyeing overseas airport projects for lucrative consultancy business, and above all planning for a Rs. 1000-1500 crore IPO that will see CIAL executing all these plans without much additional debt, as well as facilitating it to take up projects in sunrise sectors like wind mills, solar energy, mini hydel projects, and even highways and bridges construction. CIAL is also building a new international terminal.

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nce upon a time, a coming together of visions and talents, created the unthinkable in an idyllic village called Nedumbassery.

Kerala shot into national and international limelight by having the first PPP airport in the country. Now, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is aiming high, again. And it is no coincidence that the man who spearheaded CIAL Ver 1.0 - VJ Kurian, IAS - is back again at the helm of this unique company that is almost like a listed firm with 10,000 shareholders based in 29 countries.

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If the former laurels that Kurien had won included nothing less than a Harvard University Case Study and Research Subject for smoothest acquisition of 1250 acres of land, this time around, expect nothing lesser. Because, CIAL’s latest plans include going international

by providing consulting services to airports in India and abroad. It is the kind of plan that only an Indian player like GMR has had the courage to venture into, so far. CIAL already has its first consulting project in Kannur International Airport, where it has submitted a detailed project report.

No efforts are being spared in delivering the best services to its customers. The airport recently installed two Automated External Defibrillators (AED) to aid in cardiac emergencies, one each at the domestic and international terminals. As a hub that sees 30,000 visitors each day now, CIAL is taking no chances with its customers’ health needs. It was a move that was praised by pioneering cardiac surgeon, Dr. Jose Chacko Periyapuram, who played an instrumental role in CIAL getting these equipment.

CIAL is also learning from adverse happenings. After the mishap of a plane

VJ Kurien IAS

High, Again

Security is another aspect that CIAL takes very seriously, and it goes to its credit that no major security mishap has yet occurred in the 15 years of its

existence. But not resting on its laurels, CIAL will be getting an even better security overhaul soon. CISF’s Bomb Detection & Disposal Squad will soon get modern security gadgets like liquid explosive detector, explosive vapour detector, bomb suit, blast inhibitor, car remote opening tool kit, RSP tool kit, non-metallic prodder, remote wire cutter, under vehicle viewing mirror, search light with charger, and electronic stethoscope. There is also more than adequate staff strength in CISF personnel, with 450 members of this elite force being currently deployed at the airport, manning the terminal side and the air space. This number is impressive, as CIAL’s other employee strength is around 515.

CIAL’s diversification into Maintenance, Repair, & Overhaul (MRO) recently got a shot in its arm, as the Union Budget waived a 30% duty on import of aircraft spares for third-party MROs. With this move, CIAL’s MRO is now equipped to offer turnkey solutions to airlines. This division which will soon have its formal launch, is already operational with transit maintenance being provided to foreign airlines. It has also obtained DGCA’s approval for conducting ‘A Check’, which is mandatory for all aircraft after completing 100 days of operation.

CIAL is also tying up with Romania based leader in this business, Aerostar, for state-of-the-art technology support that will enable it to provide ‘C Check’, as after Air India Express making Kochi its hub, there is increased demand for this service. It will go a long way in the support of all low-cost airlines as CIAL can offer its services at US$50 per man

hour, which is half of the rates elsewhere.

CIAL MD VJ Kurien has also moved decisively to end the long-running dispute with its lender, HUDCO, and has settled the matter in an amicable manner.

Though both domestic and international air traffic is going through a sluggish phase, CIAL is better positioned due to the relatively high activities from Jet, SpiceJet, & Air India, as well as the large scale operations expected from Singapore based Tiger Airways shortly.

And to cap all its initiatives, has come the proposal to make CIAL truly public, by going for an IPO and exchange listing. Though it is easy for CIAL to raise debt at this stage, MD Kurien is proposing a Rs. 1000-1500 crore IPO so as to give trading options for its longterm shareholders. This visionary bureaucrat also has grand plans to use surplus funds from the IPO. He estimates that after meeting airport’s immediate needs, there will be enough left to pursue socially uplifting yet profitable ventures like wind mills, solar power, mini-hydel projects, and even road construction. If these plans work out, it will be the first time in India - or maybe anywhere in the world - that an airport company is building other public infrastructure although the reverse model is often followed with infra companies building airports!

CIAL is indeed proving to be the model for Kerala. The biggest appreciation has come from Kerala Chief Minister who recently mooted the idea of four companies in “CIAL Model” for four critical areas in social improvement filtration units for drinking water supply, garbage disposal, public e-toilets, and bus shelters.

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skidding from the runway in August 2011, the airport has went in for central lighting, despite there being no mandatory requirement for it as Cochin Airport is a Category 1 airport having the best visibility. Taking into account the many hours the runway had to be closed after that accident, CIAL is also investing in Disabled Aircraft Recovery Equipment, which is not usual for an airport of its size. But CIAL is taking no chances, as during the August incident, the main delay was for this equipment to arrive from Air India, Mumbai.

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LIFE @ TOP

Narayana Murthy One Among 12 Greatest Entrepreneurs

What Google’s Page Learnt From Apple’s Jobs

Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy is among the 12 "greatest entrepreneurs of our time" according to a Fortue magazine list that is topped by Apple's late chief Steve Jobs.

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The US publication said as the "visionary founder" of Infosys, Murthy has built "one of the largest companies in India, helping to transform that economy and put it on the world stage". Murthy, 65, proved that "India could compete with the world by taking on the software development work that had long been the province of the West.

"As one of six co-founders of Infosys and the CEO for 21 years, Murthy helped spark the outsourcing revolution that has brought billions of dollars in wealth into the Indian economy and transformed his country into the world's back office," it said. Fortune cited his lesson that an organisation starting from scratch must coalesce around a team of people with an enduring value system.

"It is all about sacrifice today, fulfilment tomorrow," it quotes Murthy, who is ranked 10th, as saying. "It is all about sacrifice, hard work, lots of frustration, being away from your family, in the hope that someday you will get adequate returns from that."

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In earnings calls during the past few days, chief executives for Google and Yahoo boasted about how many products they had shuttered. Last week, Google CEO Larry Page said that during his first year since returning to the top spot, he had killed more than 30 products, combining some of them with ones that are still around.

Yesterday, Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson said he plans to shut down or “transition” about 50 products. “One of the most important pieces of our strategy, and that of any business in a fastgrowing market, is in regularly defining what we won’t do,” Thompson said on the earnings call. That sounds a lot like something Apple co-founder Steve Jobs used to say, and that’s probably not by accident. (What executive wouldn’t want to be compared to Jobs, who’s considered one of the greatest CEOs?) “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do,” Jobs often said. According to Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography, Jobs actually was the one who influenced Page’s killing spree. The book said that in a meeting between the two, before Page was to take over as CEO again, Jobs told him to focus on a few key products to prevent Google from becoming bloated like Microsoft. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, he shut down many projects, including the Newton personal-digital assistant, and set out to focus the business around only four types of computers. Page acknowledged the meeting with Jobs in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “He had a lot of interesting insights about how to run a company, and that was pretty much what we discussed,” Page said. Since Page’s return, Google’s graveyard has become crowded. Among the dead, Google Code Search was shuttered in January; Picnik, the Web-based graphics editor, will close on Thursday; and Google Wave, the ill-fated productivity software, will go offline at the end of this month. Many of the programmers who have stuck around were reassigned to projects that incorporate Google+, the company’s social network. It’s a similar story at Yahoo. A year ago, Yahoo sold Delicious, the online bookmarking service, to the pair that founded YouTube, and last month, Yahoo said it would close Yahoo Widgets. The company will pay about $135 million in severance to employees who are being cut, said Tim Morse, Yahoo’s chief financial officer.

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SEASONAL MAGAZINE

IN-FOCUS

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Kochouseph Chittilappilly Founder, V Guard Group

Kerala is not known for its industries. But if the southernmost state will ever have an industrialist for a Brand Ambassador, it will be Kochouseph Chittilappilly.

From humble beginnings more than three decades back with just two employees, Kochouseph is today the strength behind a business empire that spans the listed V-Guard Industries, and unlisted leaders like amusement park chain Wonderla and apparel maker V-Star. Mainly a manufacturer of electrical home appliances, the Group’s flagship, V-Guard Industries Ltd., has not allowed the consequent low margins as a deterrent for outperformance in the market. Today, V-Guard’s high Return on Equity (RoE) and Return on Assets (RoA) make it a model to follow for other players. Is the secret just its asset-light operations?

The key Kochouseph says, is more about a relentless focus on growth as well as strict adherence to financial discipline. The future looks even more promising for the Group with eventual goals like listing of Wonderla and V-Star, and some choosy diversification into real estate. On the personal front, Kochouseph continues to be a newsmaker after his stunning kidney donation, by proposing an alternate plan for strengthening Mullaperiyar Dam, and by taking Leftist trade unions head-on on the ‘Nokkukuli’ issue. Seasonal Magazine in conversation with Kochouseph Chittilappilly, at V-Guard‘s Corporate Office in Kochi:

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“ Growth Appetite & Financial Discipline are the Keys to Our Performance ”

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You do have a unique Corporate Office building. Why so much of a green initiative? What are the highlights?

I thought we should set an example in green technologies, something that can benefit future generations through energy conservation. The main highlight is that a 2-metre wide open veranda is there on the periphery of each of this building’s 12 floors. These verandas alone occupy 20% of the total construction area and we grow plants and flowers here. This building also has a totally environment friendly design, complete with energy saving, water saving, material saving, and recycling technologies. We also have a cafeteria that can accommodate 200 people, 4 conference halls of varying capacities from 20 to 200 persons, and a roof-top meeting place that can accommodate about 500 people. This building also has a roof garden, fitness centre, recreation room, library etc. besides extensive open area in all floors, and retiring rooms for guests.

In Q3, when one looks at home appliances makers, the large ones

making TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air-conditioners etc have done quite badly, while smaller ones like V-Guard, Bajaj, Prestige, Havells etc have outperformed. What is the secret?

I think it is primarily a function of the essential nature of our products. The large or costlier equipments always tend to be non-essential or non-urgent. For example, you can always postpone purchasing that large LED TV, until your finances improve. But can you postpone buying a water pump or fan? So, when consumer demand is down, large appliance manufacturers tend to underperform, while companies like VGuard maintain growth. In fact, this essential nature is something I always stress when our team suggests new products.

But the fortunes of some of your products like stabilizers are tied with the fortunes of the large appliance makers, isn’t it?

Yes, but only for a few of our products.

One strength in our strategy is that we have a much diversified product range now, so that the seasonal lull in one or

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V-Guard’s Corporate Office, Kochi

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Arun Chittilappilly

Mithun Chittilappilly

two segments is more than made up by the strong demand in other segments.

So, that was a very conscious strategy that was evolved during the last 5 to 10 years?

Maybe even before 10 years. I think it was right there from the start. Close on heels of V-Guard making itself a success in voltage stabilizers for refrigerators,

years back. For example, our diversification into water pumps was very productive for us.

But has too much diversification affected your margins?

It will have a small impact, but then everything is a trade-off.

We need to grow volumes and we need to de-risk too.

Maybe the other diversification that analysts note as your strength, geographic diversification, happened more recently?

Relatively yes, but there too, we had diversified into Kerala’s neighbouring states like Tamilnadu early on, and gradually that became a pan-India spread. Much of that spread had happened by the IPO time, but then there is no limit to geographic spread in a country like India. V-Guard is always improving on that front.

You are mentioning the marketing spread, but what about the production?

I was mentioning both. Production spread just follows marketing spread. For example, over the years, Delhi had emerged as a key hub for us, both as a market and as a distribution point. So, it made sense to have production facilities close to Delhi. Our Uttarakhand factory caters to that need. We are just six hours away from New Delhi. Yet, we get

“

Never be content with what you have achieved.

You can achieve a lot more for yourself and others if you aim for growth, always. And never forget the importance of financial discipline.

More businesses have perished due to these two reasons more than anything else. When I recollect, many of the big names in business that were there in this city 35 years back, are no more today, due to failures on these two fronts.”

” We think that was discussed by IIM-A’ s Prof. Abraham Koshy recently in a class on successful strategies at IIT Kharagpur…

Really? Prof. Koshy had come here long back to study our strategies. Anyway, more than this in-segment diversification, what was more fruitful was our diversification into other segments. That too started long back, maybe more than 10

multiple tax benefits as the area is backward. So, geographical spread for production made much sense.

And what about your spread into Tamilnadu for production?

Early on, it was a de-risking strategy against the culture of strikes and trade-unionism in Kerala. We were a victim of that. But more recent production units in Tamilnadu hubs like Coimbatore are also driven by market demand and logistical advantages.

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we had come up with different kind of stabilizers for different product segments like stabilizers for TVs, ACs, etc.

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When one looks closely at your financial performance, a lot is due to your unique asset-light structure. Can you elaborate on what led to this?

Yes, our real innovation has been in our asset-light operations. We are a products company, and we stick to what we do best or where our best efforts should be – R&D, innovation, quality-control, branding, distribution, marketing etc. We outsource all other tasks, including production, packaging etc. In fact, as soon as we are sure that we have developed a viable product, we outsource it. Because of this, 80% of our workforce is made up of indirect employees through Self Help Groups.

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Your diversification into electrical cable business stands as a contrast to this strategy. The performance of that division is also said to be a drag on your overall performance…

Well, I agree that it is a different strategy.

We have our own factories for cables.

But then, not all kind of manufacturing can be outsourced. Coming to the second part of your question, it is not right to think of it as a drag on the overall numbers. Margins are lower than some other outsourced segments, but cables deliver significant volumes for us. Also, there are distinct advantages like cables requiring no after-sales service, unlike almost all of our other products.

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Despite the essential nature of your products that you mentioned, analysts have pointed out that continuous marketing thrust is still required for the success of V-Guard…

It is a given in this industry. It is not specific to V-Guard. And that requirement will always be there. A lot will depend on how well we communicate with our consumers, how well we price our products, how well we distribute them, how well we support our distribution partners etc. But at the end of the day, none of this will work, unless we deliver high-quality, hassle-free products. So, in a nutshell the strategy

is this – produce quality products and market it with high quality too.

Your stock had outperformed from the 2008 IPO days, sometimes going beyond 3X gains. How do you view it?

Well, I don’t worry too much over market lows or market highs. My philosophy is that we should stick with improving our fundamental performance, and that the market would reward it accordingly.

Why haven’t more companies gone in for public listing from Kerala?

I think many are not comfortable with the valuations they can get. Some of them are also not comfortable with the intense scrutiny that a public listing brings in. In our case I was content with both aspects and that is why it could happen for us. I think scrutiny makes our work more focused and easier. We have good corporate governance practices like an independent non-executive Chairman and a professional Joint Managing Director, both from outside the promoter group. Our Chairman PGR Prasad, was MD & CEO of SBI Mutual Fund. He is a mechanical engineer as well as a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner. Our Joint Managing Director is Dr. George Sleeba, former Chairman & MD of FACT Ltd, who is credited with its impressive turnaround. He is a postgraduate engineer from IIT Chennai and a doctorate holder in social sciences from CUSAT. Our other independent directors are also of high repute and

track-record like CJ George, MD of Geojit BNP Paribas, and AK Nair, former MD of KSIDC and Nitta Gelatin India Ltd. What according to you is fundamental to your success as an entrepreneur as well as the success of your companies like V-Guard, Wonderla, V-Star etc?

I put great emphasis on growth. We are never content with what we have achieved. The day I decide enough is enough, our decline will start. Business is always like that. We can’t ever hope to remain steady. We have to grow or

Kochouseph,VC

Mithun, MD

asked, here it is: Never be content with what you have achieved. You can achieve a lot more for yourself and others if you aim for growth, always. And never forget the importance of financial discipline.

More businesses have perished due to these two reasons more than anything else. When I recollect, many of the big names in business that were there in this city 35 years back, are no more today, due to failures on these two fronts.

What would be your advice for young entrepreneurs?

I don’t know whether I am capable enough to advice. Anyway, since you

Arun, MD

Priya Arun

The latest milestone in V-Guard has been it crossing Rs 1000 crore in turnover.

And the latest award for Kochouseph has been the Management Leadership Award 2012 by KMA and presented by Kerala CM Oommen Chandy.

What prompted you to donate a kidney? It seems like an epitome of personal sacrifice. Are you spiritually motivated? Or is it just human compassion?

I am a science student. Not just in the literal sense, but that I am always a student of science. I had studied kidney donation in detail, and was convinced that there are no bad effects on health. I

Sheela Kochouseph, MD

Joshna Mithun

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otherwise the only alternative is that we will wither away. Secondly, the key to sustainable growth is financial discipline. Every rupee counts. Even if it is charity, every rupee should be put to effective use. One can make grand plans, and spend grandly on those, but at the end of the day, what counts for all stakeholders are only the volumes and margins. Without financial discipline maintaining them is impossible.

Are you a micromanager or delegation specialist?

I am fanatical about delegation. I shun micromanaging more than anything else, and resort to it only when absolutely necessary. In fact, on a personal front, I think much of my success is due to successful delegation and I stress that for other managers too. If you have noticed, I have been talking with you for over two and a half hours now, right in my workplace, and have I been interrupted more than a couple of times? Delegation is very much possible. It is not widespread because some leaders fear it unwittingly. Without delegation, meaningful growth is impossible.

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maybe after that we will think on those lines. Wonderla has also soft launched its hospitality division inside the Bangalore park with 84 rooms of 3-star facility. It is experiencing good traction as even 2% of the visitors opting for the overnight stays are enough. We also plan to do some hospitality projects outside of the parks. V-Star is more focused now having exited the women’s apparel business and putting its full might behind lingerie brand Vanessa and men’s innerwear brand, Valero.

am not spiritually motivated in the classic sense of the phrase. But yes, an element of compassion is there, maybe something I learned from my parents.

But more than that why I did kidney donation was to set an example that anyone could do kidney donation safely and save another human being’s life.

How do you divide the responsibilities among your family members? What is your philosophy as the head of a business family?

As you know, I am the Executive ViceChairman here, at V-Guard Industries Ltd. My wife Sheela is in charge of VStar Creations as its MD. Our elder son Arun is in charge of Wonderla as its Managing Director. Arun is a Masters in Industrial Engineering from Industrial Research Institute of Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia. My younger son, Mithun is also here in VGuard Industries as the Managing Director. Mithun is a post graduate in Finance from University of Melbourne, Australia. Our daughter-in-laws are also involved in Group companies, with Arun’s wife Priya helping him in Wonderla, and Mithun’s wife Joshna helping my wife in V-Star. Regarding my philosophy as the family head, it is simple - lead by example. Nobody follows preaching or advices, but everyone follows our actions.

What all are the immediate business plans for the Group? Will you be taking Wonderla and V-Star public?

Both seem to have their own strengths, with Wonderla having a 31% profit margin as well as a high entry barrier for competitors, and V-Star having a benchmark in Jockey‘s parent Page Industries…

All that is true, and it is also right that I do have such aims on my horizon. But we are in no hurry. They will be eventually listed, most probably Wonderla will come first, but as of now it is premature to be talking about it.

Wonderla is expanding soon to Hyderabad, and then to Chennai, and

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“ I am fanatical about delegation. I shun micromanaging more than anything else, and resort to it only when absolutely necessary. In fact, on a personal front, I think much of my success is due to successful delegation and I stress that for other managers too.

Delegation is very much possible. It is not widespread because some leaders fear it unwittingly.

Without delegation, meaningful growth is impossible.

”

Any other diversification plans right now?

We have started a small real estate development division, Veegaland Developers. The first two projects are in the planning stage now, both residential and at Kochi, using our own lands. One will be coming up in a 1acre land at Kaloor, using a three-block design, while the other is a more premium project with just one apartment to a floor.

You have selectively engaged public attention on social issues like Nokkukuli (a traditional extortionist wage demanded by Kerala’s Leftist trade unions) and Mullaperiyar.

What prompts you to go for these?

V-Star was a victim of Nokkukuli, and when our staff protested, they beat one of our staff. Now, such goondaism is something I won’t tolerate ever, and that is why I took their threats head on, and prevailed. I got more public support on this issue more than anything else, including kidney donation. I submitted an alternate plan for strengthening Mullaperiyar Dam after consulting with some of the most renowned experts, and I believe that it is the only viable and timely alternative to safeguard the safety of lakhs of people under risk from a dam-burst. If this project is implemented, the authorities will also get Rs. 5.5 crore from my personal funds, which is 10% of the project cost.

I have already given a signed cheque for this amount to the people concerned.

CORPORATE "Increasingly, consumers are expecting companies to take responsibility for their immediate environment and society around them,"

Why CSR is Important

Piyush Mathur, President, Nielsen

Seven out of 10 customers in India prefer to conduct business with companies that have implemented socially responsible programmes, according to a Nielsen study. he new report from the global information and measurement company also notes that education is the most popular social cause among consumers. Three in five consumers identified focus on education, with special reference to science and math, as a key social cause companies should embrace.

Nielsen's Global Corporate Citizenship Survey shows that 55 per cent of Asia Pacific (APAC) consumers are even willing to pay extra for products and services from companies that have implemented programmes to give back to society. This stands higher than the global average of 46 per cent.

Around 66 per cent of APAC consumers said they would work with firms that give back to society. In India, over half of the consumers surveyed are willing to pay more for products of business houses that adopt social causes.

"Increasingly, consumers are expecting companies to take responsibility for their immediate environment and society around them," said Piyush Mathur, president of Nielsen (India region).

"It is important for marketers to understand the profile and expectations of these consumers to forge a deeper bond that goes beyond their immediate products and services."

The study showed that over two in five socially-conscious online consumers in India are willing to accept lower wages if they work for a company that has programmes that aim to positively impact society.

As an understanding of age, over eight in ten respondents under the age of 20 indicated they were willing to accept a lower compensation, if the company supported society enhancing causes.

"According to consumers surveyed, Indian companies should take up causes that impact the economy and have a longterm sustainable outlook," said Mathur.

"These should also have an impact on the economy with a focus on increasing the talent pool through the right training. So while other causes are also important,

consumers feel that companies have the expertise and knowledge to lend into streams that they can optimally benefit."

The Nielsen survey also showed that the highest concentration of sociallyconscious consumers is in the Philippines, where 68 per cent of respondents are willing to pay extra for products. The lowest concentration is in the Netherlands, where the pertinent percentage was 21.

The Nielsen Global Survey of Corporate Citizenship was conducted between August 31 and September 16 last year, polling more than 28,000 online consumers in 56 countries throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

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Consumers have also indicated that they would also prefer to work with those companies that have indulged in these programmes.

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HEALTH

Managing Your ABCs for a better Heart SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Heart health is an important goal for eve ryone with diabetes. Cardiovascular dise ase is the leading cause of early death in people with diabetes and two out of three peo ple with diabetes die from heart disease or stro ke. For adults with diabetes, the rates of stroke and heart disease are 2-4 times higher than in people without diabetes.

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re you ready for some good news?

Managing your “ABCs" A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol can greatly reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems from type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Follow these guidelines for heart-healthy living to meet your ABC goals. Your doctor may tailor your goals based on your age, glucose control, and existing heart problems or other diabetes complications.

You check your blood sugar often to make sure your levels don't get too high or low. This is an easy way to see whether you need to adjust your treatment.A hemoglobin A1c test is a another kind of blood test that measures your average blood sugar level over the past two to three months. It's a way to check how well you've been controlling your blood sugar over time.The A1c measures how much glucose has been "sticking" to red blood cells and is generally done every three months. Keeping control of your blood sugar over time can help lower your risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease. It can also reduce your risk of other diabetes-related complications such as kidney, nerve, and eye disease.

Each percentage point you drop in your A1c test – such as dropping from 8% to 7% – drops the risk of kidney, eye, and nerve disease by 40%. Therefore aim for an A1c of less than 7%. If you think of daily glucose monitoring like a pop quiz, the A1c is a mid-term test. Your consistent, daily success with blood sugar control improves your A1c score, which summarizes your past efforts. Taking your diabetes medication and making sure you eat healthy, get exercise, and follow the other heart-healthy guidelines below will help you reach your A1c goal.

ABCs: Blood Pressure and Diabetes About 70% of people with diabetes either have high blood pressure (hypertension), defined as 140/90 or greater, or use prescription medications to control their blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk of complications, putting you at greater risk of heart disease and stroke. Keeping your blood pressure at a healthy level reduces the risk of heart disease by 33% to 50% a significant heart-health benefit. Controlling your blood pressure can also help prevent or delay kidney disease, another common problem with diabetes.

Blood pressure readings vary, but generally you want to aim for a blood pressure score below 130/80 (read as "130 over 80").Have your blood pressure checked at least four times yearly or at regular diabetes check-ups. Consider using a blood pressure monitor at home to check your blood pressure more often.

All the things that are good for your heart eating a low-salt diet, getting regular exercise, limiting alcohol, quitting smoking, and controlling your weight will help you control your blood pressure.

When lifestyle changes aren't enough to control high blood pressure, medications can help lower blood pressure.

ABCs: Cholesterol and Diabetes The wrong kinds of fats in your blood can build up in your arteries. This can increase your risk for heart disease and stroke. Of major concern is too much of the "bad" type of cholesterol called LDL cholesterol. Other culprits are, high levels

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ABCs: A1c Testing for Diabetes

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You can help lower your cholesterol, and reduce your risk of heart disease, by making changes to your diet and activities.

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of triglycerides, another kind of fat in your blood & not enough of the "good" cholesterol called HDL, which improves heart health by removing the build-up of "bad" cholesterol.Controlling your LDL cholesterol can reduce your risk of heart disease by 20% to 50%.Have your cholesterol checked at least once a year.

Aim for these scores:LDL below 100.

Some experts advise a goal below 70 if you already have heart disease.HDL above 50 for women, and above 40 for men & Triglycerides lower than 150.You can help lower your cholesterol, and reduce your risk of heart disease, by making changes to your diet and activities. Eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables and foods that are low in saturated and trans fat and cholesterol, and high in whole-grain fiber. Lose weight if you need to, and get regular exercise. If that's not enough to get your cholesterol to healthy levels, your doctor may prescribe medication to reach your goal.

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The optimal sleep time appears to be six to eight hours,

brown rice and oatmeal. other medical conditions, says Rohit R. Arora, MD, Choose heart-healthy fats such as diabetes, that Chairman of Cardiology at such as those found in olive prevent them from Chicago Medical School. and canola oil, fatty fish, nuts, sleeping through the and avocadoes. Drink alcohol night, Arora says. In a only in moderation.Take sample study, people Medications as Prescribed: were asked how long Take medications as directed, they slept each night and even when you feel if they had ever been told healthy.Quit Smoking:If they had congestive heart you're a smoker, get help to quit. Try a failure, heart attack, coronary artery smoking cessation program to boost your disease, angina, or stroke and the findings chance of success.Get Support: Ask your were as follows:Heart attack: More than family and friends to help you stay 10% of people who slept less than six committed to a heart-healthy lifestyle. hours had had a heart attack vs. about 5% who slept six to eight hours.

Stroke: More than 9% of people who Too Little Sleep Bad for Heart slept less than six hours had a stroke vs.

Sleeping Less Than 6 Hours are Linked nearly 5% who slept six to eight to Heart Attacks & Strokes.Sleeping less hours.Heart failure: More than 7% of than six hours a night may make you more people who slept less than six hours had likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure vs. 4.5% who slept more than heart failure. A new study puts numbers eight hours. on that risk. The study, based on more Sleeping too much may also be an issue. than 3,000 people older than 45, shows The study's findings show that people that people who sleep less than six hours Improve Your ABCs with Heartwho sleep more than eight hours a night per night are about twice as likely to have Healthy Living may be more likely to have the chest pain a stroke or heart attack as people who of angina and coronary artery disease, a Your doctor will probably recommend get six to eight hours of sleep. And they narrowing of the blood vessels that that you eat well and exercise regularly are about 70% more likely to have supply blood and oxygen to the heart.The to help manage your ABCs. These tips congestive heart failure. "The optimal researchers considered other factors that can help you get there: sleep time appears to be six to eight affect heart health, including age, gender, Monitor Glucose: Keep clear, consistent hours,� says Rohit R. Arora, MD, cholesterol, and blood pressure. records of blood sugar levels, so you can chairman of cardiology at Chicago But they didn't consider sleep quality, easily see how diet, exercise, and any Medical School. The new study, says JoAnne Foody, MD, a heart medications affect your blood glucose presented in Chicago at the American specialist at Harvard Medical School and readings. Control Weight: If you're College of Cardiology's annual meeting, head of the ACC's patient site. "Poor overweight, lose weight by changing your isn't the first study to link sleep and heart sleep quality is associated with a number diet. Getting more exercise helps control health. But it's one of the largest surveys of heart conditions. If you don't get deep A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol to do that, Arora says. Exactly how sleep sleep so-called REM sleep the body levels.Get Moving:Do 30 to 60 minutes affects the heart is not clear. doesn't have the opportunity to bring of combined aerobic and Arora says he doubts not blood pressure down. Poor sleep is also strength training Fill your plate sleeping enough directly linked to obesity, which drives exercises such as brisk with lots of fruits causes heart disease. But cardiovascular disease," she tells walking or lifting and vegetables. there is evidence that not WebMD.What is clear, Foody and Arora weights on most days.

Choose foods low sleeping enough may ramp say, is that you need to talk to your doctor Eat Healthy: Fill your in salt and sugar. up the "fight or flight" if you have trouble sleeping. "It's not just plate with lots of fruits response to stress, releasing a matter of being tired; there are lots of and vegetables. Choose hormones that speed up potential health consequences. And foods low in salt and heart rate and raise blood there's a lot we can do to help you," Foody sugar. Eat plenty of fiber pressure. If that happens says. from fruits, vegetables, chronically, it could take a and whole grains like toll.Or, people could have

24 Foods That Can Save Your Heart Fresh herbs make many other foods heart-healthy when they replace salt, fat, and cholesterol. These flavor powerhouses, along with nuts, berries even coffee form a global approach to heart-wise eating. Read on for more delicious ways to fight heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme contain antioxidants, even our curry leaves are antioxidant rich.

Black Beans Mild, tender black beans are packed with heart-healthy nutrients including folate, antioxidants, magnesium for lowering blood pressure, and fiber which helps control both cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Canned black beans are quick additions to soups and salads. Rinse to remove extra sodium.

Red Wine and Resveratrol

Salmon: Super Food A top food for heart health, it's rich in the omega-3s EPA and DHA. Omega-3s lower risk of rhythm disorders, which can lead to sudden

cardiac death. Salmon also lowers blood triglycerides and reduces inflammation.

The American Heart Association recommends two servings of salmon or other oily fish a week.Bake in foil with herbs and veggies. Toss extra cooked salmon in fish tacos and salads.

Tuna for Omega-3s Tuna is a good source of heart-healthy omega-3s; it generally costs less than salmon. Albacore (white tuna) contains more omega-3s than other tuna varieties. Reel in these other sources of omega3s, too: mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines, and anchovies.Grill tuna steak

with dill and lemon; choose tuna packed in water, not oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil This oil, made from the first press of olives, is especially rich in heart-healthy antioxidants called polyphenols, as well as healthy monounsaturated fats.

When olive oil replaces saturated fat (like butter), it can help lower cholesterol levels. Polyphenols may protect blood vessels.Use for salads, on cooked veggies, with bread. Look for coldpressed and use within six months.

Walnuts A small handful of walnuts (1.5 ounces) a day may lower your cholesterol and reduce inflammation in the arteries of the heart. Walnuts are packed with omega-3s, monounsaturated fats, and fiber. The benefits come when walnuts replace bad fats, like those in chips and cookies and you don't increase your calorie count.A handful has

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Fresh Herbs

If you drink alcohol, a little red wine may be a hearthealthy choice. Resveratrol and catechins, two antioxidants in red wine, may protect artery walls. Alcohol can also boost HDL, the good cholesterol.But please don't exceed one drink a day for women; one to two drinks for men and talk to your doctor first. Alcohol may cause problems for people taking aspirin and other medications.

Too much alcohol hurts the heart.

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nearly 300 calories. Walnut oil has omega–3s, too; use in salad dressings.

Almonds

Slivered almonds go well with vegetables, fish, chicken, even desserts, and just a handful adds a good measure of heart health to your meals.

They're chock full of vitamin E, plant sterols, fiber, and heart-healthy fats. Almonds may help lower LDL cholesterol and reduce the risk of diabetes.Toast to enhance almonds' creamy, mild flavor.

these spuds won't cause a quick spike in blood sugar.

Ample fiber, vitamin A, and lycopene add to their hearthealthy profile.Enhance their natural sweetness with cinnamon and lime juice, instead of sugary toppings.

Swiss Chard The dark green, leafy vegetable is rich in potassium and magnesium, minerals that help control

blood pressure. Fiber, vitamin A, and the antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin, add to the hearthealthy profile. Serve with grilled meats or as a bed for fish. Saute with olive oil and garlic until wilted, season with herbs and pepper.

blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of developing diabetes. They're also a top cholesterol-fighting food, thanks to ample amounts of soluble fiber the kind found in oats.Sneak shredded carrots into spaghetti sauce and muffin batter.

Carrots

Barley

The latest research on carrots shows these sweet, crunchy veggies may help control

Try this nutty, whole grain in place of rice with dinner or simmer barley into soups and stews. The fiber in barley can help lower cholesterol levels and may lower blood glucose levels, too.Hulled or "whole grain" barley is the most nutritious. Barley grits are toasted and ground; nice for cereal or as a side dish. Pearl barley is quick, but much of the heart-healthy fiber has been removed.

Oranges:

Edamame These green soybeans are moving beyond Japanese restaurants, where they're a tasty appetizer. They're packed with soy protein, which can lower blood triglyceride levels. A half cup of edamame also has 9 grams of cholesterol-lowering fiber equal to four slices of wholewheat bread.Try frozen edamame, boil, and serve warm in the pod.

Oatmeal

Tofu Make soy protein the main attraction more often at dinnertime by cooking with tofu instead of red meat. You gain all the heart-healthy minerals, fiber, and polyunsaturated fats of soy and you avoid a load of arteryclogging saturated fat.Chop firm tofu, marinate, then grill or stir-fry, going easy on the oil. Add tofu to soups for protein with no added fat.

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Sweet Potatoes

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Sweet potatoes are a hearty, healthy substitute for white potatoes for people concerned about diabetes.

With a low glycemic index,

This sweet, juicy fruit contains the cholesterol-fighting fiber pectin as well as potassium, which helps control blood pressure. A small study shows that OJ may improve blood vessel function and modestly lower blood pressure through the antioxidant hesperidin.A medium orange averages 62 calories, with 3 grams of fiber.

Oats in all forms can help your heart by lowering LDL, the bad cholesterol. A warm bowl of oatmeal fills you up for hours, fights snack attacks, and helps keep blood sugar levels stable over time making it useful for people with diabetes, too.Swap oats for one-third of the flour in pancakes, muffins, and baked goods. Use oats instead of bread crumbs in cooking.

Flaxseed This shiny, honey-colored seed has three elements that are good for your heart: fiber,

Coffee

Cayenne Chili Pepper Shaking hot chili powder on food may help prevent a spike in insulin levels after meals.

A small study in Australia showed that simply adding chili to a hamburger meal produced lower insulin levels in overweight volunteers.

Chili powder is a blend of five spices, while, dried chili pepper comes from a single hot pepper. Both are good substitutes for salt in recipes.

Low-Fat Yogurt While low-fat dairy is most often touted for bone health, these foods can help control high blood pressure, too. Milk is high in calcium and potassium and yogurt has twice as much of these important minerals. To really boost the calcium and minimize the fat, choose lowfat or non-fat varieties.Use milk instead of water in instant oatmeal, hot chocolate, and dried soups.

Foods Fortified With Sterols Want the heart-healthy power of vegetables in your milk or on toast? Margarine, soy milk, or orange juice can deliver when they're fortified

with cholesterol-fighting sterols and stanols. These plant extracts block cholesterol absorption in the gut and can lower LDL levels by 10% without affecting good cholesterol.

Coffee and tea may help protect your heart by warding off type 2 diabetes. Studies show that people who drink 3-4 cups a day may cut their risk by 25% and even decaffeinated coffee works.

Caution is due, however, for those who already have diabetes or hypertension; caffeine can complicate these conditions.Choose black coffee or a non-fat latte to limit fat and calories.

Kosher Salt This may be worth a try for people with high blood pressure. Kosher salt may give you more salty flavor with less actual salt and less sodium than if you sprinkled table salt on your food. The larger crystals impart more flavor than finely ground salt.

You’ll still need to measure carefully; a teaspoon of Kosher salt has 1,120-2,000 mg of sodium, while the daily limit for most people is 1,500 mg. And in cooking, the taste advantage is lost.

Cherries Cherries are packed with anthocyanins, an antioxidant believed to help protect blood vessels. Cherries in any form provide these heart-healthy nutrients: the larger heartshaped sweet cherries, the sour cherries used for baking, as well as dried cherries and cherry juice.Sprinkle dried cherries into cereal, muffin batter, green salads and wild rice.

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phytochemicals called lignans, and ALA, an omega3 fatty acid found in plants.

The body converts ALA to the more powerful omega-3s, EPA and DHA.Grind flaxseed for the best nutrition. Add it to cereal, baked goods, yogurt, even mustard on a sandwich.

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MEGA DEAL

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

5 Lessons from Instagram

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ecently the world changed. The globe shifted on its axis.

Planet Earth spun a bit faster. The moon blinked. The seven seas parted.

Tech entrepreneurs like me, saw the light.

Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. Cough, cough. Are you saying you’ve never heard of either of these companies? Okay, you’ve heard of one but not the other? Well don’t worry, keep reading! First, let’s talk numbers. $1 billion is approximately Rs 5,200 crore.

So let’s assume that you have Rs 5,200 crore and wanted to buy a company on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Fancy a solid engineering business? Just pick up Thermax for Rs 5,300 crore. Wanna be ‘super cool’? Buy Voltas! It’s available for Rs 3,900 crore. Don’t feel like working anymore? Wanna retire? Well, choose The East India Hotels (aka Oberoi) for Rs 4,800 crore or The Indian Hotels (aka Taj) for Rs 4,700 crore!

Having tempted you with these splendid buys, would you allow me to force you instead to buy a business that is less than two years old, has no revenue (yeah, you read right), has no plans to make revenue, and employs just 13 people? Let me add, a business that doesn’t even have a real business plan! Back to my cave. Back to when I saw the flash of light. There, I saw the Goddess of Internet herself, smiling and shining! She blessed me and said, “Son, your tribe of Internet entrepreneurs has prayed to me long and hard. Your time has come. Now and forever, remember the five stars that will always show you the path to glory. She pointed to five stars that shone like mini suns in a still dark sky. The Goddess disappeared, but the stars remained, shining bright. In these few days, this is what the five stars have started teaching me:

Zero Revenue Star Instagram is an

programmers. They are Gods! Remember Ocean’s Twelve? Well, these guys are the ‘Instagram’s 13' and they created a company worth 1 billion dollarzzz! The Lean Star teaches me that you do not need massive manpower to create massive value. You need massive brainpower.

Scale Star Instagram went from

Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instagram

‘app’. (Silly young people make acronyms of everything; during the good old British Raj it was called an application.) Now, the Instagram app is free (like fresh air and love) that mobile phone users all over the world can use to ‘dress up’ their otherwise banal phone photographs. Users simply use Instagram’s amazing filters and effects on their dull photos and then publish the new ‘polished’ photos on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Instagram makes you look like Atul Kasbekar or Raghu Rai, even though you are really a tax embezzler who doesn’t even know how to use your phone camera. Now, if you are a Marwari accountant (like me) and are trying to figure out how much you are charged to become an ace photographer, you are in for a shock. Instagram does not charge its users anything. And yet it’s worth 1 billion dollarzzz! (PS: when the amount is $1 billion, you are supposed to pronounce it as “dollarzzz”, as the Goddess said.) The Zero Revenue Star teaches me that my meditation should be to delight people, to make them feel special, to make them do things they could never do before - all this, without charging them. In doing so, I in turn, will become very valuable!

Lean Star Instagram has 13 people.

Hmmm. Now, while these folks dress in tees and sneakers, they aren’t lafangas.

Nor are they smart coders or

serving 1 lakh users to 3 crore users in just 18 months. They grew 300 times in 18 months! Because their service was awesome, their consumers went crazy and the apposphere (atmosphere in which apps live) bent backwards to help Instagram. The Scale Star teaches me that on the Internet, I can go from zero to hero, if I deliver an extremely easy, elegant and exquisite service. That’s it. Remember the 4 Es - extremely easy, elegant, exquisite.

Zero Marketing Star Instagram did not advertise its product. Instead, it used sheer genius to create a product that advertised its consumers! By making consumers feel and look good, Instagram created a massive word-of-mouth tsunami that made people clamouring to sign up for its service. Instagram is close to proving that viral marketing is bigger than television, radio and print advertising, all put together. The Zero Marketing Star taught me that great products sell themselves. No help required there.

Acquisition Star Facebook has bought Instagram for 1 billion dollarzzz.

The fat lady has sung and burped. The Acquisition Star teaches me that if I remain fanatically faithful in creating what I think is ‘delightfully helpful’ then someone else will believe me, my product and buy me. And at that time it will not matter if I have revenues or teams or brand gyan. In the past 96 hours, the Five Shining Stars have begun to redeem me.

A struggling Internet entrepreneur, long shunned as someone who burns VC money, dreams of castles in the air, creates companies with zero revenues and demands heft valuations, has seen the light! Yes. The Instagram Moment has arrived.

(By Alok Kejriwal, a noted digital entrepreneur who blogs at rodinhood.com)

Wind Turbine Creates Water from Thin Air Wind turbines have long produced renewable energy but a French engineering firm has discovered another eco-purpose for the towering structures.

ole Water claims to have successfully modified the traditional wind turbine design to create the WMS1000, an appliance that can manufacture drinking water from humid air.

The company aims to start rolling out the giant products for sale later in 2012, initially focusing on remote communities in arid countries where water resources are scarce.

"This technology could enable rural areas to become self-sufficient in terms of water supply," says Thibault Janin, director of marketing at Eole Water.

"As the design and capabilities develop, the next step will be to create turbines that can provide water for small cities

or areas with denser populations," he adds.

Eole Water is currently displaying a working prototype of the 24 meter tall WMS1000 in the desert near Abu Dhabi that has been able to produce 62 liters of water an hour, says Janin.

He explains that the technology works by first generating electricity in the traditional manner of a wind turbine.

This power enables the entire water generating system to function.

The next stage sees air sucked in through the nose of the turbine via a device known as an "air blower".

All air trapped during this procedure is then directed through an electric cooling compressor situated behind the propellers. This contraption extracts humidity from the air, creating moisture

which is condensed and collected.

The water gathered at this stage is then transferred down a series of stainless steel pipes, which have been specially modified to aid the water production process, to a storage tank in the base of the turbine.

Once there, the water is filtered and purified before it is ready for use and consumption.

One turbine can produce up to 1,000 liters of water every day, depending on the level of humidity, temperature and wind speeds, says Janin.

"This is enough to provide water for a village or town of 2,000 to 3,000 people," he adds.

Janin highlights isolated communities in Africa and South America as well as remote islands in Asia that have little or no access to safe drinking water as potential beneficiaries of the technology.

"If you think of Indonesia, it has (thousands of) islands and they cannot centralize their water supply ... the geographic makeup of the country makes it impossible," says Janin.

See also: Can hot air be the free fuel of the future?

"This technique could enable them to overcome these problems and make the islands self-sufficient in a way that doesn't harm the environment."

But while enthusiastic about the potential of his company's technology, Janin admits that the initial costs of the turbines could be prohibitive, especially for poorer towns or regions.

Just now it costs between •500,000 ($660,000) and •600,000 ($790,000) depending on the location and surrounding conditions to install just one Eole Water turbine.

As time progresses and as an industrial process is developed that enables the company to take advantage of economies of scale, this outlay is likely to fall, says Janin.

"We have just started the commercial aspect of this product but the price is not that expensive when you compare it with the long term solution that it gives," he adds.

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INNOVATION

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CRICKET

“What Kerala Cricket Needs is a Chennai Like Centralized League” P Balachandran is perhaps the most accomplished cricket coach of our time in Kerala. More than a quarter century of coaching is behind him. He himself was groomed to be a cricketer by stalwarts like P Ravi Achan (his uncle) and Balan Pandit. In the 70s and 80s, Balachandran was a successful batsman who represented Kerala, and in 1982, he also represented South Zone in Duleep Trophy. Nowadays, Balachandran is more active in his role as Chief Coach of BPCL Kochi Refinery Cricket Academy.

Seasonal Magazine chats with P Balachandran.

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Are the current young talents in Kerala Cricket more promising than ever before?

I don’t think so at all. The golden period of Kerala Cricket, as far as talents are concerned, was the 90s. The achievements also were the best during that time, like our performance in Ranji and other tournaments. After that, there was a steady drop in emerging talents, even though recently things have again started looking up, especially in Under-19.

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But we never had national level players back then?

That shouldn’t matter. Selection is entirely another issue. Who will contest the absolute calibre of a player like Ananthapadmanabhan? Even Rahul Dravid would attest to his capabilities.

Success in cricket is not just about being in the national team. Playing first-class cricket for long is a great achievement in itself. The cricket fraternity recognizes that.

Do you think that after the emergence of Sreesanth there has been a lull for Kerala Cricket? What

P Balachandran

could be the reason?

That is only natural, because Sree was never a product of the system. His success is a one-off episode. To have a continuous stream of such players, the system needs to be much better.

So, there was no positive impact from Sree, you mean?

No, not that. There was definitely an impact. Sree is a principal inspiration behind our new generation of pace bowlers. The success of Sree gave them that can-do attitude. And some of them like Prasanth Parameswaran are quite successful too.

Are the selection processes at each level - district, state, zonal, national etc - fair and transparent?

It has been fair. But then that doesn’t mean everyone will be satisfied.

Selection is always a subjective issue.

However hard the selectors or the system try, there are limits to objectivity here.

When the selected players do well, we appreciate the selectors’ objectivity, and when they don’t do well, we blame the selectors.

Do you feel that one problem with Kerala Cricket is that youngsters are not taking this seriously as a career choice?

How can they take it as a career choice?

Cricket will prove to be a safe career for only the select few. The rest will have to look for conventional careers. And the problem is that it won’t be clear to these youngsters, or their parents, or even to their coaches, whether cricket will be a career until they reach 21 years. So, it is essential to pursue one’s career studies at least until 21.

Are our fitness levels adequate compared to rest of Indian youngsters?

before them in various district and state teams, as well as other IPL teams.

Do you think Kerala Cricket administration could be more effective if more past players take a central role, like Anil Kumble is doing in Karnataka?

I think that is not a correct notion. Good cricketers need not be good administrators. But having said that, there are definite roles for former cricketers to play, which is in some niche areas of administration that are more related to the game. Kerala too has started improving on deployment of former cricketers in these roles.

More than adequate. Though Kerala is yet to make it big in cricket, we have demonstrated our abilities in those sports where fitness matters the most, especially in athletics.

as cricket itself is an art rather than a science. Coaching is not about certificates or accreditations of the coaches, but about their track-record how many youngsters could they really groom to fruitful cricketers?

Do you think that in modern cricket coaching technology should play a better role?

Definitely, technology will definitely aid better development of players, especially technologies like video reviews. But having said that I don’t think coaching is a science. It is more of an art, as much

There was a recent initiative by BCCI to select young unidentified talents from outside of the BCCI system, to make good the talent dearth in bowling. What are your views on this?

It is definitely a good initiative, but the important point is following it through with persistence. This is not the first time such an initiative is being planned. Let us hope this time around there will be better results.

Did Kerala youngsters lose out due to our IPL team being derecognized?

I don’t think so at all. That team management’s efforts were not enough.

Anyway, the very structure of IPL is that Kerala players are not going to get undue advantage from a Kerala team. Good players still have enough opportunities

What would be your advice to young, aspiring cricketers?

Play well. Practise hard. Enjoy the game.

Never think of selections. Let it happen or not happen. Realize that selection is not fully in your hands. There are diverse opportunities at each level to those who are passionate about bettering their game. Even if nothing directly beneficial happens, that cricketing experience is going to benefit your life in some way.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

BPCL Kochi Refinery Cricket Academy Team Members with Balachandran

If you were to pinpoint the singlemost weakness of Kerala Cricket, what would it be?

Well, it is our lack of a centralized league system, like it exists in Chennai. Such a system is very effective in bringing together all kinds of players established, emerging, and still unidentified - into a common city and platform. That not only seasons the young talents with more matches, but makes the job of selectors less errorprone or fairer, and the final team more inclusive of diverse kind of talents. If there is a young talent worth mentioning in the entire Tamilnadu, he will be already playing in the Chennai league.

Whereas in Kerala, a young talent may be playing well in Kasargod or Pathanamthitta, and there is a high chance of he being missed out by selectors. Kerala needs to urgently setup such a league system, preferably in Kochi, where we have multiple cricket stadiums now.

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TEST DRIVE

Should You Buy a Maruti alk about the new Ertiga and the chatter usually veers towards Maruti Suzuki's first attempt at making a seven-seat passenger vehicle - the Versa, introduced in 2001. The chasm between the product and the promise - delivered by someone no less than a hyperstar was too wide to be bridged. Sometimes, even Maruti Suzuki gets it wrong. It's another thing that today, that same car in the guise of the profitable Eeco, notches between 5,000 and 6,000 units a month.

When the firm gets it right, it really does that in a big way.

So: has Maruti Suzuki got it right with the new Ertiga? Will the price, set to be announced on April 12, traumatise the competition? All will be revealed. But what's with that curious name, you ask.

Well, the RIII concept that was showcased at the 2008 Auto Expo stood for 'rows three'. Ertiga is that same 'R' from the RIII and 'tiga' is three in Indonesian. Yup, because that's where this car's headed next and it is a big MPV market.

In the pre-dawn darkness, the headlamps light up the cat's eyes lining both sides of National Highway 17. It's half past five in the morning and I am heading out of south Goa towards Karwar, about 70 km away.

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The Ertiga, which does not look all that big from the outside, feels enormous inside. I don't know if it's because of the light beige upholstery and plastic sections or the vast glass area - whatever it is, I err on the side of caution initially.

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Especially on the narrow NH17 - a west coast highway that twists and turns around four states and still is as narrow as a Mumbai main road for most of its length. The school marm inside the Garmin satellite navigation system authoritatively informs me that I am on New Hampshire 17. Yes, ma'am.

The NH17 has been freshly re-laid and the Ertiga does not encounter any bad patches all the way up to Karwar. Whatever speed bumps come up on the road are dismissed with authority. And it does the same with the few coconut tree branches that litter the highway. I am in the diesel Ertiga, which Maruti officials say, is likely to account for up to 80 per cent of its overall sales.

The engine is the same one that powers the diesel version of the SX4 sedan; yes, that same Fiat-derived 1,248cc inlinefour that's been breathed upon by a variable geometry turbo to deliver 89 bhp at 4,000 rpm and 20.4 kg at 1,750 rpm.

Power is dispatched to the front wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox, which has the ratios altered for use in what's essentially a people carrier. The net effect is that it pulls easily enough from standstill and in low speeds, and the peak torque aids usability by arriving well before the 2,000 rpm mark.

I keep the tacho needle hovering between 2,000 and 4,000 rpm and the Ertiga takes in the curves of the NH17 in its stride, slowing down or picking up pace without having to change gears too often. It is most comfortable cruising at 100 kmph

in the fifth cog - which will deliver fuel consumption figures that will keep your wallet unmolested. Maruti claims a figure of 20.77 kmpl. With my kind of driving, which is euphemistically described as enthusiastic, the figures on the dash read well above 13 kpl. Great as the diesel motor may be in low and mid speeds, it runs out of steam at the top end. It's okay in a car like this, I guess. What, however, is an issue is that there is an invasion of diesel clatter into the cabin, especially noticeable for the driver and the front passenger.

Here comes the critical bit about the Ertiga. Belonging to the Swift family, this is a front-wheel driven monocoque people carrier that offers car-like handling. What that means is that you can

graduate from your Wagon R or Ritz to this one without relearning your driving skills. Until now, if you wanted a civilised seven-seater to accommodate your brood and head out, you would end up buying (or hiring) a heavy, rear-wheel driven large van with ladder-frame underpinnings.

What the Ertiga does is give us Indians an easy-to-drive car (not van!) that can accommodate seven full-grown adults in comfort. In a nutshell, it's like a very large hatchback. A Honda Jazz and then some, if you will. The comparison is quite apt, as the glass area design mimics that of the Honda hatchback while the tail-lamps too mirror the ones on the Jazz. The rear door is the largest I have seen in a Maruti and its window is the largest one too.

The Ertiga is not an unpleasant car to look at; with the plethora of Suzukis on our roads, it already looks like it is part of the landscape - though the only ones on the road were what we journalists were driving. Other than its monocoque structure and front-wheel drive layout, what makes the Ertiga approachable and carlike is its height - it is as tall as an average Indian. And more importantly, you don't have to climb to get into it, unlike other people carriers. All buyers' sari-clad mothers and wives are going to love it.

At the switchover point in Karwar, I shift to the petrol Ertiga. Now there is a worldfirst in this car - it's the first time the new K14 motor is being used. And what a lovely engine it is - it would be terrific to see this engine in the Swift, but with a few more horses. With 94 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 13.2 kg at 4,000 rpm, the 1,373cc inline-four is close to the tempting 100 bhp mark. In the Ertiga, again Maruti engineers have closely spaced the first few gears of the new five-speed gear-

box in an attempt to compensate for the lack of torque. On the NH17, it pulled beautifully and redlined without a hitch.

Compared to the stolid behaviour of the diesel, this one is a likeable ruffian. But I'll reserve my further comments till I drive this car in city conditions and with a full load. According to Maruti it can offer 16.02 km to the litre; not if you drove it the way I did.

When it comes to chucking the Ertiga on the twists and turns of NH17 at higher than normal speeds, it didn't lose its poise.

The steering feel is pretty good and you know exactly where you are placing your front wheels. The rubber it wears is standard across all variants - 185/65 R15s.

Though the tyres look small under those prominent wheel arches, they do their task well, including contributing to reduce fuel consumption. Other highlights include rear air-conditioning, ABS with EBD for the entry-level LDi version (but drums and not discs at the rear), a ribbed roof for more structural integrity, and more.

Ah, but I haven't told you about the most important feature of the Ertiga: its insides.

The front panel shares a lot with the Swift and Dzire and the rear suspension is torsion beam; it's by using a lot of common components that Maruti engineers have given the marketing guys room to manoeuvre with the price. The 2+3+2 seating is flexible and more importantly, easy to operate. The middle row slides by 240 mm and the seats fold in various combinations. In effect, it won't make you complain that you can't carry your baby grand wherever you go. What is also important is the last row has been given as much importance in terms of comfort and space - it is certainly not an excuse of a sevenseater and that is a terrific attribute in a car that is pretty compact. The Ertiga is a packaging miracle.

Pricing? Well, I would expect it to be around Rs 850,000 onwards for the entry-level version, but I am willing to be disappointed if I got that figure a little high. A car like the Ertiga may have come late from Maruti Suzuki, but to repeat that cliche, better late than never.

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Ertiga?

Front-on, it looks more like the Ritz - not surprising, when you consider the Japanese chief engineer is the same for both cars.

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AUTO

7 Cars Under 10 Lakhs Coming This Year With the Union Budget 2012-13 behind them, carmakers in India are finalising the launch dates of their upcoming cars.

This year, too, one will see a slew of car launches in India and the launch events would be dominated mostly by the utility vehicles.

Despite the high fuel prices, SUVs and MPVs are becoming increasingly popular in India.

Post Auto Expo 2012, there has been a sudden surge in people wishing to buy affordable utility vehicle.

Let's take a look at some sub-Rs 10 lakh cars, which will be launched this year.

Tata Safari Storme

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Tata Motors is likely to launch its next generation Safari christened as 'Storme' in May this year.

It launch has already been delayed as the home grown Tata Motors is conducting various tests before Storme actually

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Maruti Ertiga

storms the Indian roads.

Although, rumour has it that it will be priced between Rs 800,000 and 1,100,000, it remains to be seen how well it fares in comparison to 2011's super hit Mahindra XUV 500.

Low ratio 4x4 drive will be a clear advantage to undercut XUV 500.

Nissan Evalia With every carmaker trying hard to launch their 'Innova competitor', Japanese honcho Nissan is not to be left behind.

Although Nissan's rise to popularity has

Chevrolet Enjoy Yet another Innova rival, Chevrolet Enjoy will basically target the urban audience in India. General Motors recently came up with their 2012 Chevrolet Tavera, however, this will target only rural and semi-urban customers along with fleet owners.

Chevrolet Enjoy to start at a price of Rs 650,000 will boast of 7-seat arrangement.

The MPV based on Chinese Wuling CN100 will hit the roads around mid-2012.

New Maruti Ritz

Nissan Evalia

Mahindra Xylo Mini

Chevrolet Enjoy

Tata Safari Storme

Mahindra Xylo Mini Compact cars have suddenly picked heat, thanks to low excise duty on under 4metre cars.

While Mahindra already reins this segment with its Xylo which was recently revamped, the company aims for a clean sweep.

Chevrolet Sail

It will soon launch a shorter version of its Happy Legs vehicle and call it Mahindra Xylo Mini.

This under-4 metre MPV will definitely be powerful in undercutting the price of many ruling similar vehicles due to low duty charged by the government.

Slated for a Diwali launch, Mahindra Mini Xylo will cost no more than Rs 500,000. All this will be available in a structure that is expected to be available in a 5 seater as well as 7 seater version.

Bang on, this mini MPV will kick-start all new segment in India and will surely see many followers.

Chevrolet Sail While utility vehicles are the flavour of the season, there's no writing off the evergreen hatchbacks.

Due to their small size, low cost,

driveability and low maintenance they are the most preferred vehicles in the country.

Every now and then, a carmaker is ready with its hatchback to attract more and more customers. General Motors is one of them this year.

With its Chinese partner SAIC, General Motors will bring Sail hatchback in the July-September period.

A notchback version of Sail will also launch this year soon after Sail hatchback. Both body styles will be available in petrol and diesel variants.

While hatchback will be priced just above Beat, Sail sedan can undercut Toyota Etios.

New Maruti Ritz Maruti Suzuki India is planning a all new version of its hatchback, Maruti Ritz.

The exteriors have by all odds got a makeover. The headlamps get a slight change with the bonnet getting more prominent and muscular lines.

Inside the car, Maruti might just redesign the back of the front seats so that the rear passengers ride comfortably with added leg space.

New Maruti Ritz is expected to be powered by the much more fuel efficient DDiS engine which is seen in the new Maruti Swift.

Expect pricing to be more or less similar to the existing Ritz.

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been slow in India, but now it has no plans to look back.

Likely to be priced at Rs 600,000-Rs 900,000, Nissan Evalia will be a wonderful Multi Purpose Vehicle with its sliding rear doors, intelligent key for entry, rear view reversing camera and many other multi-functional features.

The popularity of the upcoming car can also be attributed to the fact that Bollywood star and brand ambassador of Nissan India - Ranbir Kapoor unveiled Evalia during the Auto Expo.

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Hyundai i20 iGen:

10 spectacular features The Korean carmaker, Hyundai Motors is back with a bang with its upgraded i20, christened 'Hyundai i20 iGen'.

Launched in 12 variants, the base petrol model starts at Rs 473,000 and goes up at Rs 744,000 for high-end diesel model.

The exclusive Automatic Transmission (AT) is tagged at Rs 764,000. The i20 iGen boasts of many 'firsts in segment' features.

As per Hyundai incorporation of these technically advanced and innovative features is a result of the feedbacks it received from its customers.

Rear-view camera To ensure ample

air cluster ionizer increases the freshness of the cabin with clean air throughout, it proves its worth especially on the longer drives.

Driver seat armrest It brings in a commanding as well as upright stance to the driver.

Smart pedal system In the event of

Automatic headlights control This

Electrically adjustable outside mirrors with heated function For

Rain sensing windscreen wipers

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Clean air cluster ionizer The clean

safety while parking, the new i20 comes equipped with rear-view camera also called reversing camera. Till now only high-end cars in India could boast of this. feature enables the headlamps to get switched on automatically after sensing darkness or low visibility.

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Supervision cluster It allows a superior and clearer viewing of instrument panel while driving.

The monsoon will no more inconvenience the driver of i20, as the intelligent rain sensing windscreen wipers will help you to drive hassle free.

Rear-view electro chromic mirror Rear-view Electro Chromic Mirror will help you wehn you drive at night as it offers anti-glare functions.

panic braking, the smart pedal (brake) system overrides the accelerator making certain minimal damage to the vehicle.

maximum clarity against humidity, moist or foggy weather circumstances there are the electrically adjustable outside mirrors with heated function that present clearer reflection of approaching vehicle.

New 8-spoke alloy wheels All the exciting features couldn't have been complete without the addition of sporty looking 8-spoke alloys that provides it a solid yet stylish attitude on the move and when stationary.

Facebook offers Rs 1.34 crore to Allahabad student Social networking giant Facebook has hired an engineering student here for a fat annual pay package of Rs 1.34 crore, one of the biggest offers made to alumnus of any technical institution of the country.

According to P Chakravarti, Director of the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), a B.Tech student from the institute, who has requested that his name be withheld for "security reasons", received a letter on March 27 from Facebook confirming his appointment and the annual pay package on offer was stated to be $262,500 (around Rs 1.34 crore).

Interestingly, the MNNIT Director said the recruitment process began with a mail from Facebook "in October last year which was followed by nine rounds of telephonic interviews" before he was finally selected for the plush job which would require the student, who hails from Kanpur, to move to Menlo Park in California after finishing his software engineering course at the institute.

Wonder Who is Winning Due to Harley Davidson’s Entry?

The engine is much quieter now, the bikes more trendy, but last fiscal year, 119-year-old Royal Enfield made a noise louder than its quintessential Bullet has ever made.

The firm, which was in the red at the turn of the century, posted its highest sales growth ever in a year at over 44% to notch up sales of 78,546 units. The first trick was the new age Classic series, which had a new, modern heart replacing the cast-iron engines of yore. The second trick seems to be the increased competition. Global leaders in cruiser bikes, Harley Davidson and Triumph, have forayed into India - but that has only increased demand for the original Indian cruiser. Waiting periods for the Classic 350 is 10-12 months in some states - a far cry from 2001, when there were discounts on the Bullet. “There is a deep latent demand for Royal Enfield in India, almost like people want us to win,” said Venki Padmanabhan, CEO, Royal Enfield. “Enfield has a long story in India and is embedded in the psyche of the people. We are finally delivering products that are smart, savvy and reliable... which is where people have

at times been disappointed in the past.

But now it is all falling in place.”

Ironically, even competitors want Royal Enfield to do well. Harley Davidson sees a customer for its iconic bikes in every Enfield owner. “The more bikes Enfield sells, the better it is for us,” said a Harley Davidson dealer. “Many of our

customers have Enfields... it is a natural progression for them. Enfield is like the Alto and will always sell more. But we make the Swift which every Alto owner wants to buy.” “We are an aspirational brand, waiting period is good for us,” Padmanabhan said. “Consumers do not mind. It is discounts that kill a brand, we would never do that.” For the first time, Enfield is in demand in tough markets like the US, the home ground of Harley Davidson, as well. “The appeal for cruisers is profoundly different in the US,” Padmanabhan said. “They want powerful, robust bikes for long distance riding. We cannot give them that. But people like our pedigree - and the 80 miles to a gallon (mileage).”

Harley Davidson sees a customer for its iconic bikes in every Enfield owner. “The more bikes Enfield sells, the better it is for us,”

No marks for guessing it is outside US. And there would be negative marks for answering China, because that is a wrong answer. India has turned out to be the growth engine for made-inAmerica brands like Coca Cola, KFC, Pizza Hut, Tommy Hilfiger, Domino’s Pizza, The Body Shop, and Taco Bell.

For many of them, for the first time India sales has outpaced China sales.

And that is pretty surprising as China is growing a good 2% faster than India - 8.1% against 6.1%. The numbers for Coke says it all - the soft drink giant saw India sales growing by 20% while the growth in dragon country was less than half at 8%. Yum Brands that own entities like KFC, Pizza Hut, & Taco Bell, has witnessed a robust 8% growth,

and has started reporting India as a separate and key market in its quarterly numbers. The key strategies that seemed to have worked for these US marketing giants are offering products at lower price points and targeting Tier-II and Tier-III cities aggressively. India has enough of these cities, unlike in China where affluent spending is concentrated in its big cities, and where high penetration was achieved long back. However, it is food for thought for Indian industry whether they are capable of competing effectively with these US brands. In the foods segment an added woe for the authorities is the health impact from the products of many of these fast food suppliers.

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Guess Where Coke and KFC are Growing Fastest?

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FITNESS

Exercise Boosts Your Brainpower Your brain isn't a muscle, but as you age exercise can improve your memory and other thinking skills, a new study shows. Middleaged adults who cycle or stretch improve memory. nd the exercise doesn't have to be as rigorous as a marathon, the research suggests.In the new study, middle-aged men and women who cycled or did a stretching and coordination routine for two hours weekly for six months had improvements in memory and other thinking skills.

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Combining the two may provide even better results, says researcher Kirsten Hotting, PhD, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. "I would guess that combining different forms of exercise might enhance their beneficial effects,"

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In late adulthood, experts say, a region of the brain involved in memory, the hippocampus, shrinks.Previous research has found that this region had grown a year after older adults began to exercise. That growth was accompanied by improved memory.

For the new study, Hotting wanted to focus on middle-aged adults. She

evaluated 68 inactive men and women ages 40 to 56. She assigned them to the stretching program or the cycling program.

"In everyday life, learning a list of items is relevant when learning vocabulary, a shopping list, or remembering to-do lists."

team measured memory and other thinking skills.

She added a group of 18 non-active people as a comparison group.

The cycling group improved their heart fitness by 15%. The stretching and inactive groups did not have noticeable changes in their fitness.

Before the study, everyone got a heart fitness test. Each of the programs were supervised and lasted one hour, twice a week, Hotting says.

But both the cycling and the stretching groups did better on the memory test of learning a list of items than the inactive group.

"The stretching/coordination training started with a short warm-up phase, followed by stretching and strengthening of the major muscles of the whole body," she says.

"Coordination exercises were balance exercises, complex movements of arms and legs, and so on. The training ended with some relaxation exercises."

The increase in this test score was linked with an increase in fitness.

The cyclists were told to exercise at their target heart rate (as determined by the fitness test) for about 45 minutes, Hotting says. They ended with a cool-down.

Before and after the study, Hotting's

The cycling group improved more than the others in the recognition test. It tests long-term retention of learned material.

One surprise finding: The stretching group actually improved more in a test of attention than did the cycling group.

In a paper and pencil test, they had to find and mark certain letters quickly.

Hotting didn't find any noticeable differences in performance for any other thinking skills.

The improvements in memory are

One surprise finding: The stretching group actually improved more in a test of attention than did the cycling group. In a paper and pencil test, they had to find and mark certain letters quickly.

useful, she tells WebMD. "In everyday life, learning a list of items is relevant when learning vocabulary, a shopping list, or remembering to-do lists."

The recognition test reflects an ability to remember learned items for more than a few minutes, she says. "That is relevant for many things you want to remember in everyday life."

Other studies have also found that an increase in fitness is linked with selective improvements in memory, he tells.

In his own research, Small has found that inactive people who become physically active can increase blood flow to the brain. They then score better on memory tests.

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But both the cycling and the stretching groups did better on the memory test of learning a list of items than the inactive group.

The study findings echo previous research, says Scott Small, MD, the Herbert Irving professor of neurology at Columbia University. He reviewed the findings but was not involved in the German study.

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CRICKET

Indian Cricketers Should Stop Complaining and Start Playing ndian cricketers should stop pretending to be poor little rich kids and just do what they have been paid for, feels Abhishek Mande The lead sports story in a Mumbai newspaper today is a report of a special T20 game that is to be played between South Africa and India in Johannesburg to mark 150 years of collaboration between the two countries.

It's actually less of a report -- it doesn't for instance tell me exactly when the match is being played -- and more of a lament on the over-travelled and overburdened Indian cricket team.

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The article reads: '(The Indian team) left Mumbai on Wednesday and spent nearly eight hours in travel, covering 6963 km to play South Africa in a one-off T20 game. The hosts themselves spent more than 15 hours on a plane covering 11796 km between Wellington (New Zealand) and Johannesburg to be there in time. All this effort just to play a three-hour game that will mark 150 years of collaboration between the two countries.'

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It then goes on to list out the many backto-back tournaments that the team has had to be part of, the pressure on players to perform and the impossibility of

requesting the BCCI for rest (according to them, if a player wants to rest, he can't pull out. My way or the highway, it says).

Then of course, there is the IPL, which according an unnamed player, few from the team seem to want to play.

If there wasn't enough cricket, now you have two more months of it and the already overworked players are dragging themselves from one stadium to the other to play three-hour matches, attending the post-match parties (because they have to) and then flying out to another city for the same routine since perhaps their contract says so.

While I do sympathise with the Indian cricket team at one level, I do have a bone to pick with those who complain that the team is over-travelled and overworked and cite just these two reasons for the recent losses. If that isn't enough, lately the IPL seems to have become another of our favourite punching bags with journalists citing 60 days of intense travelling and cricket as one of the main reasons for team fatigue.

Even though I agree with them at one level -- you are bound to be tired if you do too much of the same thing -- my sympathy for the player wavers a little here. Because it seems to me that you don't play IPL for the sake of your country

or (if pundits who claim that the game's popularity is dwindling) the audience.

You play for your own sake, perhaps for the money, perhaps the glamour or perhaps because you're a masochist. The reasons may differ but let's admit that IPL is one of the major cash cows not just for the BCCI but also the players who choose to go under the hammer to play two months of the game they claim they're tired of playing the year round.

If there wasn't enough cricket, now you have two more months of it and the already overworked players are dragging themselves from one stadium to the other to play three-hour matches, attending the post-match parties (because they have to) and then flying out to another city for the same routine since perhaps their contract says so.

In the last Annual Review of Global Sports Salaries by sportingintelligence.com, four IPL teams appeared in the top 50 as per weekly wages -Mumbai Indians at 44, King's XI Punjab at 40, Kolkata Knight Riders at 29 and Royal Challengers Bangalore at number 26. And according to the report, IPL is second only to NBA in terms of average pay per player.

Wikipedia quotes the 2010 edition of the same report estimating that 'the average salary of an IPL player over a year would be $3.84 million' -- that's several times more than what my family and four of my neighbours' families would earn in our lifetimes.

Don't get me wrong. I do not grudge the players making so much money. It's a great thing that young Indians now have a new career opportunity before them that doesn't need poring over text books for long hours. I do have a problem, however, when they complain about it.

It won't be unfair to say that many of us work for 50 hours a week on an average.

In larger cities such as Mumbai we spend about 20 hours just commuting to and from work. Let me not get started on the unskilled labourers who seem to work endlessly for all their lives.

If you haven't already read this shocking report in The Hindu about people in 27 hot-rolling steel plants in Delhi's Wazirpur industrial area working for ten

long years without a single holiday, you must only to get things in perspective.

Let's face it, if you want a good worklife balance, India isn't a country for you.

I suspect a part of it has to do with our colonial past when we have bent backwards to please our masters. But that's another matter. The good part about the booming economy however is that you now get paid more to do the same.

Thanks to the same economy, some of us, like our cricketers get paid even when they're not working, courtesy the many brand endorsements that come their way.

In the recent Sir Donald Bradman Oration, Rahul Dravid said that Indian cricketers weren't 'pampered superstars'.

I would have loved to believe him, except that I cannot, certainly not when I see the flashy lifestyles of some of our cricketers.

Surely they work hard but so does the lowly call centre employee, the IT support guy, your domestic help, the people who construct tall glass buildings and endless stretches of roads. And everyone gets paid for it. Some more than others.

Cricketers, like everyone else, are paid to do their job. So it would be really nice if we stop treating them like poor little rich kids and simply hope they just pad up and do what they are being paid for.

Recently, I met a promising 14-year-old cricketer who is set to visit the UK this summer for a training camp. For his parents who work in the Indian Railways, it is a matter of pride for no one in their families -- immediate or extended -- has ever travelled beyond the seven seas so to say. His father is particularly excited about this and unlike many of our parents he has been supporting his son in whatever way he can. Needless to say, the boy hopes to make a career in cricket and play for the Indian team one day. I gingerly ask him if he won't miss his parents and family because cricket these days demands a heck of a lot of travel.

"That's all right," he tells me, "I'll earn enough money and then quit a few years later." I wish him the best, but I suspect the money will never be enough and those few years will not be so few after all.

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I would have loved to believe him, except that I cannot, certainly not when I see the flashy lifestyles of some of our cricketers.

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HOME FINANCE

LIC Housing Gathers Strength Due to Budget, Fund Infusion, & Core Performance One of the clear beneficiaries of the recent Union Budget is LIC Housing Finance due to its greater focus on affordable sector housing loans. The housing finance major also pulled a coup of sorts recently when it attracted Rs. 810 crore of further equity infusion from parent LIC at a market high of Rs. 270 a share. LIC Housing’s core performance continues to be strong with an expected CAGR of 24% over the next two fiscals, even while competitors like SBI find itself in a serious slowdown.

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hile many sectors were left unimpressed with the Union Budget this time, affordable home builders and their financing sector have been blessed with abundant incentives.

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National Housing Bank (NHB), the apex body and regulator of the housing finance industry.

Government has allowed NHB to raise up to Rs. 5000 crore by way of tax-free bonds, which would go for re-finance purposes at players like LIC HF.

One of the clear beneficiaries in the listed space would be LIC Housing Finance, as other players like realtors are bogged down by debt issues and direct competitor HDFC is still not too keen on the affordable sector.

The main advantage would come from easier re-finance from

DK Mehrothra, Chairman

The second advantage has been the continuation of a 1% interest waiver for loans between Rs. 1525 lakhs. While most observers expected this to be rolled back, FM has continued this for another year, and LIC HF with significant business in non-metro and semi-

And thanks to the lobbying by NHB, the Finance Ministry has agreed for the set up of a Credit Guarantee Trust Fund, which will provide an insurance like cover for home loan consumers in unorganized sector and low-income groups. The lack of such a mechanism - which is there for MSME lending - is widely thought to be the main reason why institutional funding is hard to come by for the affordable home

The main advantage would come from easier re-finance from National Housing Bank (NHB), the apex body and regulator of the housing finance industry.

Government has allowed NHB to raise up to Rs. 5000 crore by way of tax-free bonds, which would go for re-finance purposes at players like LIC HF.

financing sector.

With the allotment of additional 3 crore shares to LIC, the housing finance major has struck at the root of its only serious challenge - fund shortage. The preferential issue has brought in Rs. 810 crore by way of Tier-I capital.

The challenge was to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24%+ over the next two fiscals, and LIC HF needed to shore up its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) upwards of 16%, to achieve that objective. With the fund

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urban areas would continue to be the main beneficiary.

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infusion from LIC, the CAR now stands enhanced at around 16.5%.

Together with this, LIC Housing’s gradually increasing cash hoard will enable it to rely less on costlier bank funding for its core business of home loans. As of now, around 80% of its advances are funded by bank loans and Non Convertible Debentures (NCDs).

Less reliance on bank funds, will definitely see Net Interest Margin improving from the current 2.3%.

A further move that LIC Housing’s CEO VK Sharma would like to have is permission to do External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) that will largely boost their NIMs further. Since such low-cost ECBs have been allowed for affordable home builders in this year’s budget, it would be only a matter of time before affordable home loan financiers too get it.

The equity infusion has come in at a most opportune time, as recently released data shows that leading home loan competitor SBI is going through a tough patch with sanctioned mortgages reportedly down by 24% this year.

This sharp correction in SBI Home Loans division, due to the abrupt stoppage of teaser loans, is likely to benefit leading players like HDFC and LIC Housing.

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With the subscription by LIC, the promoter stake has increased from 36.5% to 40.2%, which is a further healthy sign for investors. The resultant dilution is only 6%, which won’t be of serious impact in the long-term.

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LIC Housing is continuing to play a conservative game when it comes to lending to real estate developers.

Though the segment is lucrative with yields of 6% possible, CEO VK Sharma is clearly avoiding unnecessary risk by lending only to

VK Sharma, Director and CEO

The market has also been appreciative of LIC Housing’s fundamental moves, by taking the scrip from its long-time trading range of Rs. 200-240 to Rs. 240-280. LIC had bought 3 crore new shares at a rate of Rs. 270.

those realtors and project that meet their stringent criteria.

The market has also been appreciative of LIC Housing’s fundamental moves, by taking the scrip from its long-time trading range of Rs. 200-240 to Rs. 240280. LIC had bought 3 crore new shares at a rate of Rs. 270.

Recently, when long-term holder CLSA offloaded LIC Housing shares on good gains, there was a ready taker in another long-term holder and institutional investor, Copthall, who instantly bought shares worth Rs. 410 crore.

Luxury Projects Worth Buying Now If media hype is to be believed, realty is set for a hard landing soon. But if that were the case, the riddle remaining is why homes are still not a hard-sell in India?

You get calls for everything from luxury cars to luxury holidays, but almost never for luxury homes. Is it due to the reality that luxury projects that make sense in most ways, still have their own niche pool of buyers? Seasonal Magazine brings you a collection of luxury homes worth considering this season.

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Nahar Amrit Shakti - Yvonne, Mumbai

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Nahar Amrit Shakti is no newcomer to Mumbai’s luxury housing scene.

Yet, in the latest project at the acclaimed township, Yvonne, the developers have excelled themselves in delivering luxury at its best.

Luxury starts from the 3.3 metre floor-to-floor height, that makes sure that the ambience will be stately to start with. The sundeck is designed according to world-class standards with glass and stainless steel. The sliding windows speak luxury, which goes much beyond mere functionality or good looks, being crafted with powder coated aluminium and European green glass. The bathrooms are of designer class, with international fittings and premium quality faucets. Nahar understands today’s homebuyer housewife, who most probably is more familiar with American or European kitchens, and has thoughtfully designed an international style modular kitchen.

The floorings are all premium across all rooms and speaking about rooms there is generous space around - with master bedroom, kids’ room, and guest room. If these are a few luxury highlights from Yvonne indoors, expect your guests to be floored by the time they enter the lobby which is a double-height air-conditioned affair with a lounge and CCTV assisted security. Each floor also has

its own exquisitely designed lift lobby. The outdoors of Yvonne also speak the language of luxury with generous greens and water bodies to soothe the emotions.

The sundeck is designed according to world-class standards with glass and stainless steel. The sliding windows speak luxury, which goes much beyond mere functionality or good looks, being crafted with powder coated aluminium and European green glass.

At Seasons, their latest launched project in Bangalore, Purva is focusing on luxury by way of features and build quality. Starting from the main lobby, nothing is taken for granted. While the elegantly designed ground floor lobby will have granite or marble, even the upper floor lobbies are featuring fine

Another thoughtful feature has been the PU lamination on the insides of bathroom doors. The balconies are an all-glass affair, thereby delivering a luxurious ambience inside as well as outside. While glazed French windows demarcate them from the living/dining area, the balcony railing is by stainless

vitrified tiles. Inside the Seasons apartments too, expect nothing less than fine vitrified tiles in living, dining, bedrooms, and even the passages to bedrooms. Speciality tiling like antiskid tiles are provided as a thoughtful and luxury feature in balconies. Most doors including main, bedroom, bathroom etc feature teak wood frames, solid cores, and melamine polish.

steel and toughened glass. Modern building materials like heavy-gauged UPVC finds generous use in crafting windows and balcony doors. While the exterior painting will use beautiful uses of textures, inside painting is all about superb finishes through exclusive use of premium acrylic emulsion. The kitchen design is noted for its luxury feature of vitrified tile dado up to roof on all walls,

Speciality tiling like anti-skid tiles are provided as a thoughtful and luxury feature in balconies. Most doors including main, bedroom, bathroom etc feature teak wood frames, solid cores, and melamine polish.

which is often not seen in even luxury projects. Both the kitchen and toilets also feature the fine world-class fittings and the master bedroom is especially noted for its various shower functions. And the best luxury of them all is that Purva Seasons is coming up at CV Raman Nagar, and not in a far-off suburb.

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Puravankara Seasons, Bangalore

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

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Rajarathnam Royal Grande, Chennai

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RC Royal Grande coming up at Thirumullaivoyal, is among Rajarathnam’s most luxurious projects to date. The noted Chennai based developer known more for its value-formoney projects is proving with Royal Grande that it can deliver more luxury too at affordable prices. The premium feel starts from the generous land of the project, that too at a now buzzing locale like Thirumullaivoyal. Around 3.4 acres of land has been made available to house just 176 stylish homes. The location is noted among Chennaiites for having ample number of excellent schools, polytechnics, engineering colleges, and hospitals. The original interest in Thirumullaivoyal, of course, stems from its proximity to both conventional industrial hubs as well as newgeneration IT hubs. Rajarathnam has

strived in the project to keep the macro as well as micro aspects of the project at high standards. For example, the big picture is impressive with features like Gymnasium, Library, A/C Party Hall, Children’s Play Area, Landscaped areas, Reverse Osmosis Plant, Common DTH, Broadband provision etc. But the real excellence is in the details, in the build

The location is noted among Chennaiites for having ample number of excellent schools, polytechnics, engineering colleges, and hospitals. The original interest in Thirumullaivoyal, of course, stems from its proximity to both conventional industrial hubs as well as new-generation IT hubs.

quality of the project. While seasoned teak wood frame is there for the front door frame, inside door frames are all imported with matching high-finish doors. 24"X24" vitrified flooring is there for all rooms, while in kitchen it is 24"X24" Anti stain tiles. 24"x24" rustic ceramic tiles adorn the balcony, while 8"X8" anti-skid ceramic tiles feature in the toilets. 10"X14" ceramic tiles up to 7’0" height are used on toilet walls, while 2’ heightt dado ceramic tiles are there above the granite platform in kitchen. The RCC framed structure is

designed for seismic zone III, and the brick work for outer walls is exclusively of 9" thick, and the brick work for inner walls of 4.5" thickness. The bathroom fitting are of high quality with wall mixers and health faucets. Painting will be of the best quality available, with interiors featuring emulsion on putty and exteriors featuring acrylic emulsion. The electricals are of fine quality with modular switches, a/c points in all rooms, and 2-way switches in bedrooms.

Anybody wary about Chennai’s water scarcity will be left amazed as Rajarathnam has provided for borewell water at all points, while the RO Plant delivers ample drinking water of the best quality. Those wishing to book an apartment at RC Royal Grande would need to rush as a majority of the apartments have already been sold out.

LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

While Bangalore headquartered Prestige Estates Projects is more known for its ultra luxury offerings, in Garden Bay, their latest offering in Bangalore, the listed developer is bringing luxury at affordable price points. The prices start at Rs. 84 lakh in Garden Bay, which is coming up at Yelahanka, one of the most sought after locations in North Bangalore, and one of the key emerging locations in the Garden City due to its proximity to the International Airport.

The project is distinctly luxurious as there are only 4-BHK duplexes and 3BHKs. Overall area is generous at 6.2 acres, and Prestige plans to fill it up with lush landscapes. There are just 184 homes to share this greenery, and with the developer opting for a spread of 8 blocks with just 5-storeys each, the ambience conveyed is distinctly the laidback townhouse style, something which is badly missed in modern Bangalore these days. But knowing that such relaxed luxury comes only when everything is at their customers’ fingertips, Prestige has packed in almost everything any discerning homebuyer could ask for. Luxury amenities include Gymnasium, Health Club, Swimming

Pool, Children’s Play Area, Party Hall, and Open Terrace Party Area. Sports leisure is given special focus, with facilities for six sports like, Indoor Badminton Court, Squash Court, Tennis

There are just 184 homes to share this greenery, and with the developer opting for a spread of 8 blocks with just 5-storeys each, the ambience conveyed is distinctly the laidback townhouse style, something which is badly missed in modern Bangalore these days.

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Prestige Garden Bay, Bangalore

Court, Basketball Practice Court, and Table Tennis & Billiards Room. Special luxury features include a Toddlers Crèche, a Theatrette, and space provision for a Supermarket. The build quality is superb with all bedroom floors in laminated wood, Italian marble in the foyer, living area, dining area, corridor, internal staircase etc, and anti-skid ceramic tiles in balconies. Master toilet features Italian marble for floors and dado, Italian marble vanity wash basin, and bath tub with mixer and hand shower. The security system at Prestige Garden Bay is state-of-the-art, compete with video door phone and intercom.

Green luxuries include rainwater harvesting and a sewage treatment plant.

One highlight of the modern kitchen at Garden Bay is the double bowl single drain steel sink with single lever tap, while a notable feature in electricals and wiring is television and telephone points in living, family, and bedrooms.

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Sobha City, Thrissur You have heard of projects in 5 acres boasting about the luxury of less than a acre of green spaces. And then there is Sobha City, where the play area and open green spaces amount to nearly 5 acres.

Yes, out of the sprawling 55 acre township, 4.7 acres are left aside to cater to a modern luxury that is increasingly difficult to find in urban concrete deserts - green, free open spaces. And that is no unsophisticated space either. But before getting into it, comes another luxury that you are not likely to find anywhere else in India, or maybe the world. Your own private lake. Even larger than the open spaces, at an awesome 6.5 acres. The whole project is strategically deployed around this manmade reservoir that is also one of India’s largest rainwater harvesting facilities. Sobha City is for

Your own private lake. Even larger than the open spaces, at an awesome 6.5 acres.

The whole project is strategically deployed around this manmade reservoir that is also one of India’s largest rainwater harvesting facilities.

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those who treasure holistic living, and there are ample luxury facilities designed in. How about a jogging track all around the lake? If you prefer walking around there is a long and safe walk-way that winds around to all parts of this sprawling township. The roads inside are surprisingly wide, where other activities like cycling and skating can be undertaken safely. Going beyond usual township concepts like clubhouse, food court, gymnasium etc, Sobha City has a mega mall, a luxury business hotel, office spaces, spa, and multiple restaurants. No wonder, the first four projects - the villas as well as three apartment complexes - are fully sold out,

while the last 3-tower complex, Sobha Sapphire as well as the Sobha City Mall are experiencing hectic booking these days. A Sobha City villa is a hot property these days, with rumours that market value has doubled within 3-4 years.

Further endorsements for the township have come from a few international businessmen from Thrissur like Joy Alukkas who is building his castle inside Sobha City premises.

Brigade is known for its top-notch quality offerings in residential space.

So, when Brigade itself says that Exotica is among their top-of-the-line projects, and at the same time huge at 474 apartments, anyone would be curious to know how luxury concerns are being attended to here. A close look, however, doesn’t just satisfy but overwhelms. To start with is the luxurious free space design. Despite having 10 acres of generous space on Old Madras Road, Brigade has gone in for just two tall stately towers, that leaves massive areas for free greenery. And guess what Exotica has designed into this space? Nothing less than what Brigade calls a mini forest. The design also brings in maximum outdoors to the indoors, with each tower having a landscaped atrium. With such features, the project is a pre-certified green building by IGBC Green Homes. One of the most striking luxury features of Exotica is that despite its huge number of 3-to-5 BHK apartments, not even a single apartment would face another one, ensuring not only

privacy, but unique views from each.

Other luxury features include spacious landscaped patios, Green Zones, Clubhouse with sporting facilities, Jogging trail, Gymnasium, and Retail Facility. Prices at Exotica for a 3-BHK starts from Rs. 1.1 crore, exclusive of car park and statutory expenses. When completed Exotica will be among the tallest towers in Bangalore, and Brigade is building it around a ‘world living’ theme, where different communities can thrive together.

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Brigade Exotica, Bangalore

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

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DLF Riverside is Ready, Are You Ready?

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If you thought large format luxury projects would remain under construction forever, you can’t be blamed. Be it Kerala based builders or metro based developers, larger the format and more the luxury, homebuyers have come to expect delivery only at the horizon of Arabian Sea. That is why it is shocking when DLF claims that Riverside is ready. Anyway, on cross-checking at the site, the claim is true.

Last time we visited, the flooring work was in full swing. But now, lots of lastlap works have been completed.

Entrance lobby stone works are over. Wall glazing is fast getting completed.

Entrance ramp is ready, with the space for planting palms being readied with water-proofing. Swimming Pool construction will be soon over. Riverside Podium is being given its finishing touches. Even exterior painting is over.

Yes, DLF Riverside is racing to completion. So, would you be able to move in and watch DLF IPL there?

Maybe not. But those contemplating a home here would have to decide before IPL 2012 closes.

Of course, at a starting price of Rs. 1.8 crore, Riverside is not for everyone. But for all those who can spend that kind of money for a home, DLF has made sure that decision-making will be easy.

Homebuyers visiting one luxury project after the other are more accustomed to site engineers saying this feature or that facility won’t be available in the entrylevel apartment. And people get disenchanted when they realize that most goodies they want - from premium flooring to special wall finishes to generous space - won’t come for even Rs. 80 lakh or Rs. 1 crore.

Here is where DLF scores. The basic apartment itself is something special. Fine Omani marble for living and kitchen.

Imported plastic emulsion for walls.

Grohe too is standard fare in bathrooms.

Now comes the bigger surprise. There are no 2-BHKs or even 3-BHKs in DLF Riverside. Even the so-called basic apartment is 4-BHK. And don’t ever think that it is engineering jugglery that has fitted in that fourth bedroom. Space too is generous at 3300 sq ft to start with.

Now the deal clincher. You can’t get a non air-conditioned apartment here. Yes, the basic apartment comes with its own 10 tonner from LG. DLF has also taken pains to ensure low working capital to remain cool. The cooling monster has something called variable compression technology, which means if you use a/c in one room, only proportional energy would be consumed.

But for the really discerning homemaker

LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW quality steel, unlike in any other project in Kerala. Last time, when we were advised on this, we didn’t think much of it. But since we too danced with most towers in Ernakulam recently when the earth shook, we realized why it makes a difference.

Common luxury amenities are, of course, comparable to this globe’s best, thanks to the DLF DNA. Automobile-free and green podium thanks to fully underground parking, 175 metre long waterfront, a boat jetty, a mammoth clubhouse, and a fine swimming pool are some of the highlights.

DLF Riverside’s final access will be from the NH-47 Bypass through Bund Road.

Though currently narrow and not in an excellent shape, Bund Road is already approved for widening to 15 metres. This access is only less than 400 metres from NH, and you will be surprised when you stand on the banks of Chilavannoor River within minutes.

So, are you ready?

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Even the so-called basic apartment is 4-BHK. And don’t ever think that it is engineering jugglery that has fitted in that fourth bedroom. Space too is generous at 3300 sq ft to start with. Now the deal clincher.

You can’t get a non air-conditioned apartment here. Yes, the basic apartment comes with its own 10 tonner from LG.

something else would be the real deal fixer. Yes, for argument’s sake we should admit that all these can be replicated, say, in a luxury villa that you build for yourself.

But what about superior design that would be next to impossible to replicate?

It is not the label. We are not being enamoured by the name of Hafeez Contractor. But everyone should look at what the celebrity architect has delivered by way of design in Riverside.

Though much can be said about the design of each apartment, two things stand out. Generous use of in-apartment corridors ensure that private places remain most private. For example, the bedrooms and kitchen.

At the same time, DLF has asked for and obtained from the master architect, an integrated approach for three of the areas where discerning customers would spend their maximum time - living, dining, & study room.

Are they one or are they three? You will be left guessing even after spending an hour at the apartment. Are they demarcated? Yes. Are they continuous?

Yes. Now, that is what we call a design breakthrough.

Then there are those solid DLF touches like using generous quantities of finest

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Omaxe The Forest Spa, Surajkund, Faridabad

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Located close to Surajkund Tourist Complex, this luxurious spacious apartment and penthouses will popularise the concept of comfortable living. In the backdrop of 5000 acres of greeneries not far from the Capital city’s chaos and medley of urbanization, The Forest stands with its unique architecture. Close to Delhi, The Forest with its distinguished exteriors and cultured interiors is beautifully placed.

The Forest houses apartments and penthouses in grandiose towers in a huge area. The penthouse will be constructed with the ultimate luxury architectural, having exclusive, personal splash pools and gyms, apart from other must-haves for a swanky lifestyle. The state-of-theart clubs, swimming pool, health club, games and recreational facilities, multicuisine restaurant etc makes this exclusively designed and internationally architectural offering very sought-after.

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Luxury features include Centrally Air conditioned Ultra luxury apartments and penthouses, International spa club with health and recreational facilities, Wi-fi enabled complex, 80% open area, 20% construction, personal health club in the master bedroom, with jacuzzi, sauna, steam, and shower cubicle facilities, Internationally designed modular kitchen with separate dry and wet kitchens with chimneys, gas hob, geyser, RO water and pipe gas supply, Huge sit out balconies, Access control through CCTV at the main gate and every tower, High-tech security system with video door phone at the entrance in each apartment, Earthquake resistant structure, 24 Hours manned security for the entire complex, Water harvesting for restoring ground water table, 24 Hours 100% power back-up, and Vaastu-friendly architecture.

LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Godrej Platinum, Vikhroli, Mumbai Godrej Platinum offers the best of facilities and lavish apartments that exude a quiet sense of luxury and is located at Mumbai’s most strategic upcoming location, Vikhroli. The project features four sleek and efficiently designed towers complimented with the latest technology and enveloped by greenery.

Submerge yourself in comfort amidst nature’s beauty at Godrej Platinum.

Lavish 2BHK, 3 BHK & 4 BHK duplex apartments. Features include Kid’s play area and IGBC Green Homes Platinum Precertification.

Eldeco Utopia, Noida

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Spread over 18 acres of lush greenery, Eldeco Utopia on the Noida – Greater Noida Expressway, brings you a lifestyle beyond the ordinary. A zippy 3 minutes drive on the Expressway gets you to this luxurious residential complex which offers low-rise duplex units with gorgeous terraces, high-rise apartments, ground floor units with attached lawns and high-rise penthouses. Located at Sector-93A, Expressway, Noida, Utopia units start at Rs. 1.60 crore, and is a mix of low and high rise apartments, Penthouses and Duplex Penthouses with 2 to 5 bedroom options. While the ground floor apartments have lawns, the sun-kissed apartments upper units are spacious and airy. Large coffee-table balconies and huge terraces are highlights. Top notch finish can be found inside - the walls, wooden and vitrified title flooring and top-end toilet finishes. Designed by one of India’s best architectural firms, C.P. Kukreja Associates. Resort-like outdoors with exquisite landscaping and rolling greens designed by the world renowned Belt Collins, Singapore. Features include Water bodies, Jogging tracks, and Wide drive-in roads. Basement space is available in Sylvan View Apartments at Utopia.

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

HDIL Premier Exotica,

Kurla West, Mumbai Premier Exotica offers 1, 2,3 & 4 BHK well-planned apartments with stylish amenities and a lifestyle to match.

Connectivity from LBS Marg as well as Kurla railway station, is an added advantage. Luxury amenities include Vitrified flooring, Ionized French windows grills, Kolher / Jaguar or equivalent bathroom fitting, High quality electrical switches, Cable TV connection, Intercom connectivity throughout the complex, Fire fighting facilities, Branded automatic lifts, Ample parking in basement, Rain water harvesting, Club house with well equipped gymnasium, Carom tables and Table Tennis, Landscaped Gardens, Children’s Play area etc.

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Indiabulls Blu, Worli, Mumbai

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Redefining luxury in the dictionary of extravagant living, is a 7 star managed private residence by the name “Indiabulls Blu”. Beginning from its uber-fine location at Worli - Mumbai’s quintessential neighborhood by the sea, it’s everything you can expect in a permanent home and more. From luscious landscaping, unmatched leisure to the best-in-class amenities, enjoy the comfort of a Cigar Lounge, Private wine tasting facility, 24x7 butlers and on demand concierge, among many others. Distinctively designed by globally acclaimed interior designers, here every home fits your style, and life. With glass walls adorned in the finest fittings, spacious bathrooms effortlessly fitted with premium fixtures, superbly grand atrium with a large aquarium and an elevator to your home that opens into informal living area to greet visitors for a quick minute or two or a mega-sized living room with magnificent sea view for longer rendezvous; living it large is a natural phenomenon. At Blu. Come, discover a perfect life by the bay.

LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Unitech Crestview, Gurgaon Let the morning mist unearth mystic nature. Welcome to 100 acres of tranquility at Wildflower Country - a sprawling leafy self contained township. Share the best things in life with your loved ones. The township offers world class amenities for the modern aficionados. Come and rediscover blissful living. And where? Adjacent to 90 m wide Southern Periphery Road, just 3.5 kms from NH-8. Just 2 kms from occupied residential areas, offices & shopping malls on Sohna road & Golf Course Extension road. Within 15 mins. drive are leading schools such as DPS, The Heritage, Shikshantar, GD Goenka & Pathways. And within 15 mins. drive are leading hospitals such as Medicity, Artemis, Max, Fortis & Paras.Luxury amenities include Cricket pitch, Squash court, Badminton court, Themed garden/ yoga garden, Kids play area, Jogging track, Smart card access at main entrance and basement, Automatic boom barriers at main entry and exit, CCTV surveillance of main entrance & tower entrance, Audio communication from guard unit to each apartment, Sewage treatment, Rain water harvesting, Solar energy for limited areas, Swimming pool, Kid’s splash pool, Changing rooms, Unisex gymnasium, Multipurpose hall, Party lawn with barbeque counter and outdoor music, Pool side party area, Indoor games room with pool / billiards table & air hockey, TV lounge, Table tennis, Kitchenette, Power backup, Fire alarm system, and Provision for piped gas.

LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Mahindra Lifespaces Aqualily, New Chennai

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Aqualily where modernity and natural splendor go hand in hand. Open the doors of your heart to exquisite villas, twin homes and luxurious apartments. Let the natural beauty of azure blue waters of a sparkling lake and beautifully landscaped gardens add that healthy boost to your lifestyle. Aqualily is an unmatched unison of modernity and nature. These luxury living spaces take you away from the hustle and bustle of the city, surrounding you with the sparkling waters of a pristine blue lake and plush green gardens. Perfectly located on the fast growing GST corridor of Chennai and spread over 55 acres, Aqualily has everything going for it. Nestled in a serene corner of Chennai’s most modern integrated city Mahindra World City - everything from schools to offices is just a stone’s throw away from your home at Aqualily. At the Villa Club, leisure moves to an extravagant level. Enjoy a dip in the extraordinarily designed swimming pool with a leisure channel, or relax in the luxurious cabanas and lounges; socialize on the party lawns and revel in the splendour of it all. An exclusive offering for the proud owners of luxury, premiere, deluxe villas and twin homes. The Main Club House has facilities that ensure quality time for you and your loved ones - a large swimming pool and children’s pool, a tennis court and other indoor and outdoor games facilities, a multi-purpose hall and an outdoor party area, all of which will spice up your leisure time. The Central Park is a series of gardens stretching along the length of the development - from the Grand Entrance to the resort-like Main Club House. This park is the central hub for community recreation and interaction. It has a range of facilities from an amphitheater and children’s play area to shaded walkways and a basketball court - something to suit everyone’s interests and activity levels.

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Oberoi Splendour, Andheri East, Mumbai 3 magnificent Residential Towers having two wings per tower and 27 storeys each.

Spacious 3 BHK Apartments to overwhelm you by the beauty of the view outside. High ceiling entrance lobby presenting design at its finest.

Soak up the surrounding visual pleasures with Landscaped Podium, Club House, Gymnasium, Swimming Pool, Skating Rink, Tennis Court, Squash Court(add) and Children’s Play Area. Just 2.5 km from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Larsen & Toubro Ltd has been the contractor. Yes, Oberoi Splendor, your nature friendly dream home, is now ready. Adjoining the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road on the south and the vast expanse of the Aarey greens on the north, the views from this mixed use development are nothing short of spectacular. Its location gives it good accessibility to the Western Express Highway and the commercial area of SEEPZ. At the same time the green belt of Aarey and the planned landscaping around it gives it a buffer from the humdrum of the city and nestles the buildings in a serene environment. As you envision your

house amidst an eye catching landscape, we have meticulously planned every detail so that each home makes a statement. We invite you to be a part of the stunning ambience of Oberoi Splendor that pays a tribute to the natural beauty that abounds in this zone of the city.

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LuxuryWORTH Projects BUYING NOW

Sobha Breaks New Ground in Smart Homes with Habitech Gone are the days when you find somebody else’s car in your parking, by mistake or purposefully. At Sobha Habitech in Whitefield, Bangalore, only your car will have the sensor to open the boom barrier to your parking space. And that is not all.

Suppose you are at work in office. Kids are alone. And when the doorbell rings they are not sure. Scary situation, right? But a Sobha Habitech owner can clearly see who all are standing outside their door right in their smart-phone or touch-pad. And this works not only in the same city, but even while you are away on a business trip or vacation.

If you want you can even monitor your home 24-hours through video surveillance.

And even that is not all. Suppose kitchen gas leaks while you are away.

You will get a notification right in your smart-phone.

Sobha Habitech also offers an edge when it comes to saving energy. Using intelligent systems and remote control, these homes can save up to 30% electrical charges.

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The project is one of the first in the country that makes use of latest home automation technologies including state-of-the-art Internet Protocol (IP) based technologies.

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Kochi Homebuyers to Get a Taste of Australian Expertise With Tatas deciding on the architect and construction company for their ambitious three-tower project in Kochi, and with both assignments having gone to Australian firms, the Queen of Arabian Sea is all set to get an Aussie touch.

The 5-tower mammoth project - Tritvam - is coming up on the hottest and priciest

UUsing sing in inttelligen elligentt syst ems and rremo emo stems emotte con tr ol, the se home ontr trol, these homess can sa savve up ttoo 30% elec tric al char ge s. electric trical charge ges.

The RRs.s. 286 cr or cror oree construc tion onstruction con trtrac ac ontr actt ha hass been won bbyy LLeight eight on eighton Welspun India, a gr oup ccompany ompany ooff group Austr alian ustralian construc tion major onstruction major,, Leight on Holdings. eighton

locale in Kochi - the one and only Marine Drive.

And unlike comparable projects, the construction will be undertaken on an ultra fast-track mode with full completion by 2015.

The Rs. 286 crore construction contract has been won by Leighton Welspun India, a group company of Australian construction major, Leighton Holdings.

Earlier, the architectural contract was won by the award-winning Australian architectural firm Woods Bagot, famous for their luxury hotel projects in London.

The highlights of Tritvam are 50% more landscaped green areas compared to other offerings in Marine Drive, and exclusive senior-citizenfriendly design, right from the elevators to the bathrooms, apart from state-of-the-art luxury facilities.

ITC Set to Open India’s Largest Hotel, Realty is Hot, But Why is Organized But India Still Far Behind in the Sector Investment in

While most other hospitality majors like JW Marriott, Hyatt, Accor etc are building multiple luxury hotels in Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, & Bangalore, all of them are sized around 500 rooms. In contrast, ITC Grand Chola at Chennai will not only have 600 rooms, but India’s largest convention centre at 1 lakh sq ft.

The objective is clearly MICE, as without looking for such explosive growth opportunities, the Rs. 1000 crore investment for hotel is surely a risk, says analysts.

India is still nowhere in the world market for MICE and its associated infrastructure like hotels. Worldwide, MICE accounts for the largest and best hospitality facilities, as such events bring together a large number of affluent people.

The MICE headquarters of the world, Las Vegas, also is host to the world’s largest hotel, Venetian Palazzo with 8108 rooms.

ITC Grand Chola opened on May 1st.

The MICE headquarters of the world, Las Vegas, also is host to the world’s largest hotel, Venetian Palazzo with 8108 rooms.

Realty Cold?

It has been 4 long years since SEBI allowing Real Estate Mutual Funds (REMF). But no fund house has launched even one scheme, even as they remain flush with funds and real estate assets gaining post the 2008 fall. Are too strict regulations the cause? Some of the regulations were as follows: 1) Invest at least 75% of the REMF scheme’s net assets in real estate companies and related securities. 2) From the above mandate of 75% a minimum of 35% to be invested directly into real estate. 3) Investments upto 30% only allowed in a single city. 4) Investments upto 15% only allowed in a single real-estate project. 5) To invest not more than 25% of the total issue capital of any unlisted company. 6) Mandatory listing of REMFs on the stock exchanges.

REMFs were expected to be a great matchmaker solution as it would address realty companies need for large capital funds, and at the same time provide retail investors with an easy and incremental way to invest in one of the hottest asset classes.

The general consensus in the MF industry is that realty companies need to be more transparent before fund houses will warm up to them. Anyway, the first interest rate-cut by RBI in 3 years has brought back the possibility of REMFs getting launched.

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Want more tourism traffic? Gone are the days when tourism was all about better access and facilities at tourist destinations. Nowadays, it is more about building infrastructure for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, & Exhibitions). FMCG and hospitality major ITC is waking up to this fact and building India’s largest hotel at Chennai.

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HEALTH

Which is Better?

Exercising or Just Not Sitting?

One lesson I’ve learned while writing about fitness is that few things impinge on an active life as much as writing about fitness — all that time spent hunched before a computer or puzzling over scientific journals, the countless hours of feckless, seated procrastination. While writing about the benefits of exercise, my muscles slackened. Fat seeped insidiously into my blood, liver and ventricles. Stupor infiltrated my brain... e all know by now that being inactive is unhealthy. But far too many of us think that being inactive is something that happens to other people.

Studies of daily movement patterns, though, show that your typical modern exerciser, even someone who runs, subsequently sits for hours afterward, often moving less over all than on days when he or she does not work out.

The health consequences are swift, pervasive and punishing. In a noteworthy recent experiment conducted by scientists at the University of Massachusetts and other institutions, a group of healthy young men donned a clunky platform shoe with a 4-inch heel on their right foot, leaving the left leg to dangle above the ground.

For two days, the men hopped about using crutches (and presumably gained some respect for those people who regularly toddle about in platform heels). Each man’s left leg never touched the ground.

Its muscles didn’t contract. It was fully sedentary.

After two days, the scientists biopsied muscles in both legs and found multiple genes now being expressed differently in each man’s two legs. Gene activity in the left leg suggested that DNA repair mecha-

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nisms had been disrupted, insulin response was dropping, oxidative stress was rising, and metabolic activity within individual muscle cells was slowing after only 48 hours of inactivity.

In similar experiments with lab animals, casts have been placed on their back legs, after which the animals rapidly developed noxious cellular changes throughout their bodies, and not merely in the immobilized muscles. In particular, they produced substantially less of an enzyme that dissolves fat in the bloodstream. As a result, in animals and humans, fat can accumulate and migrate to the heart or liver, potentially leading to cardiac disease and diabetes.

To see the results of such inactivity, scientists with the National Cancer Institute spent eight years following almost 250,000 American adults. The participants answered detailed questions about how much time they spent commuting, watching TV, sitting before a computer and exercising, as well as about their general health. At the start of the study, none suffered from heart disease, cancer or diabetes.

But after eight years, many were ill and quite a few had died. The sick and deceased were also in most cases sedentary.

Those who watched TV for seven or more hours a day proved to have a much higher risk of premature death than those who

sat in front of the television less often.

(Television viewing is a widely used measure of sedentary time.)

Exercise only slightly lessened the health risks of sitting. People in the study who exercised for seven hours or more a week but spent at least seven hours a day in front of the television were more likely to die prematurely than the small group who worked out seven hours a week and watched less than an hour of TV a day.

If those numbers seem abstract, consider a blunt new Australian study. In it, researchers determined that watching an hour of television can snip 22 minutes from someone’s life. If an average man watched no TV in his adult life, the authors concluded, his life span might be 1.8 years longer, and a TV-less woman might live for a year and half longer than otherwise.

So I canceled our cable, leaving my 14year-old son staggered. I’d deprived him of his favorite shows on the Food Network, a channel that, combined with sitting, explains much about the American waistline. (Thankfully, my son is blessed with his father’s lanky, string-bean physique.)

I also conduct more of my daily business upright. In an inspiring study being published next month in Diabetes Care, scientists at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabe-

tes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, had 19 adults sit completely still for seven hours or, on a separate day, rise every 20 minutes and walk leisurely on a treadmill (handily situated next to their chairs) for two minutes. On another day, they had the volunteers jog gently during their two-minute breaks.

When the volunteers remained stationary for the full seven hours, their blood sugar spiked and insulin levels were out of whack. But when they broke up the hours with movement, even that short two-minute stroll, their blood sugar levels remained stable. Interestingly, the jogging didn’t improve blood sugar regulation any more than standing and walking did.

What was important, the scientists concluded, was simply breaking up the long, interminable hours of sitting.

Equally beguiling, at least for me, since I’m shallow, were results from experiments at the University of Massachusetts showing that when volunteers stood all day — nothing else; no walking or jogging; just standing — they burned hundreds more calories than when they sat for the same period of time.

So every 20 minutes or so, I now rise. I don’t have a desk treadmill; my office is too small, and my budget too slim. But I prop my papers on a music stand and read standing up. I prowl my office while I talk on the phone. (I also stand on one foot when I brush my teeth at night, which has little to do with reducing inactivity but may be one of the more transformative actions I’ve picked up from researching fitness. My balance and physical confidence have improved, and my husband is consistently amused, which is not a bad foundation for marital health.)

I run for three or four miles most days, too, and grunt through 20 push-ups most mornings. There are health and fitness benefits from endurance and weight training that standing up can’t match. In particular, aerobic workouts have been shown to improve brainpower, and I shudder to imagine the state of my memory if I didn’t run. But I’m not planning any marathons (been there, done that, walked down stairs backward for days).

I want foundational health. I want my insulin levels in check and my fat-fighting enzymes robust. I have plans for those extra 18 months of life span that not sitting might provide.

(By Anna Raff)

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STRANGE

When Buffett Picked a Sportsgirl Instead of a Stock Ariel Hsing was 11 when Warren Buffett first recruited her to play ping pong at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Five years later, she exemplifies Buffett's gift for spotting winners. t 16, she is America's topranked under-18 player and No. 2 overall. Two weeks ago, she won a spot on the U.S. Olympic table-tennis team. At the Berkshire bash in Omaha this weekend, shareholders will have a chance to challenge her.

"She's a killer," says Buffett, a ping-pong enthusiast who first met Hsing when she was 9. "I knew right away she had the potential to be great because she had this determination. There was no doubt in my mind she was going to put in the hours."

By offering his shareholders a chance to play Hsing, Buffett has put to test the amateur athlete's most beloved conceit: On a good day, the amateur thinks, he could rank among the best. This notion can arise from a game-winning shot in pickup basketball, a near-perfect outing at the bowling alley, even a high-speed weave through traffic.

It is especially prevalent in ping pong, if only because the game is so popular.

Whether it is the world's most common pastime—as ping-pong proponents claim—is unclear. But nearly 17 million Americans play ping pong, and countless American homes boast a ping-pong table.

In neighborhoods everywhere, paddlewielding Walter Mittys earn table-

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thumping triumphs in imaginary tournaments.

But keeping it real is Buffett's forte. His investment vehicle, Berkshire, is a testament to the avoidance of investing fashion in favor of dull but proven industries like insurance, brickmaking and railroads. To keep his bridge-playing skills in perspective, he plays against and with top-ranked players. One of his partners, Sharon Osberg, is a former world bridge champion.

It was Osberg who decided to free Buffett of any self-serving spin as a ping-pong player. Ahead of his 75th birthday in 2005, she asked a California coach to bring a prodigy to a party she was throwing for him. The coach brought 9-year-old Ariel of San Jose, who at the time was the under10 U.S. girls' champion. She crushed

"It was humbling," says Rod Cowles, president of the club.

Dozens at Berkshire AGM stepped forth to try beating her None succeeded, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. So enthusiastic a ping-pong player that at home he plays against an automatic serving machine, Gates squared off against Ariel and got trounced, says Buffett, adding that "his manhood got challenged.�

Buffett. "The only way I could have beaten her would have been if someone was holding her down," says the billionaire.

Two years later, Buffett flew Ariel and her family to the Berkshire annual meeting, a weekend-long festival that draws nearly 30,000 people to Omaha. For about three hours on Sunday, he announced, the 11year-old would play any and all challengers in a game to three. How Berkshire shareholders rank as ping-pong players is anybody's guess. But ping pong is a fashionable fundraising vehicle on Wall Street, and one challenger brought his own paddle to play Ariel. Dozens stepped forth to try beating her.

None succeeded, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates. So enthusiastic a pingpong player that at home he plays against an automatic serving machine, Gates squared off against Ariel and got trounced, says Buffett, adding that "his manhood got challenged." A spokeswoman for Gates said he was unavailable for comment but passed along his admiration for Ariel.

The second time Mr. Buffett brought Ariel to the annual meeting he offered to anyone who beat her a premium box of See's candies (a Berkshire product). As Osberg recalls, the girl was wrought with worry that she might cost Buffett a fortune in chocolate. "I told her to relax because he has a lot of candy," says Osberg. Once again, however, she won every game. By all accounts, hardly anybody scored a single point, including several members of the Omaha-Metro Table Tennis Club.

Ariel inherited a love for the game from her parents; her mother is an immigrant from China, her father from Taiwan. The Asian affinity for ping pong is so deep that since its 1988 debut as an Olympic sport, China has topped the medal count with 41 of 76 total medals, including 20 of 24 gold. In second place is South Korea with 17. In the U.S., AsianAmericans dominate ping pong, having comprised the entire U.S. Olympic table-tennis team in 2008, a feat they appear poised to repeat this year.

But the U.S. has never won an Olympic medal, and Ariel helps illustrate why. In China, ping pong talent can be lucrative.

Not so much in America, notes Ariel's mother, Xin Jiang, who early on made support of her daughter's table-tennis career conditional on the girl making A's in school. "We told her, 'If your grades drop to B, we have to stop table tennis,'" says Jiang, an engineering manager.

A high-school junior, Ariel has maintained stellar grades while pursuing a spot in the Olympics, a dream she shares with many, including the Omaha admirer whom she calls "Uncle Warren." In a note to her last September, Buffett wrote, "I will come watch you in the Olympics—whether 2012 or 2016."

On April 20, Ariel won an Olympic qualifying tournament and a spot on the U.S. team. But even so, Olympic success isn't her priority. She's preparing to take the SAT in June, with hopes ultimately of winning admittance to Stanford.

"Right now it's SAT (preparation), then it's table tennis," says Ariel. U.S. tabletennis coach Doru Gheorghe says academics can be a barrier to U.S. Olympic success. With a laugh, he says, "all our top players are very smart too."

For Ariel, in fact, making the Olympic team doesn't necessarily rank above becoming friends with Buffett and Gates. She says their influence has inspired her to switch career plans from medicine to business. "The luckiest moment of my life," she says, "was meeting Uncle Warren and Uncle Bill."

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GADGETS

Nokia 808 PureView Coming to India this Month

Blackberry 10 Camera Allows Recapturing of Missed Moments One of the most exciting things to be announced as part of the new Blackberry 10 operating system was its new camera app, which allows for photographs to be "rewound" in case you've mucked up the image. Say for instance your friend is blinking in a shot, with the new app you would be able to "rewind" the image to the point where they weren't and save it.

Finally, Nokia's 41 megapixel camera phone - the Nokia 808 PureView - is going to hit the Indian market this month. Nokia has confirmed that the Nokia 808 PureView will start rolling out in select markets in May, and India is one of those markets.

The first markets to begin selling the Nokia 808 PureView include Russia and India.

The phone has a 41 megapixel camera sensor with Carl Zeiss optics. The Nokia 808 PureView lets users shoot photos at different resolutions, say, 2 megapixel, 3 megapixel, 5 megapixel, high resolution 8 megapixel or full resolution. The maximum resolution you can shoot at is 38 megapixels in 4:3 aspect ratio and 34 megapixels in 16:9 mode.

The large sensor enables pixel oversampling. In a nutshell, it means the combination of many pixels into one perfect pixel. In other words, the camera can use oversampling to combine up to seven pixels into one "pure" pixel, thereby eliminating the visual noise. PureView imaging technology is touted to be the result of many years of research and development and the tangible fruits of this work are excel-

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lent image quality, lossless zoom, and superior low light performance, said the company.

The phone comes equipped with a 1/ 1.2" sensor, which is approximately 2.5 larger than the sensor used in the Nokia N8.

Besides, the camera performance also extends to video. The camera allows for 1080p recording at 30fps, with 4X loss less zoom thanks to the big sensor and powerful image processing which is said to be handling over 1 billion pixels per second, as claimed by the company.

The phone has a Nokia Belle operating system and a 4-inch, ClearBlack AMOLED display underneath Gorilla Glass. Powered by a 1.3 GHz processor, it has 16GB of internal user memory, with support for MicroSD cards up to 32GB to contain all the pictures and video you'll be shooting.

The Nokia 808 PureView also features Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

Similar in essence to one of the key features of the Nikon 1 V1 and J1 compact system cameras, basically the app is taking pictures from the moment it is loaded - not just when you choose to hit the shutter release. This means that there is always a buffer of previously captured frames ready for you to use if something should go wrong.

RIM is not generally known for the quality of its on-board cameras, but perhaps this new app is a sign that the company is starting to take image quality more seriously, and is looking to head in a slightly different direction from the rest of the smartphone pack which is dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung. With the launch of Blackberry 10, RIM has also revealed a developer toolkit for the platform, which could mean that more photography and image-editing apps are in the pipeline.

Blackberry 10 will power a new breed of smartphones from the company, which perhaps will also be equipped with better optics than is currently available.

Light Weights Just as Good for Muscle Building

muscles reacted to different forms of resistance training over a period of 10 weeks, according to a McMaster's statement.

The researchers first determined the maximum weight each subject could lift one time in a knee extension. Each subject was assigned to a different training program for each leg.

In all, three different programmes were used in combinations that required the volunteers to complete sets of as many repetitions as possible with their assigned loads -- typically eight to 12 times per set at the heaviest weights and 25-30 times at the lowest weights.

Most Popular Social Sites for Kids

Lifting less weight more times is just as good at building muscle as doing it with heavy weights, says a new finding.

"We found that loads that were quite heavy and comparatively light were equally effective at inducing muscle growth and promoting strength," says Cam Mitchell, the study's coauthor and a doctoral candidate in kinesiology at McMaster's University in Ontario, Canada.

The research suggests that the key to muscle gain is working to the point of fatigue and challenges the widely held belief that training with heavy weights is best for muscle growth, the Journal of Applied Physiology reports.

"Many older adults can have joint problems which would prevent them training with heavy loads," says Mitchell. "This study shows that they have the option of training with lighter and less intimidating loads and can still receive the benefits."

For the study, a series of experiments were conducted on healthy and young male volunteers to measure how their leg

Any dad or mom who has delved depp into social networking sites would agree that Facebook and Twitter are for adults. Here is a list of relatively safer social sites intended solely for children, that are growing rapidly:

• KidzVuz. Social-media site where kids create video reviews of books, ?lms, food and clothes.

• Instagram. Photo-sharing app being acquired by Facebook. Some kids worry it will lose its cool.

• Viddy. What Instagram is to photos, Viddy is to video. Tweens say their friends are ?ocking to it.

• Playground. A site intended to teach kids how to create and be responsible with social media.

• Club Penguin. Disney-owned site with safety controls embedded in its technology. Kids can connect and chat but only type certain words and phrases.

• FashionPlaytes.com. Girls ages 5 to 12 meet here to talk fashion. Site lets them design and order custom-made garments.

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CARS

India to Impose Britishstyle Fitness Certificate for 3-Year Old Cars A new regulation issued by the Government of India will soon see all out of condition cars being dumped. This new ruling has made it mandatory for private cars and motorcycle owners to subject their vehicles to an annual fitness regimen whereby they will be issued a certificate stating the road worthiness of their vehicles. Unfit vehicles which entail a fine or could even get sent to the junkyard. In a bid to reduce old and obsolete private cars on Delhi streets, the Supreme Court has appointed Environment Pollution – Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) to put all private cars through a fitness test. These old and run down vehicles are causing havoc on Delhi streets by spewing exhaust and stalling thereby leading to traffic jams. Chairman of the EPCA Mr. Bhure Lal has held meetings with officials and implored them to take action against such vehicles aged three and above as is done in the UK. There are over 700,000 cars on Delhi streets with about 1,300 being added every day. Till date the Registration Certificate was sufficient proof of the fitness of the vehicle but hence forth the car will be put through as series of test for which owners will have to take their vehicle to an authorized mechanic for a fitness test. Wonder when the authorities will do something similar about public owned vehicles on Delhi streets.

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Luxury Auto Market Slows Down in India

After being insulated for much of the last year, the luxury car segment in India has for the first time started to feel the heat of the economic slowdown. Market leader BMW has projected a sales growth of only 10-15% this year with an outside chance of 20% if the demand improves dramatically in the second half of the year. This would be the German firm’s most conservative year since it set shop in 2007 and reflects that even the super rich are impacted by the gloom in the economy. “For the first time our dealers have to chase customers and it is a very new thing for them,” said Andreas Schaaf, president, BMW India. “I don’t think it is any different for the other players.” Mercedes Benz said the days of the over 50% growth rate are over and the next three months could be one of the toughest for premium car manufacturers. “We do not give out sales projections but growth would be between 10% and 20% this year,” said Debashish Mitra, director sales and marketing, Mercedes Benz India. “It is not a question of affordability or interest rates for our customers but more an issue of sentiment. With the gloom all around, nobody wants to buy cars and the increased prices due to higher excise duties does not help either.” Volkswagen group firm Audi is relatively better placed as it is banking on its compact sports utility vehicle Q3 to bring in new customers to its fold. The firm is aiming to sell 8,000 cars this year, which would give it a healthy 45% growth over the last year. Even then it would be a climb down from the over 80% growth it had logged in the last 2 years.

Entry Level Sedans Steal the Show Not very long ago, small cars drove the Indian car industry.

Not these days. At least, not for upwardly mobile young Indians whose aspiration for a premium car has pushed sale of such bigger vehicles by almost one-fourth in the past one year.

Sale of big cars commonly referred as sedans formed a minuscule fraction of small cars till a few years ago. However, the demand started picking up lately, as sales jumped 24% with more 3.91 lakh cars sold in India in the last fiscal as compared to previous year. The bulging demand meant sedans such as Hyundai Verna, Nissan Sunny, Skoda Rapid, Maruti Sx4 and DZire, Volkswagen Vento and Toyota Etios now form a big chunk of the Indian car market and a reason for carmakers to smile. In stunning contrast, popular small cars such as Maruti Alto, WagonR, Hyundai Santro and Spark that had for decades been the first choice for new car buyers in India declined 7% to 6.42 lakh cars in AprilMarch 2012, despite a bigger basket of options available for consumers to choose from. So who is buying these cars.

These consumers are young, carmakers say. The fresh demand comes on the back of rapidly changing demography of Indian market. The average age of new car buyers has dropped significantly by almost 10 years to 32 years with the young customers in the 25-29 year age group now forming the largest base of new customers in the showrooms. Thanks to higher disposable incomes as well as multiplicity of choices customers are willing to spend more on sedans helped by a huge price correction in recent months. The entry level price came down to Rs 6 lakh for sedans over the earlier bracket of Rs 8 lakh. The entry of new models like Toyota Etios and Volkswagen Vento

forced Honda, which dominated the sedan market for the past decade with its City sedan, to cut prices by over Rs 2 lakh to sustain its market share. Indian customers are willing to spend on bigger cars and derive better value on the higher ticket price. "Affordability of customers is high. There are options for bigger and better cars such as sedans and top-notch hatchbacks that showed the highest growth in the past one year. We expect the trend to continue with the fundamentals of economy still intact and customers preference shifting towards bigger cars," said S Shandilya, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. The changing trends in new car purchases have left manufacturers grappling to meet surging demand. Top seller like Hyundai Verna is running up to 7-8 months of wait for delivery and so is Sunny from Nissan. "Customers are upgrading choices. Big cars are more aspirational and given the array of multiple choices they are quenching their desires," said Arvind Saxena of Hyundai Motor India. According to experts, there is also a large base of customers driving cars and looking at switching to new models. Besides the market shift towards

diesel also played a bigger role in increasing sales of sedans. "The prolonged strike at Maruti affected the availability of compact cars and allowed customers to shift their choices to bigger sedan segment where several new models were launched last year. We noticed that diesel engines options are available in almost 80% of the sedans over just 52% in small cars.

That moved a large chunk of customers to jump to the premium cars in such a short while," said Sridhar Chandrasekhar, head of Crisil Research. The several newly-launched sedans have also given the existing customers to upgrade to the bigger cars and expensive cars. "There is a vast pool of customers upgrading to new cars who are enjoying a heady cocktail of interesting variables. There are multiple choices with almost half a dozen new sedans hitting the market in past one year with diesel coming as a standard option which customers are preferring over petrol models," says Maruti chief general manager Shashank Shrivastava.

According to SIAM, there are over 15 million small car owner in India that drive compact models like Alto, Santro, WagonR, i10 and Spark.

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CARS

Datsun Developing India Car Datsun, the iconic car brand revived after nearly three decades, is developing new car platforms for India, Indonesia and Russia where it expects to make up one-third to half of Nissan Motor Co.'s total passenger vehicle sales by March 2016. Ashwani Gupta, program director of Nissan's newly created Datsun unit, said recently that the initial two cars, which are planned for introduction in early 2014, will be "engineered and manufactured locally" in the three countries with support from the parent company in Japan. Mr. Gupta said the cars will be positioned straight in competition with the existing models in these markets and its "core offering" in India will be priced below 400,000 rupees ($7,620).

The two-car portfolio will be enhanced within three years, he said. The revival of the Datsun in countries other than the U.S. and U.K., where the brand made its presence in the 1970s and 1980s, marks a growing recognition among auto makers worldwide to develop vehicles, often low-priced, for emerging markets as the U.S. and European markets slow. India

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is home to the world's cheapest car, Tata Motors Ltd.'s 624-cubic centimeter Nano with a starting price of 141,898 rupees ($2,708) in New Delhi. Hyundai Motor Co. manufactures the 814cc Eon solely in India, its smallest car ever, with a starting price of 274,821 rupees, while Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'s Alto, India's top-selling car by units, starts at 240,355 rupees in New Delhi. Nissan and Renault S.A. planned to make a low-cost minicar with Bajaj Auto Ltd., India's second-largest two-wheeler maker, to compete with the Nano, but the vehicle is yet to be introduced. Others are also lining up plans to introduce vehicles specifically for emerging markets. Ford Motor Co. said it will make the EcoSport, a 1.0-liter gasolineengine sports-utility vehicle, in India, Thailand, China and Brazil to be sold in nearly 100 markets. Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's chief executive, said in March that the Datsun brand will be expanded globally but won't be offered in developed automobile markets, including Japan. Mr. Gupta said the "Datsun brand is bringing products, which are affordable,

modern, generous, fuel-efficient, and well adapted to the specific request of each market." Such vehicles aren't possible with antiquated technology and platform, he said. "Therefore, we are developing new and unique platforms for Datsun for specific markets." Mr. Gupta declined to give any sales projection for the Datsun brands in the three countries, which he termed as "high-growth markets." Nissan said earlier that the auto maker is aiming to sell up to 350,000 cars in India by the end of the financial year through March 2016. The target is more than ten times the 33,268 cars and SUVs the company sold in India in the year ended March 31, 2012. In India, the Datsun cars will be manufactured at the Renault-Nissan Alliance factory near the southern port city of Chennai. The plant can churn out 400,000 cars each year. Mr. Gupta said "as and when the capacity (in Chennai) nears its maximum, we will be left with no option but to work on adding capacities." He didn't say whether the expansion plans will include building a new factory.

Take Care After a Car Change

My new VW Passat runs like a dream. Except for the nerve-wracking grating sounds of the underbelly over our super steep roadbumps, I have little else to complain about its engineering. But I almost ran it into the garage wall, the day after it was delivered.

Because this was a VW Passat and, unlike my earlier vehicle which had its reverse gear in the extreme right-down position, this one has the reverse gear in the extreme left-up position, where many other cars in India have their first gear. Used to my older car, I had, out of long habit, shifted the gear stick into fifth gear—the position corresponding to the reverse gear of the previous car. Thus, while I thought I was backing my car out of the garage, the car lurched forward. Luckily, no damage ensued either to the car or the garage, as there was some space between the front bumper and the wall. Clearly, such a difference in gear positions from car to car in the same country has its hazards. Imagine the consequences of a similar mistake when a VW (or one of the other new vehicles) is parked near a precipice! There are other irritants as well. For example, some reverse gears shift only if you pull the knob upwards, while others can be shifted only if you press the knob down; yet others require no knobpulling or pressing. These differences create a problem with valet parking, where

drivers often struggle with the reverse gears and do not know whether or not the gear is engaged in reverse, unless they try moving the car! Another major difference between different makes of cars lies in the side on which the turning indicator and wiper stalks are installed. While several cars in India have their windshield wiper control to the left of the steering wheel, and the signal and headlights stalk to the right, some vehicles (for example, VW and Skoda) have them the other way around; so you are very likely to scratch the windshield and damage the rubber on the wiper, should you turn on the wiper over a dry windshield, when you thought you were turning on the indicator lights. Since we drive on the left and have our steering to the right of an automobile, the natural position for locating the turning signal is to the right of the steering column, so that while slowing down for a turning, our left hand could be shifting the gear down, while our right hand can simultaneously flick on the turning signal. This is ergonomically efficient. It’s for the same rea-

son automobiles made in Western countries have their signal and headlight controls the other way around. However, the automobile companies rushing to India to tap the growing market merely import the steering column and related controls from their home countries for cars to be assembled and sold in India, thus placing the controls on the wrong side of the steering. While detailed data may be lacking, it is a reasonable hypothesis, worth testing, whether insufficient homologation of automobiles contributes to accidents by delaying the switching on of the turning indictor. It would seem that our authorities in charge of homologating vehicles stop at the steering wheel being located to the right of a vehicle and do not push other considerations to their logical conclusion. True, some of these corrections are bound to add to the cost of a vehicle; but, given the increasing volumes, these can hardly be significant. Clearly there is an issue here that needs to be addressed—by auto companies as well as the authorities in charge of homologation.

(By VR Raghunathan, former professor of IIM-Ahmedabad, former president of ING Vysya Bank and who has been working in the area of corporate social responsibility. He has written several popular books and is an adjunct professor with Bocconi University, Milan. His website is www.vraghunathan.com.)

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CARS

Volkwagen is the New Official Porsche Importer in India

Anticipating a positive sales growth, German sports car maker Porsche is enhancing its business set-up with the appointment of a new official importer. Volkswagen Group Sales India will become the official importer of all Porsche cars into India. Mr Bernhard Maier, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing said “With an increasingly affluent, upwardly mobile population, India is an important market for Porsche, with a promising future.� Within this company, the Porsche division will focus on all distributionrelated areas for Porsche in India; and increasing the brands presence through the further development of the Porsche dealer network. Mr Anil Reddi, will head the operation. Since 2004, Porsche has delivered a total of 1,052 cars in India. In 2011, 85% of total deliveries were Cayenne models.

How did Swift Outsell Alto in April?

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Maruti Suzuki Swift has ousted its smaller sibling, the Alto, to become the highest selling car in India, in April 2012.

The company sold 19,484 units of the Swift as compared to 17,842 units of the Alto last month. This also made the Maruti Alto one of the highest losers this month as the sales dropped by 49.4 per cent as against 35245 units in March 2012. The Alto has held the number one spot in India for over seven years, as the sales have consistently been well above 20,000 units a month - even during the labour strikes last year. The paradigm shift towards diesels has probably costs the small car its number one spot. On the other hand, the diesel powered premium hatchback, the Swift, has continued to do well in spite of hike in taxes in the budget.

Although, there is no official word from the company, there is another possibility behind the drop in sales of the Alto.

The small car requires components from the Manesar facility, along with other popular models like the Swift, Dzire, Ertiga and WagonR; and there is a possibility that the company has taken a back step on production of the Alto to supply components for the bigger diesel cars. Maruti has confirmed that they will up the production of diesel cars, but we still do not know if this has currently come at the cost of the Alto, as the company tries to ramp up production also to accommodate recently launched Ertiga.

India to Force Higher Mileage and Display of Mileage Label After more than four years of wrangling, the government has cleared fuel mileage standards and labeling for new cars. The norms, to be implemented soon, will force automobile manufacturers to put government certified fuel efficiency labels on each car they sell and improve efficiency of the cars they sell every year. While the labels will become mandatory soon, the standards will kick in by 2015, giving manufacturers time to improve the technology under the bonnet to meet the standards.

The labels will certify the fuel efficiency of the car model under standard conditions and where it stands in comparison to other cars in the same category. At the moment, the top ten manufacturers with combined sales of over 96% of the market have an average fuel efficiency of 16.42 km per litre. By 2015, this will be improved to 18.15 km per litre and by 2020, this will have to be ratcheted up to 20.79 km per litre on average.

Keeping consumer interest in mind, the government has also kept the standards low enough to ensure that any extra cost paid for the improved technology can be recouped from better mileage over 2-3 years even after the tougher norms kick in by 2020. After 2015, manufacturers will not be allowed to sell models that fall below the government's 'one star' rating forcing the companies to produce better cars. The way the standards are defined the companies would have to ensure that they sell enough efficient cars that they meet the corporate fleet average standard set by the government for 2015 and then for 2020. The proposal for such standards had been opposed by the car manufacturers on several grounds - ranging from bad road conditions, congestion to bad fuel quality and their association SIAM had asked for diluting the norms. But the government in its analysis noted that the these objections are not valid considering the targets set with the industry improving efficiency at 2.8% every year on its own and being asked to do less in the first three years than this. The government also noted that with Bharat IV fuel standards coming in all over the country, the issue of

fuel quality was not linked to the standards. The standards would bring Indian cars and technology at par with the European market by 2020, the government said. The biggest challenge in the first three years would be for manufacturers of heavy and luxury cars who will have to improve considerably to reach the 2015 standards. To match the 2020 standards, all manufacturers will need to make a substantial change to the engines or models to meet the norms. The standards are set in a fashion that will also ensure that the models coming on to the roads do not get overly heavy as that generally leads to increased fuel consumption.

Documents prepared by the government show that manufacturers like Diamler AG, Mahindra & Mahindra, BMW, Nissan, Audi, Toyota, Hindustan Motors and Volkswagen would have to do a lot to bring their variants and models to conformity by 2015. To catch up with the 2020 standards, almost all manufacturers would need to upgrade technologies and even the small and medium car manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors would need to bring in technological improvements. The challenge for all would be to sell higher number of efficient cars if they want to continue to sell the low mileage models which usually cater to the high-end customer. Violation of the norms by auto manufacturers would lead to penalty up to Rs 10 lakh and a further penalty of Rs 10,000 for each subsequent day of non-compliance with an upper cap of Rs 46 lakh.

Cars that do not conform to the labels put on them could also be ordered withdrawn from the market by the government. The government believes this may not be enough to enforce compliance and the Energy Conservation Act under which the standards and labeling will be imposed might need to be made more severe but that would require taking the parliamentary route to amend the law.

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CARS

India Car Sales Grow Slowest in Three Years Car sales in India grew at the slowest pace in three years in the last financial year as higher interest rates, increase in fuel prices and a slowing economy crimped demand for automobiles. Sales are expected to rebound this year on hopes that the central bank will cut interest rates and fuel prices will remain stable, the local association of auto makers said Tuesday. Sales in the fiscal year ended March 31 increased 2.2% to 2.02 million cars from 1.97 million, according to data issued by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. That is the slowest pace since a 1.4% rise in the financial year ended March 2009 and belies five straight months of growth in car sales since November, including a 20% gain in March. Higher fuel costs, expensive loans and prolonged inflationary pressures have forced several customers to defer vehicle purchases in Asia's third-largest automobile market.

The Reserve Bank of India has raised its lending rates 13 times since March 2010, while fuel retailers have increased product prices several times. But, demand for diesel cars has soared as the price of the fuel is government-controlled and is sharply lower than that of gasoline. This has led several companies to introduce diesel cars. "The phenomenally high interest rates have impacted sentiment and impacted sales of passenger and commercial vehicle sales," S. Sandilya, president of the association, told a news conference. Local car sales of market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. fell 11% to 855,730 autos in the financial year ended March. Hyundai Motor Co.'s local unit posted a 7.9% rise to 387,168 cars, while Tata Motors Ltd., maker of the Nano minicar, reported a 1% increase to 257,966 cars. Sales at the local unit of Ford Motor Co. fell 5.2% to 90,423 cars, while Toyota Motor Corp.'s unit recorded a more than fourfold increase in sales last year to 90,969 cars from 19,225 autos, boosted by demand for its new Etios range of cars. Commercial vehicle sales increased 18% to 809,532 units, while sales of motorcycles gained 12% to 10 million and scooters climbed 26% to 2.56 million. The association has forecast India's local car sales to grow 10%-12% this financial year. It expects also sales of trucks and buses to increase 9%-11% and motorcycles to rise 10%-12%. According to Yaresh Kothari, an analyst at Angel Broking, the "long-term structural growth drivers" of the Indian automobile market--including economic growth, favorable demographics, entry of companies and easy availability of finance--are intact and will support 13%-14% sales growth in this financial year and the next.

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Peugeot Citroen to Re-enter India with GM

PSA Peugeot Citroen has said that it may build cars in India with General Motors , its new global alliance partner, effectively scrapping a planned 650 million euro ($850 million) investment in its own factory. The companies will explore ways to use GM plants to support Peugeot's long-heralded return to the Indian market, said Gregoire Olivier, head of Asian operations for the Parisbased automaker. "We're not going to move forward by building our own factory as we'd planned to," Olivier said in an interview at the Beijing auto show. "We now have GM as a global partner, and GM has factories in India, so we're obviously reviewing our plans from the top," he said. "There are a lot of other ways to enter India now that they don't require us to put 600 million euros on the table."GM has no plans to assemble cars for Peugeot in India, company spokeswoman Lori Arpin said, without elaborating. The U.S. car maker has an Indian joint venture with China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp and sells models including the Chevrolet Spark, Beat, Sail and seven-seater Enjoy. GM has Indian plants near the western city of Mumbai and Halol, in Gujarat.

Peugeot exited India in 1997 after the failure of an earlier joint venture, Premier Automobile Ltd., and had been seeking to re-enter the fast-growing market for at least two years before announcing the plant investment in Gujarat state last September. Amid mounting European losses, Peugeot flagged unspecified "timetable adjustments" to the project in January, two months after breaking ground at the factory site. Peugeot is likely to stick to its earlier plan to enter the Indian market with a small car and a compact, Olivier said, declining to give details.

GM and Peugeot announced their broad-based alliance in vehicle development and production on Feb. 29, along with a 1 billion euro Peugeot share issue that saw Detroit-based GM acquire a 7 percent stake in Europe's second-biggest automaker. The partnership with Peugeot is essentially a "Euro-centric play", GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson told reporters in Beijing, adding that cooperation opportunities also existed in Asia, South America and in specific vehicle technologies.

After Outpacing Mercedes, Audi Plans Taking Over BMW in India After zipping past Mercedes Benz as the second largest premium car maker in the country, Audi India has set sights on the number one position by as early as 2014, backed by an expanding portfolio and a strong dealer network. People close to the company say that with new launches and network expansion, this is a realistic target and the Volkswagen group-owned premium maker Audi may very well overtake BMW in the second half of 2014 itself.When contacted, BMW and Mercedes Benz declined to comment."We had aimed to take the number two position by the end of 2012,but we are already number two in the first quarter of this year,thanks to the strong demand for our products.Our strategic intent is to be number one worldwide,and India,by 2015. We can pull forward our

measure and activities like the A4 launch,and by pulling forward our measure and activities,may pull forward our goal itself," said Micheal Perschke, Audi India chief. According to reports, Mercedes Benz sold 2,130 units in the first quarter of 2012 against 2,269 units sold by Audi. BMW stayed in the lead, selling 2,369 vehicles between January and March this year. Going ahead, the next generation A4, which was launched on Thursday (at.27.33 lakh-38 lakh), compact premium SUV Q3, and the A3, to be rolled out next year, are expected to drive volumes for Audi in India.

Perschke said the company is aiming to close 2012 with sales of 8,000 units,which can be easily doubled to 16,000,to even 20,000 cars by 2015. "Q3 will get us new customers,it will give us

deeper penetration and bigger target audience,it will give us more visibility as well," added Perschke. Audi has lined up at least 6 new products in the next 12-18 months in India to draw in bigger volumes,and intends to expand its reach to 25 locations by the end of the year.

The company is also planning to set up a new assembly line which will assemble Q3,Q7 and eventually A3 over the next couple of years,which will help the car maker negate high import duty and price its products aggressively. With Q3 having a huge demand globally,Audi has only got allocation of 1,000 units for 2012,but once the assembly begins in 2013,it is expected to churn out bigger numbers for the company. But the competition is not sitting idle.The number one player, BMW,has already launched its iconic Mini and the A4 competitor,the new 3 series,should hit the market soon.

Mercedes Benz too has lined up B and A class cars for India,which are the high volume models,to compete against the Ingolstadt-based German premium car maker. The Indian premium and luxury car market is growing at a CAGR of 3040 % and stood at 23,000 units in 2011.

It is expected to touch 30,000 to 31,000 units by the end of 2012. However,with the flurry on entrylevel cars from Audi,BMW & Mercedes Benz,the market is expected to gather pace,and very quickly. "The competition is going to be intense.The fight is going to be between Audi & BMW. Mercedes Benz has somehow lost the plot.The entry of more compact models will drive growth and the one with farther reach and fresh portfolio will have an edge, said Hormazd Sorabjee,editor of Autocar India. In 2011,BMW was the number one player in the country with sales of over 9,400 cars,followed by Mercedes Benz at 7,430 and Audi at 5,511,taking the number three position.With Audi overtaking Mercedes Benz in the first quarter itself,competition may get even more fierce.

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