Seasonal Magazine - October 2014 Issue

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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Seasonal MAGAZINE

www.seasonalmagazine.com

one equitable business can transform a community

Managing Editor Jason D Pavorattikaran 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 Pavorattikaran

The road show is over. The highest-profile inbound tourists came from China and Australia, while Narendra Modi himself went to Brazil, Japan, & USA. Now, it is time for execution to start. Where will it all begin? Re-auction of coal? Pan India solar? Digital highways? Or BJP’s historic favourite - roads and bridges?

Whatever the opening crackers might be, this is going to be full-fledged fireworks.

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EDITORIAL

Market, as usual, has already run much ahead, in anticipation. Even while Sensex and Nifty pauses to catch breath from the uphill climb, FIIs and DIIs are mopping up every stock that has built at least one road or bridge somewhere, sometime. Companies that have made loss-making a habit since 2008 are the new flavour of the season. After all, what to worry, isn’t that mega push - the push of development promised by Modi coming?

Supreme Court termed coal as the ‘King and Paramount Lord of Industry’. While it is true, expect the biggest rush to be for another Lord. Modi’s plan for 100 Smart Cities and Gadkari’s Rs. 2 Lakh Crore infra push all hint at who the greater lord will be. Google Autosuggest suggests that real estate sharks have already smelled blood, with one of the favourite searches doing the rounds being ‘100 new smart cities in India list’.

For many, life would have been easier, if there was such a list published. Yes, the new lord is going to be land.

This presents a unique opportunity and challenge for Modi and his team. The opportunity is obvious. The challenge too is reasonably clear, that is, how to ensure equitable development?

Now, there is an school of thought that believes that equitable development shouldn’t be an aim, but a side-effect that will invariably follow development.

Everyone from Dr. Manmohan Singh to P Chidambaram to Arun Jaitley to

Narendra Modi, are in a way believers of this theory of economic liberalization and free market economy. Lift up the GDP and the GDP will lift up the poor.

But, internationally, this philosophy is getting debunked more and more, and is now considered as the trickle-down trash. If you need proof, look no further than the need for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. While the video of India’s Prime Minister sweeping Valmiki Colony was a poignant one, and TV channels were blasting stage decoration workers at Modi’s various events that day, for leaving behind trash after the functions, something shouldn’t be forgotten. It is a well-known fact that the most clean countries are the ones with least income disparity, the best example being the Scandinavian nations. In other words, cleanliness is a natural side-effect of equitable growth.

Different theories have been put forward on how to ensure equitable growth when it comes to land acquisition. Without going into the merits or demerits of such ideas, it would be fruitful to cite just a small example called Amalner. Not that the story of this small town in Jalgaon District in Maharashtra, 350 km northwest of Mumbai, is not well-known.

It has been celebrated in the media, right from local media, to English media, to Wall Street Journal, during the last decade itself.

But Amalner is so important a story that it needs to repeated often to our policy makers and entrepreneurs, lest they forget. And for those who have never heard of this story, it is an absolute musthear.

The year was 1945. World War II had just ended. India was on the cusp of getting Independence. Jinnah was busy plotting for Pakistan. He was handpicking high-achievers from the Muslim community to join Muslim League. But a certain Ismaili Shia

start a small trading business of his own, when he met a visiting broker from Mumbai, Satish Shah, who was on a mission to corner shares of this promising vegetable oil company in Amalner.

Shah requested Mohammed’s help, to go door-to-door, and the broker bought shares from hundreds of villagers who were willing to sell it for a small premium. As a parting gift, Shah offered 100 shares to Mohammed at face value of Rs. 100 each, and Mohammed agreed, parting with Rs. 10,000 of his inheritance, and investing the remaining 10k to start a tiny trading outfit. The year was 1980.

businessman originally from Kutch of Gujarat, and then residing in Mumbai, and whose family was into rice trading in India and Burma, declined Jinnah’s offer. He preferred India any day, and had plans to diversify from rice and set up a new business somewhere in Maharashtra. Let us call him the Entrepreneur, for the sake of all readers who are enjoying the suspense.

1945 saw his new tiny company of extracting vegetable oils being set up in Amalner, perhaps selected for its easy availability of land, yet proximity to Mumbai. The villagers were overjoyed.

Finally development was coming their way. Our Entrepreneur too was happy and issued shares in his tiny company to many of the villagers, some shares in lieu of land or services rendered, and some for outright purchase at the face value of Rs. 100. Most of them got only a few - the typical lot size was 1 to 10 shares - as there were only 17,000 shares on offer, and our Entrepreneur held 80% of the total share capital of Rs. 17 lakhs. But some of the more enthusiastic villagers bought up to 100 shares each. The very next year, in 1946, the tiny company went in for its IPO.

In 1947, Jinnah would up his offer, requesting our Entrepreneur to be Pakistan’s first Finance Minister. But this Entrepreneur would decline Jinnah for the second time. Yet, as fate would have it, Nehru would nationalize all rice business in 1947, thereby making the new business the family’s only business.

Though the vegetable oil company prospered steadily, it was not enough to create any kind of trading volumes in BSE, the only exchange at that time. No broker or serious investor was interested in such micro cap firms run by a sole businessman. But he kept growing the business for the next two decades. But 20 years down the lane, in 1966, tragedy struck, and our Entrepreneur passed away, forcing the shocked family to call back his only son who was doing his graduation in USA. The 21-year old promptly returned and assumed office.

He was as successful as his father, or even more, when it came to expansions and diversifications.

Mohammed Anwar Ahmed, a young resident of Amalner, in the 1980s, had all of 20,000 bucks with him as inheritance after his father’s death. The 27-year old was wondering whether to

Today, Mohammed’s investment of Rs. 10,000 in the small vegetable oil company of his hometown is worth an unbelievable Rs. 590 crore. Yet, he has not sold even one share during these past 34 years - through the dotcom boom and bust, as well as the 2008 fall. Because, there was no need to. Who will sell shares, when its dividend payout itself has been Rs. 120 crore over these three decades?

Unbelievable? Yes, but very true. The magic worked through 11 bonus issues and one share-split that transformed Mohammed’s 100 shares to an unbelievable 96 lakh shares, each now valued at Rs. 615.

By this time, most of you have guessed which is this stock, and you are right, it is Wipro. Mohamed Premji and his son Azim Premji not only grew their tiny company into one of the world’s largest IT service firms, but respected their original partners, never allowing their tiny participations to be diluted, but expanding capital only through bonuses, thereby accumulating wealth for all.

Today, thanks to Wipro, Amalner is a city of many millionaires. There are hundreds in Amalner who hold ten original shares of Wipro worth 1000 bucks then and Rs. 59 crore now. And there are thousands who hold one original share in Wipro worth 100 rupees then and Rs. 5.9 crore now.

Indeed, one equitable business can transform a community.

John An Anttony SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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CONTTEENNTS ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN Touching Thousands of Lives

Extolling that rare businesswoman in a men’s world has already become a cliché. Because, there are so many successful women at the helm, in what used to be a men’s bastion just a decade back. There are so many highly successful women out there in business - both in India and overseas - that publishing the so-called ‘power lists’ has become common. 2014 marks an all-time record in the number of women CEOs running the show in world’s top 1000 organizations - 5.3% to be precise - and it is needless to mention that this is going to be a record that is destined to be broken every year, going forward. The reason is simple.

Though the march of eves into big business started almost a decade back - with leaders like Indra Nooyi - recent years have seen some of the real strongholds of male CEOs falling to women. Tech was the first male monopoly to fall, with HewlettPackard appointing Meg Whitman as CEO in September of 2011, which was a hotly debated decision at that time. But more was to follow. Ginni Rometty assumed charge of IBM in January of 2012, sealing the debate on tech and women. July of same year saw another tech major falling to women when Melissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo.

In January of 2013, the unthinkable happened, when Defence too fell to women, with Marillyn..

10 Life Insurance Myths

Why Food Inflation is Here to Stay in India A heady mix of factors – from lack of investment in supply chain, increase in farm inputs, as well as a tightly-regulated market – is behind the persistent food inflation India has witnessed over the past many years, according to analyses by experts.

Life insurance must be a part of every individual’s financial planning but one needs to debunk various age old myths attached in order to buy adequate life cover. Let us take a look at the top 10 popular..

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For the Love of God

We need to take a leaf out of the book of Mother Teresa’s continuing work to better understand why we are still so shamefully placed on the Human Development Index.

Why Christopher Wood and CLSA Love India CLSA is one of the world's most respected independent brokerages, while its chief equity strategist Christopher Wood is considered as one of..

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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CONTTEENNTS

Freshly Minted Homes

Wines get finer by age. Even some bungalows turn more valuable by heritage. But when it comes to luxury apartments, what matters the most is not even contemporariness, but futuristic qualities. That is why, despite tens of thousands of completed homes as well as second-sale homes available,

many discerning homebuyers make a beeline for newly launched projects. Even with all its uncertainties, like timely completion, a freshly launched project is preferred by many. It is more like buying a luxury car. Nobody discerning wants even the 2013 S-Class any more. 2014 S-Class may be, and if possible, 2015 S-Class..

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Key Americans Who Met What Modi Really with Modi Directly Won for India From US Aimed at boosting their “strategic partnership” — now being re-christened as a “defining partnership” — to new levels, India and the United..

Bullish on opportunities in India, top US corporates, including Boeing, IBM and BlackRock on Monday expressed their keenness to strengthen engagements with the country during their meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promised..

Modi's US Visit Successful: Will Dollars Start Pouring in Now? With Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi hard-selling India to US businessmen, the general sentiment is that the country is back on the global investment radar even as the Congress party in India has termed Modi's visit as a damp squib.

Visa to NRIs One Thing, Visa to Americans Quite Another Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on new visa policies during his speech to Indian- Americans at New York's Madison Square..

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As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi spurred companies to build more than 900MW of solar plant across the state in just a couple of years, including Asia's largest solar farm. Now, as prime minister, the question is whether he can repeat the feat across India, which receives more sunlight than any other country in the G20.

How Did Modi's Previous US Visits Fare?

Lancome launches the City Miracle CC Cream

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Modi's First Revolution to be Solar?

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CONTTEENNTS

20 Safe & Beautiful Countries for Indians to Travel Do you know which are the most peaceful countries in the world to travel to? Outbound tourism is growing rapidly in India, and according to studies, two aspects Indian outbound tourists prefer are beauty and safety of the destinations. After all, Indians travely with their families and nobody wants to expose their kids to violent crimes or terrorism. Since 2007 each year, the Global Peace Index has been issued by the IEP (Institute for Economics and Peace) and is a measurement of the peacefulness of countries based on external and internal measures.

Season’s Destinations - Kerala It is a monsoon of a different kind. Even while heavier-thanusual monsoons lash across select pockets like Kerala, raising the economy’s hopes, India’s tourism industry has been blessed with a downpour of events, awards, & tourists. True to the Indian spirit of ‘Aditi Devo Bhava’, the country comes first in warmth of its people and hospitality with the highest score of 94.44 / 100.

India’s efforts, backed by a massive annual overseas promotional spend seems to have delivered, with international tourist arrivals up significantly in the first half of this year. Tourism events are also on a huge upswing, from Assam to Goa, Delhi to Kerala..

“Customer Loyalty and MSME Focus are Unique Strengths of KVB” It has been more than 3 years since K Venkataraman took over as MD & CEO of Karur Vysya Bank. It has been in no way an easy 3 years. The entire banking..

Can Fin Homes Gets Ready for Its Next Orbit Can Fin Homes which sprang up to a new life starting in FY’12 under Managing Director C Ilango, has grown its topline, profits, and stock price admirably, during the last three years. Now, Can..

Sastra University Students Get Recruited by Microsoft, Amazon, & PayPal It has been yet another blockbuster season for Thanjavur based SASTRA University in placements, and admissions. Sastra saw..

Why Doctors Should be More Compassionate It was another routine day at the hospital for me as an intern. Just as we were descending the stairs, I could hear a commotion in the..

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Competition Commission Slaps Rs. 2500 Crore Fine on 14 Carmakers Both international and domestic carmakers have been pulled up for artificially restricting access to spares..

Seize the Day, Succeed in Life Carpe Diem in Latin translates to Seize the Day, and is the unique motto of Assam Don Bosco University in India’s North East. In a terse two-word mantra,..

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LIC Takes Up Greater Challenges, But With Greater Prudence LIC’s real challenge will be how it can match the aspirations of the Indian public which drive it by..

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AUT O UTO

Competition Commission Slaps Rs. 2500 Crore Fine on 14 Carmakers Both international and domestic carmakers have been pulled up for artificially restricting access to spares and service, thereby escalating maintenance costs for car owners. The fine amounts to 2% of each carmaker's Indian revenue.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined more than a dozen global and local carmakers a total of 25.5 billion rupees ($420 million) after a probe found they had engaged in anti-competitive practices in the world's sixth largest auto market.

The Indian penalty follows heightened regulatory scrutiny of the auto industry in China, the world's largest auto market. Several global car and spare parts makers have been fined, or are being investigated, by China's antimonopoly regulator, the National Development and Reform Commission.

The CCI said in a statement it had fined the 14 automakers after its investigation showed they were restricting access to spare parts, which in turn made them more expensive for consumers.

It listed the overseas automakers fined as the local unit of Honda Motor Co,

Toyota Motor Co, Volkswagen AG and its unit Skoda Auto, BMW AG, Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz, Fiat SpA, Ford Motor Co, General Motors Co, and Nissan Motor Co. Local carmaker Tata Motors Ltd was handed the highest penalty of 13.46 billion rupees. The other Indian carmakers fined were Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Hindustan Motors Ltd, and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. The fine, equivalent to two percent of the carmakers' three-year average India revenue, is payable within 60 days, the regulator said.

"The anti-competitive conduct... has restricted the expansion of spare parts and independent repairers segment of the economy to its full potential, at the cost of the consumers, service providers and dealers," it said in the statement.

The fine, equivalent to two percent of the carmakers' three-year average India revenue, is payable within 60 days, the regulator said.

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In a statement, Ford's India unit said it was reviewing the order and its implications, adding that the company had been working to enhance the availability of parts.

A Tata Motors spokeswoman also said the company would study the CCI order before making any comment.

Mahindra & Mahindra said it planned to appeal the watchdog's order. A Honda executive in India was not available for a comment, while a Maruti spokesman declined to comment.

The India representatives of the other carmakers did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The CCI said it had launched its investigation in 2011 after receiving information that spare parts made by some companies in India were not freely available in the market, resulting in higher prices for the parts and repair and maintenance services.

It said it had asked the carmakers to rectify their anti-competitive behaviour, which it said impacted 20 million customers.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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STOCK S OCKS

Why Christopher Wood and CLSA Love India CLSA is one of the world's most respected independent brokerages, while its chief equity strategist Christopher Wood is considered as one of the world's best stock pickers. Wood is famous for predicting the bull run in gold in 2007 and the bull run in TCS in 2009. His weekly newsletter 'Greed and Fear' is one of the most widely read overview of world stocks. Here is the latest from Wood and CLSA on India. investor conference yesterday. First, India was hitting the bottom of its investment cycle at the beginning of the year anyhow. Infrastructure projects were finally being cleared by cumbersome bureaucracy.

Second, Narendra Modi is probusiness, pro-investment, Wood emphatically pointed out.

While acknowledging that there may be “consolidation” in India, i.e., investors taking profit, India is more a five-year story, given that Narendra Modi was elected for a five-year term, said Wood. Mr. Modi had a good relationship with Japanese industrial companies when he was the governor of Gujarat and could rely on the goodwill to get India’s foreign direct investment going again.

ndia is the biggest overweight in CLSA‘s Asia ex-Japan portfolio.

The broker recommends a 16% weighting in India, versus the benchmark MSCI Asia ex-Japan‘s 6.7%. The Philippines is the next in-line with 8% weighting (versus the benchmark 1.1%) and the two are funded by CLSA’s very bearish stance on Australia.

Why did CLSA love India? Equity strategist Christopher Wood gave two reasons at the broker’s annual 14

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Mr. Modi had a good relationship with Japanese industrial companies when he was the governor of Gujarat and could rely on the goodwill to get India’s foreign direct investment going again.

We are already seeing improvements at the quarterly macro level. Gross capital investment to GDP ratio has fallen from a peak of 33% in the third quarter of 2008 to a nine-year low of 28% in the first quarter this year. But capital investment rose 7% year-on-year in the second quarter, up from a 0.9% year-on-year decline in the first quarter.

Given its bullish prediction in an infrastructure rebound, it is not surprising that CLSA recommends Indian financials and infrastructurerelated names for long-only absolute-return investors.

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ECONOM Y ONOMY

Why Food Inflation is Here to Stay in India A heady mix of factors – from lack of investment in supply chain, increase in farm inputs, as well as a tightly-regulated market – is behind the persistent food inflation India has witnessed over the past many years, according to analyses by experts. ecently, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan sought to put blame primarily on states' decisions to hike minimum support prices (MSP) frequently as the primary reason behind high food prices.

The MSP (the rate at which states procure agricultural produce from farmers) for rice and wheat, for instance, has increased by more than 100 percent over the past 10 years.

The governor also conceded that the widely-blamed initiative, the UPA’s b ra i n c h i l d N at i o n a l R u ra l Employment Guarantee Scheme, also contributed at least 10 percent

to high prices by raising rural wages.

Retail food inflation has averaged 9.5 percent since January 2012, a Reuters story recently said quoting government data. Vegetable prices have risen 64 percent over the same time. But beyond MSP and NREGS that have ‘pushed’ food prices higher, there are other factors that have “pulled” price up as well – mainly a rise in input costs such as labour, land prices, transport costs, etc.

Gulati argued that as agricultural areas around urban centres got converted to non-agricultural land, the transportation distance between farmlands and the final markets for the produce increased as well.

According to a recent paper by Ashok Gulati, Surbhi Jain and Nidhi Satija, farm wages have risen 6.8 percent between 2007-08 and 2011-12, after falling 1.8 percent between 2001-02 and 2006-07. This could have stemmed from shortages of labour as millions of people left the workforce – some likely to pursue opportunities in cities as construction activity picked up.

Gulati argued that as agricultural areas around urban centres got converted to non-agricultural land, the transportation distance between farmlands and the final markets for the produce increased as well.

Some experts have also laid part of the blame on India’s rusty supply chain system. India mandates farmers to sell their produce only to mandis, long dominated by traders and middlemen.

The government is now considering reforming the Agriculture Market Produce Committee (APMC) Act to allow farmers to sell directly in the open market.

The country's supply chain system remains in dire need of investment.

According to a recent Reuters article , India had only 6,300 cold storage facilities with capacity of 30 million tonnes, which is half of what it needs, which leads to wastage of about 18 percent of crop it produces. The same article estimates an investment need of USD 9 billion over the next three years, and only a fraction has been allocated in the budget.

BJP’s opposition to foreign investment in retail restricts hopes of greater private investment. But it is not that the previous government’s decision to allow FDI in the sector opened up the floodgates of capital.

For now, India has resorted to cracking down on hoarders, tried to unload more stock, and announced a price stabilization fund. But in the absence of longer-term reforms such as tweaking the supply chain, as well as tackling tougher questions such as how to modify MSP and NREGS, food price inflation may have been structurally etched into the economy.

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By Dr. T Ram Prakash

HE AL THC ARE HEAL ALTHC THCARE

Why Doctors Should be More Compassionate It was another routine day at the hospital for me as an intern. Just as we were descending the stairs, I could hear a commotion in the ward where I had been just a few minutes ago. A nurse who was rushing past me informed me that a patient had just crashed and ‘Code Blue’ had been activated. Code Blue indicates a situation where a patient has gone into arrest and a critical care team is trying to revive him or her. o me, it brought about a sense of excitement and I was beside the bed in seconds: it was an opportunity to witness a Code Blue situation. As an intern you try to learn as much as possible from incidents such as these, because they help you to save lives in the future. I could see a fellow-intern administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a nurse starting an intra-venous line, the critical care team intubating the patient, and ward staff gathering.

The patient could not be saved. I was present as the next of kin were informed and could see the tears in their eyes. The family members were devastated.

Strangely, the fact that someone had just died in front of me did not seem to affect me. I went about my business as though nothing had happened.

A few days later when a fellow intern had a similar experience, we were discussing why the patient had gone into arrest and if she had performed CPR. Not once did we talk about the family of the bereaved.

We were more interested in discussing about the possibility of learning skills.

It was later that I realised that the five years of studying medicine had changed us completely… we had become bereft of emotions.

I remember the day we first entered the anatomy dissection hall where there were rows of cadavers lying on tables. We were terrified at the thought of having to sit beside them, and a few were sick. That was a long time ago. At the end of our first year one could see us chatting happily beside cadavers, ever ready to cut open any part of the body in order to learn.

The next four years saw us transforming from teenagers to doctors. As each year passed we seemed to lose more of our humanness. Now we hardly wink at the site of a cadaver. We don’t even seem to hear the cry of our patient as we insert an intravenous line. It’s practice for us and hence we don’t mind doing it again if we couldn’t get it right the first time. A patient yelling in pain in the labour room gets no

reaction from us while engrossed in routine steps to monitor her well-being.

A patient with heart disease is seen as an opportunity to learn a different heart sound. We all end up putting our stethoscopes to the patient’s heart without a thought of the discomfort caused to the patient. A patient with appendicitis or hernia is likewise seen as an opportunity to learn. Gradually, we have turned ourselves into beings incapable of emotions. We have stopped empathising with our patients.

Of course, I would not blame the lack of empathy on the doctor alone. It is also the work of patients and the media. A few years back, anything a doctor said would be considered to be said in the best interest of the patient. People had more trust in a doctor’s words, and the doctor just saying that “the patient will be fine” brought a sense of relief to the patient and the relatives. Medical decisions were not questioned.

But all that was a long time ago. Now, we are questioned about every test that is ordered, every drug that is prescribed, every decision that is made. We end up spending a huge part of our time trying to convince the patient and the relatives on the need for various tests and imaging processes. Imagine trying to explain every medical detail to someone who has very little understanding of medicine. We end up getting frustrated and hence the point of trying to build a relationship with the patient is usually ignored.

The number of medico-legal cases is on the rise, possibly influenced by the west.

We get pulled up for all sorts of reasons despite having put in our best efforts.

It is no wonder now, that I seem to be victim too of the loss of that important human emotion -empathy. I think it is high time we trained ourselves to put in our sense of respect back into the minds of the society. We are not to be taken lightly, not to be showcased as a money-ripping gang, not to be judged by “actors” who for the most part make huge sums hosting programmes.

We as professionals must take responsibility for our actions and see that we act with dignity. We must learn to empathise with patients, speak kindly and gently, enquire of their well-being as if they were members of our own family.

Perhaps then we can bridge the gap.

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ROLE MODEL

COVER S TOR Y ST ORY

BUSINESSWOMEN Touching Thousands of Lives

xtolling that rare businesswoman in a men’s world has already become a cliché. Because, there are so many successful women at the helm, in what used to be a men’s bastion just a decade back. There are so many highly successful women out there in business - both in India and overseas - that publishing the so-called ‘power lists’ has become common.

2014 marks an all-time record in the

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number of women CEOs running the show in world’s top 1000 organizations - 5.3% to be precise - and it is needless to mention that this is going to be a record that is destined to be broken every year, going forward. The reason is simple. Though the march of eves into big business started almost a decade back - with leaders like Indra Nooyi recent years have seen some of the real strongholds of male CEOs falling to women. Tech was the first male monopoly to fall, with Hewlett-Packard appointing Meg Whitman as CEO in

September of 2011, which was a hotly debated decision at that time. But more was to follow. Ginni Rometty assumed charge of IBM in January of 2012, sealing the debate on tech and women.

July of same year saw another tech major falling to women when Melissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo. In January of 2013, the unthinkable happened, when Defence too fell to women, with Marillyn Hewson taking over as CEO of Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest defence and aerospace manufacturers. The very next year, in January of 2014, Auto too fell out from men’s hands, when Mary Barra took over as CEO at General Motors. The taking over by women CEOs is accelerating in some sectors, like Tech, with Safa Catz not only becoming Oracle’s co-CEO last month, but also becoming the world’s highest paid woman CEO. Still, there are some sectors that men guard closely, with the most striking example being Banking & Financial Services Industry (BFSI).

Someone from the fair sex is hard to find occupying the CEO seat in the BFSI segment in the world’s Top-300 organizations. But here, India leads the way. State Bank of India (SBI), which ranks at 303rd position at Fortune Global 500, shocked the world when it named Arundhati Bhattacharya as the Chairperson in October of 2013. For India Inc, it was an easier decision, as many other women leaders like Chanda Kochchar, VR Iyer, Shikha Sharma, and others had already made their mark in the corner office in BFSI sector. There are also enough women business leaders who have failed remarkably -

both in India and abroad - just like how men have failed. So, going forward, what is not going to matter is how successful or how powerful a woman business leader is, but how much of a role model she is, for her colleagues as well as the community around.

Because, if we are extolling the virtues of women business leaders what should matter is the extra feminine grace that she brings to the table. In that respect, even the scale of her operations doesn’t matter. Seasonal Magazine’s pages have been graced in the near

past by numerous women achievers, and we are now re-launching the series with stress on how much of a female role model the businesswoman is. In this issue we bring you the success stories of Arundhati Bhattacharya of SBI, Mallika Mohandas of MIOT, VR Iyer of Bank of India, Chitra Ramakrishna of NSE, Kalpaja DA of Vydehi Institute, Manju Yagnik of Nahar Group, and Sheela Kochouseph of V Star Creations. And stay tuned for meeting more role model businesswomen in our upcoming issues.

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ARUNDHATI BHATTACHARYA

ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

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Steel-

Arundha ti Bha son, SBI Arundhati Bhatttachar acharyya, Chairper Chairperson,

willed Gentleness It

has been only 3 quarters since Arundhati Bhattacharya took over as Chairperson of State Bank of India, but it has been enough to gauge her breadth of skills as a versatile banker.

On a standalone basis, quarterly income is up by around 10%, while quarterly profits has soared by over 41%. Mind you, this is not a small or mediumsized bank we are talking about, but about the biggest bank in India, both in the public and private sector. To understand its size, only a couple of comparisons is enough. Even if the largest private sector bank by market capitalization - HDFC Bank - is to combine with its parent HDFC which is the largest housing finance company in India, the combined banking entity will be much smaller than SBI in income and profits.

To project another comparison, the asset base of standalone SBI is larger than even the mighty LIC of India which is a virtual monopoly in the life cover space. And needless to say, on a consolidated basis, the asset base of SBI - at $380 billion - is much larger than that of LIC. So, the growth that this first female head of SBI has ushered in has been on the largest base imaginable in India, and that has been a feat. Maybe in some other time, say, in 2005-2007 period, this was likely to be an ordinary achievement by an entity like SBI. But her tenure as Chairperson had come at the most difficult time, when the aftereffects of the global financial crisis combined with domestic policy paralysis and high interest rates, virtually making the banking system growth come to a grinding halt in this past fiscal. A 40% plus growth also proves another thing - that proving the naysayer wrong, this Bengali Brahmin lady has tamed SBI’s infamous NPAs. It will be foolish to assume that SBI is fully past the NPA contagion troubling all PSU

banks. As the largest PSU bank, SBI’s NPAs are here to stay for quite a lot more time, but there is no doubt that it has been tamed by this charming 58 year old.

And growth at SBI is not like the famed non-stop growth at HDFC Bank. India’s private sector lenders are notorious for not giving term loans to businesses and projects, and creates their growth solely from retail loans and working capital loans. While that is safer, it is obviously not the ideal strategy for the nation’s growth, and that is why a bank like SBI is open-minded to all kinds of loans including term loans for risky and long-tenure projects. In other words, if SBI is a full bank, banks like HDFC can only be considered as half-banks.

Of course, being open to term loans often throws up nasty surprises like Kingfisher and Bhushan Steel, but for Arundhati that has not been an excuse to not extend term loans to companies in both private and public sector. In fact, the steel-willed way in which she dealt with cases like Kingfisher and Bhushan deserves an applause. Maybe having spent her entire childhood at the industrial town of Bhilai where her father was an engineer at the massive steel plant, taught her a lesson or two in the importance of supporting large enterprises.

Surprisingly, she is not from a finance, economics, or accounting background, but has done her graduation and post-graduation in English literature. She had her schooling at St Xavier’s School in Bokaro Steel City, then graduation in Kolkata’s Lady Brabourne College, and postgraduation at Jadavpur University. But she was brilliant enough to crack the SBI Probationary Officers examination in 1977, which was full of maths and logic, and came to study banking on-the-job at SBI and at the Institute of Bankers. She went on to handle some of the most difficult jobs at SBI including heading its American operations based in New York.

Ask her the success secret, and she would tell you that it is delegation and getting along well with everyone around.

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Mallika Mohandas

ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

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Mallik a Mohanda s, Chairper son, MIO T Hospit als Mallika Mohandas, Chairperson, MIOT Hospitals

The Humane Face of Healthcare

Suppor tiv oud mo ther ting gr andmo ther Supportiv tivee wif wifee, pr proud mother ther,, do doting grandmo andmother ther,, sa savvvy son ooff MIO tional oman, ccapable apable Chairper busine MIOTT In Intt erna ernational tional..

Chairperson business s w woman, s. Mohanda ear s, eevver The se ar dayy, thatt Mr Mrs. Mohandass w wear ears, eryy da hese aree all ha hatt s tha ell. and she w ear er wear earss them all vver eryy w well.

allika Mohandas’ foray into healthcare began as a pillar of support and more to her husband, and renowned surgeon, Prof. Dr. PVA Mohandas, the ‘Father of Orthopaedic Surgery’ in India. At 65 years, not content to rest on his laurels he decided to establish a new hospital in Chennai. His was a vision of medical excellence that would meet and exceed international healthcare quality standards, while providing compassionate care and ultimate patient satisfaction. A formidable undertaking by any standards, it brought out the hitherto unknown leader in Mrs. Mohandas to the fore. Rather than merely support, she stepped up to the task and took charge, hands on, looking into every detail, both big and small, to bring it to fruition. Her exceptional talents for organising and leadership were soon recognised – she was appointed as Executive

M

Director of MIOT Hospitals. That was fifteen years ago, and she has not looked back since.

Mrs. Mohandas’s day starts at the crack of dawn, and the better part of it is spent at MIOT International.

Under her capable leadership as Chairperson of the Board of Directors, the hospital has grown from strength to strength, offering patients the latest treatments that Medical Science has to offer, as well as educating a new generation of would-be healthcare providers.

Today, MIOT International is a 1000-bed bustling hub of activity, offering care across 46 specialities, chosen by patients from over 129 countries for its world-class care. A passionate advocate for raising standards of patient care, Mrs Mohandas is the Chairperson of the MIOT School & College of Nursing and the MIOT Academy of Allied Health Sciences.

And Mrs. Mohandas’s special

initiatives – the Children’s Heart Internationale MIOT (CHIME) and MIOT Organ Drive – touch many lives in the general community. If anything is a testament to her abilities and success, this would be it.

When asked what drives her, Mrs. Mohandas replies that it is her passion for MIOT. “It is home”, she says, “to those who come here for care when they are at their weakest and most vulnerable.

Therefore, it is up to me and the MIOT family to make sure that they receive the best medical care that we can give them, and are as comfortable and relaxed as possible while they get it. Patients respond better when there is a feeling of trust and comfort.”

MIOT International certainly is atypical when compared to most hospitals. This is visibly evident from the minute one walks through its doors. Bright colours, airy rooms, walls covered with art, SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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comfortable waiting areas, the greenery all around, and no ‘hospital smell‘. All details that bear Mrs. Mohandas’s stamp. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The hospital’s modalities for imaging, radiology, laboratory and transfusion medicine are among the best in the world. The surgical suites and systems are a surgeon’s dream. Infection control is a priority, not just in the OTs and ICUs, but across the hospital, which reveals special attention to its design – separate corridors, entrances and exits, sophisticated air filters and airways, state-of-the-

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art sterilisation systems and more.

All of it is not random coincidence, but part of her concentrated effort to make the best care available. A quest in which she has left no stone unturned, where no detail has been too small or insignificant.

It is the result of hours and hours of research, of consulting with top architects, of visiting other top institutions across the world and a delicate balancing act in making the right choices, always with the patient as the priority.

In the healthcare realm, great facilities are only as effective as the people within. Mrs. Mohandas’

leadership style is very evident here - a gentle but iron fist in velvet glove. She’s a stickler for protocol, punctuality, doing things the way that they are supposed to be done. Inflexible when it comes to maintaining MIOT’s meticulous standards, yet compassionate and kind. She leads from the front, not from behind a desk, with passion and enthusiasm. So no one is surprised when she decides to personally check on the tiny patients in the Paediatric ward, takes a moment to reassure a worried caregiver, or stops to touch base with the nurses as she

makes her rounds. Her employees – her MIOT family as she calls them - take their cue from her. It’s little wonder then, that MIOT International has earned the reputation of being on par with the world’s best healthcare institutions.

When asked to pick one thing that she was most proud of in MIOT International, a smile lights her face as she says, “that would be our institute for cancer care.” As with all her other undertakings at MIOT International, it is the product of much study and thought, a restful, calm centre, manned by a dedicated and very competent team of doctors, nurses,

nutritionists and technicians.

“When we started, we set out to address the gaps that we found when we visited other cancer hospitals”, she explains. “Now, patients diagnosed with cancer tell us that they don’t feel like they are entering a cancer ward. They feel comforted and stress free. To me, that is the reward of all the thought and effort that went into creating that space.”

Mrs Mohandas’ determination to meet challenging goals and achieve them gracefully, but without compromises, has made MIOT International, a reality.

Personally overseeing every aspect

of an institution that redefines medical standards across the country, she has demonstrated that strength can co-exist with grace. Is she ready to slow down or call it a day any time soon?

No, not at all. She still has many aspirations and plans for MIOT International. Some are already in the works, others are seeds of ideas that she hopes to nurture and bloom. She is grateful to her husband and children for their constant support and encouragement, but her work at MIOT is its own reward. And she is far from done.

Dr. Prithvi Mohandas, Mrs. Mallika Mohandas & Prof. Dr. PVA Mohandas

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Vijayalakshmi R Iyer

ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

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VR Iy er Chairper son, Bank o Iyer Chairperson, off India

The Creative Risk Manager It

has been six quarters since Vijayalakshmi R Iyer took charge as Chairperson & Managing Director of Bank of India, and the numbers speak about a unique leadership story. Total income has been moving up consistently even on a QoQ basis, and net profit too has been growing after a brief lull in December 13 and March 14 quarters. But that hasn’t been this Chairperson’s greatest achievement, which has to do with how she has managed risk at the PSU lender. Like all such banks, BoI too was troubled with NPAs. And there were analysts who thought that the Mumbai based lender would end up in more trouble than its peers, due to a disturbing NPA episode in 2009-10 period that lasted many quarters and saw BoI’s balance sheet shrinking for some time. But this time around, the leader was different, and the main difference she brought to the table was her background in risk management. In her threedecade long career at city-based Union Bank of India she had extensive exposure in Credit Department, Credit Monitoring Department and contributed significantly in setting up the Risk Management Department. What was once not a vary glamorous department like, say, bond trading that makes millions, Risk Management has however emerged in recent years as the most important banking skill in the NPA-plagued universe of Indian banking. Needless to say, Bank of India, has exploited Iyer’s skills to the hilt. Today, Iyer is looked upon as an expert in containing risk by not only by BoI, but by the entire banking industry.

However, even that hasn’t been Iyer’s core contribution in her latest stint. There are many leaders in the banking industry who manages risk in a very noncreative way - by pausing or stopping all credit growth. This is where Iyer’s brilliance comes into play. Even while containing the NPA contagion effectively, she has been growing credit aggressively. In 2014, BoI’s loan growth has been 25%, which is above industry average and is even worrying many analysts. But the risk management expert that she is, Iyer is unperturbed. She will coolly point out the safety of her credit growth by citing the AAA rated PSUs and AAA rated NBFCs to which she has been extending credit. According to this postgraduate in Commerce and CAIIB, the core of risk management is not to be credit averse, but to be averse to growth in risk weight of the total portfolio.

Maybe she learnt her ropes in risk management much before she became the Executive Director of Central Bank, or became the GM of Union Bank. Widowed early in her married life, she had brought up her two tiny daughters singlehandedly with none to help, except her mother-in-law, and most importantly, without sacrificing growth in her professional career. Indeed, when it comes to VR Iyer, the ‘hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.’

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ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

The Monopoly Breake C

hitra Ramkrishna is the first woman MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), an institution founded in the early 1990s to reform the capital market in India, and now ranking as the world’s largest exchange in cash market trades and as one of the top three exchanges in index and stock derivatives globally. As the MD and CEO, Chitra Ramkrishna has not only maintained the rich legacy of this great institution, but her tireless endeavour has ensured it has scaled new heights.

Over the years, captains of the financial and the corporate sector in India have increasingly recognized Ramkrishna not only as an institution builder, but also as a thought leader.

The National Stock Exchange of India, the organization that Chitra Ramkrishna heads oversees equity transactions of around 1,680 Indian companies which have a total market capitalization of over $1.5 trillion. She is so passionate about Indian equity market’s future that she wants the Indian pension system to invest in equities and make smart gains for the senior citizens over the long term, who are otherwise saddled by the low returns from fixed income instruments. Though EPFO is sceptical on the equity exposure given that the equity asset class is inherently volatile, she feels that pensioners can get much higher returns, if even a small percentage of their retirement money is invested for the long term in the markets. She always emphasizes that the current returns on retiral money will not help pensioners beat the inflation rate, when they do really need the money. She also inspires her team to put in tremendous amount of effort in creating awareness about financial planning and investment avenues in tier two & three cities and is very passionate about educating school and college students, to prepare them at an early age, so that they are equipped to handle their finances better in the future.

She, along with her mentors over the years, and mentees at NSE has also ensured that the Indian secondary market is second-to-none in high transparency, low transactional cost, and curtailing of manipulation to a large extent. Yet, Chitra Ramkrishna has never invested in stocks!

The reason is obvious. She doesn’t want even the slightest conflict-of-interest, or even an 30

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allegation of conflict-of-interest, to happen between her professional and personal lives.

If you think that it is a great deal, wait to hear about an even bigger sacrifice.

The NSE board and top management once deliberated on whether top managers should be offered Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs). Chitra was instrumental in declining that offer, because it would have been another potential scenario for conflict-of-interest or allegation of conflict. Because, according to this former banker at IDBI, an exchange like NSE has both commercial and regulatory interests, which are equally important, and often in conflict with each other. Offerings like ESOPs could have potentially encouraged the top managers to pursue growth and profits , perhaps at the cost of regulatory interests.

Such business ethics and professional acumen are what made the founding team of NSE including its first MD Dr. RH Patil, next MD Ravi Narain, and current MD Chitra Ramkrishna- achieve the seemingly impossible within a few years’ time.

Starting in late 1980s, the Government wanted an alternate to Bombay Stock Exchange which was of the brokers, by the brokers, and for the brokers. The trading system at BSE was dated as dated can be, like its infamous open outcry system. But nothing much happened on the Government’s plan. Then in 1992, the Harshad Mehta episode happened, and the Government under PM PV Narasimha Rao and FM Dr. Manmohan Singh realized that enough was enough and sprang to action. Industrial Development Bank of India was entrusted as the lead promoter and its then Chairman (late) SS Nadkarni formed a five-member team headed by Dr. Patil (then an ED with IDBI) and including Chitra as a key member to set up NSE. But the brokers at BSE laughed off the idea.

They and their forefathers controlled the market for more than a century, and how can a new exchange succeed if they don’t participate? Indeed, the beginning was lowkey for NSE. But the achievement was that within two years, an exchange was set up from scratch, becoming operational in the Wholesale Debt and Equity Cash segment in

1994. One of the factors the brokers had underestimated was Chitra’s deep understanding of the business owing to her exposure to the securities segment, in the late 80s in her role at SEBI. Though the operational scale of NSE was small just 135 companies and daily turnover of Rs. 17 crore – NSE proved that it was a fully functional and more modern and transparent exchange than BSE. Slowly, one by one, the brokers started participating in NSE too. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. For the last 18 years, NSE has grown its Cash Segment at a CAGR of 18 percent, and currently, the daily average turnover stands at 15,500 crores, which is more than 5 times that of BSE. But NSE’s achievement has been even bigger in the Derivatives Segment. It pioneered the Futures & Options segment in India, and now the daily average turnover stands at 203326 crores (according to notional value), which is 2.6 times the F&O turnover on BSE.

Chitra Ramakrishna

er

Chitr aR amakrishna, MD & CE O, Na tional St ock E Chitra Ramakrishna, CEO National Stock Exxchange

Over the years, NSE has also launched products across the spectrum and to suit the risk profile of investors, ranging from currency to debt, interest rate futures, ETFs , volatility index, global indices etc . Chitra has also devoted her energy to ensuring that the exchange’s technology has a continuous edge over domestic and International competitors and insists that the market can develop only if the entire eco system of market participants also adopts the latest technologies.

Under her leadership, NSE has also made inroads into the global markets with 15 odd markets trading in ETFs based on Nifty. NSE is ranked the world’s largest exchange in cash market trades, one of the leading global exchanges in currency trading, and the second largest globally in the number of contracts traded in index options . NSE’s flagship index, the Nifty 50, is used extensively by investors and market participants in India and around the world, to take exposure to the Indian equities market.

Chitra Ramakrishna’s latest achievement at NSE has been a whistle-blower mechanism. To check wrongdoing in markets, the NSE has put in place this anonymous whistle-blower mechanism, similar to the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Programme in the US. The NSE’s platform for tip-offs on cases relating to market manipulation and regulatory violations is web-based. The platform can be accessed on the exchange’s website, which also provides a toll-free number for providing tip-offs.

Chitra Ramkrishna is eminently qualified to take NSE to new heights, with her rich experience in running the exchange and her professional qualification as a Chartered Accountant. She relaxes by listening to Carnatic music and occasionally playing the Veena, and her favourite dish remains curd rice.

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Kalpaja DA

ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

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Kalpaja D A, Dir ec eo al Scienc es & R esear ch C en tr e DA, Direc ecttor or,, V Vyydehi Institut Institute off Medic Medical Science Re search Cen entr tre

The Compassionate Caregiver Y

dehi Institute of Bangalore is as sprawling as sprawling can be, and the role of being its Director is as tasking as tasking can be. Yet, Mrs. Kalpaja DA finds time for a mind-boggling array of philanthropic pursuits, interests and hobbies. Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre spans more than 65 acres in Whitefield, Bangalore, and comprises of a Medical College, a Dental College, a Nursing College, and a Paramedical College, as well as a 1600 bedded multi super-speciality hospital. While even the most complex of surgeries are undertaken at the Vydehi Hospital, the campus also has a dedicated facility in Indian alternate medicine - the Vydehi Ayurvedagram. Founded by her father Late DK Audikeshavulu, Vydehi Institute’s growth has been rapid, and Kalpaja was involved in its running from the early days itself. DK Audikeshavulu was an extraordinary achiever in various fields including industry, politics, education, religion, and social work, and had too much of an empire to look after, which made Kalpaja a natural leader at Vydehi. There was also another reason that made Kalpaja fit in like a T into this leadership role.

Certain philanthropic pursuits like rehabilitation and care of disabled patients and children were always close to her heart. While in earlier years, she shuttled between her home in USA and here in India, eventually she settled down in Bangalore. Even after her father’s death, Kalpaja has taken Vydehi to greater and greater heights, like its 100% results in MBBS. The Medical College is also emerging as a leader in post-graduate medical education with courses like MD, MS, MCh, DM, & Diplomas. The beauty of the Vydehi Hospital is that it caters to rural communities as well as international medical tourists. The list of philanthropic achievements

by Vydehi under DA Kalpaja’s leadership will surprise most of us. More than 500 free cardiac surgeries, over 750 free cancer surgeries, over 32 free cardiac

surgeries for children, several free total knee replacement surgeries, over 10 free cochlear implants for deserving children, more than 500 free health check-up programs, training and employment for blind youth, as well as numerous blood donation camps etc are only some of them! What makes Kalpaja such a super-achiever? For one she doesn’t believe in apathy or indifference that drive many people today. Her philosophy is rather one of creative dynamism, where she creatively intervenes in a proactive fashion to serve the deserving people in the communities around her, especially the children. Kalpaja doesn’t believe that determination and persistence will bring success, because, according to her what should drive determination and persistence is our core desire. If the core desire, whatever it might be, is absent, no amount of determination is going to succeed. In her case, her core desire has been to serve in the fields of rehabilitation and disabilities, and Vydehi Institute of Rehabilitation (VIR) and Vydehi School for children with multiple disabilities stand as a testimony to her core desire or passion. Apart from her father’s towering influence, she credits her upbringing to her limitless levels of energy to accomplish the impossible in various fields. She was tomboyish in childhood, and grew up as an avid sports enthusiast, making her mark in most sports items that she attempted. For long, she was even an avid car racer! Like her father, she too is a business leader par excellence, with large interests in fruit exports, real estate, logistics, & investments. But it is her array of hobbies that will bewilder anyone - music, classical dance, Tanjore painting, glass painting, reading, writing etc are only a few of her passions! And her tastes are equally surprising - she is as passionate about Carnatic Music as she is about Jazz. Married to Premchander, she is blessed with two lovely daughters.

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ROLE MODEL BUSINESSWOMEN

Manju Yagnik

The Lady Who Tower

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Manju Y agnik, V ic e-Chairper son, Nahar Gr oup Yagnik, Vic ice-Chairper e-Chairperson, Group

rs Over High-Rises T

here are women in real estate. But there weren’t many women in real estate 27 years back. The year was 1987. A graduate from Kurukshetra University of Haryana, Manju Yagnik had recently got married, and had moved to Mumbai with her husband. As chance would have it, both of them joined Nahar Group, founded in 1973 by real estate visionary, Sukhraj Nahar. It was a move that would transform not only their lives forever, but the lives of thousands of homebuyers who would opt for a Nahar home in the years to come. In the history of big business, there are some rare professional relationships that creates an enterprise out of a business, and the complementary roles Sukhraj Nahar and Manju Yagnik handled between themselves, catapulted Nahar Group from a small realty player in the 70s and 80s to one of the largest developers in Mumbai by the turn of the century. If Sukhraj Nahar was that rare visionary who could dream about a 125-acre green township in landscarce Mumbai, Manju Yagnik was the rare executor who could achieve that impossible. And the fact that Nahar Amrit Shakti at Chandivali near Powai has been an impossible, is no hyperbole. Imagine a million sq ft podium of landscaped greens in Mumbai. Possible? Now, imagine half a million sq ft of gardens in it. Possible? And now imagine, 22 luxurious residential towers on this podium of emerald greens, vibrant flowers, exotic plants, water bodies, and fountains. Yes, it has been one impossible project that the Nahar Group pulled off under the vision of Sukhraj and the execution of Manju. There are more impossibilities to be mentioned. Not a car would roam around the 10 lakh sq ft podium that is the base of Nahar Amrit Shakti. And that is not because of sparse occupancy.

Amrit Shakti is already home to over 3000 families. The absence of cars is because they are all neatly tucked in inside a mammoth underground parking facility spanning three-storeys and accommodating 4000 cars at a time!

That single feature leaves Nahar Amrit Shakti residents to enjoy safe and pollution free walks and jogs throughout the beautiful campus. With such mind-blowing features, many would expect that Amrit Shakti has been an easy sell. Of course, it has never been a hard sell, but then such

projects are not for everyone. For one, the cost of constructing such a project is awesome, making the ownership costs not affordable by many. Secondly, the kind of best-in-the-world features offered by Amrit Shakti are only enjoyed, by those who are already exposed to the best in the world. The success of Manju Yagnik can be credited to not only this realization, but to the hard work that she has done to reach out with her message of Amrit Shakti to such clients worldwide. That made Manju a globetrotter and she has marketed the homes through her numerous visits to countries in North America, Europe, Middle East, and elsewhere. Today, thanks to her efforts, over 30% of Amrit Shakti owners are NRIs. However, despite catering primarily to the NRI and domestic HNI crowd, the aspirations of a wider class is not lost on both Sukhraj and Manju. Under their guidance, Nahar has been an early mover in the affordable home segment, with Amrit Shakti also home to over 1000 compact apartments.

Manju is not only a marketing specialist, but someone who has mastered the whole spectrum of realty business starting from land procurement, to design, to clearances, to construction, to finishing works, to smooth handing over. Under their visionary leadership the Nahar Group has also expanded to other key realty markets like Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, and Rajasthan, with offerings in all realty sub-segments like residential, commercial, and office space. Manju has also spearheaded the group’s foray into education, healthcare, and retail. She admits that realty is a tough business to be in due to the over 52 different clearances required, but doesn’t believe that it is tougher for women than for men. Whatever men can achieve, women too can, she says. A born fighter, she has been a former hockey player who has played at the national level, and believes that it is surmounting adversities that brings success. She and her husband are parents to two kids the elder five-years old and the younger of four years.

The philanthropic causes that are most dear to her are the care of underprivileged children, for which she has done significant contributions. She says she is able to manage time efficiently between work and home due to the fact that her husband too is with the same organization, now as a Director.

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SHEELA KOCHOUSEPH

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Sheela K ochouseph, Managing Dir ec ar Cr ea tions Kochouseph, Direc ecttor or,, V St Star Crea eations

Stardom in Innerwear F

or a woman, it is easy to be eclipsed by her husband‘s achievements, especially if he happens to be Kochouseph Chittilappilly. That has been Sheela Kochouseph’s greatest challenge ever. Because, even though there may be bigger businessmen with bigger bragging rights in Kerala, it is highly unlikely that there is really a ‘larger’ business leader from the state. In a state notorious for its anti-business, anti-development attitude, Kochouseph succeeded against all odds. His success is more sparkling than many bigger Keralite players, as his success is purely made-in-Kerala. He has never been an NRI, nor did he amass his wealth from the Middle East, as is the norm with most highflying Keralite businessmen.

Starting out as a tiny 2-employee firm in 1977 on borrowed capital of Rs. 1 lakh (from his father), Kochouseph would eventually end up taking two of his companies public - V-Guard Industries in 2008 and Wonderla Holidays in 2014 - which have a combined market capitalization of around Rs. 4350 crore today, while making his and his Chittilappilly family’s wealth at around Rs. 3000 crore. And if you thought Kochouseph is famous in his home state of Kerala for this, you are wrong.

He is more famous as a social activist and even more famous as a compassionate human being who donated his kidney to a poor person in order to generate awareness regarding organ donation! Now, how does a wife make her own mark while living with such a legend of a husband? It is difficult and Sheela Kochouseph didn’t have time to think of all that while busy rearing her two sons. At best what she could do was create and maintain an exquisite house with sprawling gardens in Kochi, and take excellent care for her family. But when her sons grew up, she was suddenly left with some free time, and she started attending the office at V-Guard.

Though the two years that she spent there taught her the nitty-gritty of business, she quickly realized that electrical equipments was not her cup of tea.

A former Calicut University hockey player, and a master of many arts including oil painting, singing, dress designing, gardening, and cooking, this Home

Science graduate finally decided to start an apparel company, V Star Creations, in 1995. Support and guidance from her husband was obviously there, but there were limits. For instance, even funding from husband to wife was strictly on interest-paying terms. Secondly, Kochouseph himself had no exposure in garments business, leaving Sheela to fend off for herself on almost all fronts. Though the firm quickly made a name for itself in the branded Salwar Kameez business, scaling up became a problem, and V Star diversified into women’s innerwear and since then there has been no looking back. Under Founder and Managing Director Sheela Kochouseph’s visionary supervision, V Star Creations is growing rapidly, and is expected to clock a turnover of Rs. 75 crore in this fiscal, sharply up from the Rs. 55 crore last year. Emergence of international innerwear brands in India has not dampened her spirit, and she is of the opinion that their entry is widening the market for high-quality yet costeffective branded products like V Star. Besides that, V Star is also into exports to some key markets.

She is a stickler for perfection when it comes to operations, and her product strategy revolves around varied offerings, one example being the one hundred different kinds of bras her firm offers. A globe-trotter along with her husband - they travel twice every year - she has been quick to realize and adopt the fact that innerwear is more of a fashion accessory than a utility wear today. Her eye for opportunity is also evident in her branching out to leggings, as well as in her plans for t-shirts and track suits. Sheela is also in the process of combining all brands under the common umbrella brand, V Star, which recently went in for a spanking new brand identity. While the stock market is delighted so far with the Chittilappilly twins - V-Guard an 8X multibagger and Wonderla a 3X multibagger - a bigger surprise may be coming their way, if and when Sheela Kochouseph decides to take her company public. Like her illustrious husband and hardworking sons, Arun Chittilappilly, MD of Wonderla, and Mithun Chittilappilly, MD of V-Guard, this mom too might end up a stock market superstar.

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Rene wable Ener gy enew Energy

MODI'S FIRST REVOLUTION TO BE SOLAR? As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi spurred companies to build more than 900MW of solar plant across the state in just a couple of years, including Asia's largest solar farm. Now, as prime minister, the question is whether he can repeat the feat across India, which receives more sunlight than any other country in the G20.

rom the observation tower in the Thar desert and as far as the eye can see, the dark blue arrays of a million solar panels can be seen sitting silently on the red dust. The Charanka solar park in Gujarat is an “ultra-mega” power project – the Indian government’s phrase – and the biggest in Asia.

But unlike the hundreds of coal plants and their noxious smokestacks being built in the country, the only danger linked to the solar panels are the snakes and scorpions that slink and scuttle between the sparse shrubs, posing a minor hazard to those who dust off the panels after dusk.

“But today, God is doing the cleaning,” says Poojan Ghodadra, programme manager for SunEdison, as rare, intense rain bounces off the panels. SunEdison has provided about a 10th of the 221MW total in the 5,000-acre solar park.

The project was the brainchild of Narendra Modi. As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi spurred companies to build more than 900MW of solar plant across the state in just a couple of years.

Now, as prime minister, the question is whether he can repeat the feat across India, which receives more sunlight than any other country in the G20.

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The answer matters across the globe: at the heart of tackling climate change is bringing power to the world’s poorest people without choking the planet with rising carbon emissions. The UN negotiations, which must deliver a deal to beat global warming by the end of 2015, began their crucial final stage on Tuesday in New York, with the assembly of more than 120 world leaders.

Boosting clean energy over dirty fossil fuels is high on the agenda and solar is booming, with new installations around the world doubling every two years. China is also aggressively pursuing the green technology, installing 12,000MW in 2013 – a record for any country in a single year.

As production goes up, panel costs are plummeting – down 80% since 2008, according to the New Climate Economy report released on 15 September. This puts solar on the edge of beating coal and gas on price.

Such energy choices are now on Modi’s desk: he has pledged to give electricity to every one of the 300 million Indians living in the dark, a feat he achieved on the smaller stage of Gujarat, and energy experts in India are impressed with the impetus given in his first 100 days to renewable energy, particularly solar.

Three more ultra-mega solar parks were backed with cash in July, as were solar-powered irrigation pumps and canal-top solar plants. The electric fences on India’s sensitive northern borders will be solar-powered as the military installs 1,000MW of panels to replace expensive diesel generators across its posts. Another 7,000MW of solar is out for tender across the country and the rooftops of Delhi are to be bedecked with panels under a new scheme.

Elsewhere, glitzy new shopping malls in India’s blackout-prone cities are turning to solar for cheaper and more reliable energy, while thirsty Chennai is experimenting with solar-powered desalination.

Modi’s power minister, Piyush Goyal, says solar has a glittering future. The previous government’s target of 20,000MW of solar by 2022 will be smashed, he says. “It will be much, much larger. I think for India to add 10,000MW a year [of solar] and six, or seven or eight of wind every year is not very difficult to envisage.”

But coal has not gone away. Electricity produced by coal burning between June and August 2014 jumped 21% on 2013 and, despite corruption allegations, coal mining is increasing. The state coal company aims to double production to 1bn tonnes a year by 2019.

All acknowledge that coal must provide the steady power needed to underpin India’s rapid economic development: if the 360 million Indians living in poverty were a nation, it would be the third most populous on Earth. But the extent to which plummeting solar panel costs and their sometimes surprising fringe benefits help solar eat into coal’s share of the energy mix is crucial to keeping emissions down.

On a 15-metre-wide (50ft) irrigation canal that cuts through the green cotton and barley fields of Gujarat, another Modi project illustrates the extra benefits. Here, 3,600 solar panels stretch more than half a mile along the waterway, but do not just produce power. With water the critical resource for the farmers, the shading of the canal by the solar array saves an

By Damian C arringt on ffor or TThe he Guar dian Carringt arrington Guardian

estimated 9 million litres of water from evaporating each year while the cooling effect of the water under the panels edges up the electricity output.

Furthermore, the part of the canal in the sun is clogged with reeds but in the shade of the panels, the water flows freely. Spanning the canal, while adding cost, also avoids covering valuable farmland with panels. “The canal is the property of the government, so the cost of the land goes away too,” says Ghodadra.

Modi is known to enjoy talking about the world-first canal project to the presidents and prime ministers he meets around the world and has backed a national expansion. Even using just 10% of the canals in Gujarat would give 2,200MW of solar power.

Along with millions of solar water pumps, Goyal says this pushing of power into the countryside will lift the income of poor farmers and increase food security by extending growing seasons.

Solar panels, covering 750-metre stretch of Sanand branch of Sardar Sarovar canal, are expected to generate some 1.6m units of clean

electricity per year and prevent 9m litres of water from evaporating.

Solar power can also reach remote villages faster and cheaper than sending pylons striding across the land, says Pranav Mehta, chair of the National Solar Energy Federation of India. “The country needs more decentralised power, like rooftop solar, to reach the large parts of the country that the grid has not reached.”

India’s booming cities are another huge challenge, with many struggling with

Modi is known to enjoy talking about the world-first canal project to the presidents and prime ministers he meets around the world and has backed a national expansion.

blackouts, particularly when temperatures soar and air conditioning is ramped up. Again, Modi’s 13-year tenure in Gujarat is providing the solar template. In September, it was announced that rooftop solar power projects in the state capital, Gandhinagar, will be replicated in Punjab and Delhi, where a storm at the end of May plunged its fragile grid into rolling blackouts for a week.

Delhi is ever more power-hungry, but with little open land and 300-plus days of sunshine a year, rooftop solar is an attractive solution. Since businessman SN Dwivedi put solar panels on his home, the previous back-up system has been silent. “I haven’t used the diesel generator in my house for a year,” he says.

Goyal says rural and urban off-grid solar are being looked at “very actively”.

“Offgrid is a very viable solution, especially for small, remote villages,” he says, while new assessment for his department calculates a potential for 120,000MW of rooftop solar across India. Other assessments are even higher at 200,000MW. The minister is certainly generating enthusiasm in the industry.

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“We have a government that is even more bullish than the entrepreneurs,” says Rahul Munjal, scion of the Hero motorcycle family, the world’s biggest makers of two-wheelers. His new company, Hero Future Energies, will complete 280MW of solar by 2015, three years after it started.

demand financial help for green power projects from the industrialised west, in return for forgoing some of the fossil fuel burning on which the west itself grew rich. But there has been little progress so far, Goyal says: “So far I have yet to see any significant offers or proposal of support from the west.”

“The Modi factor is very real with solar.

He recognises that not only is solar very clean, it is also very fast to build,” says Pashupathy Gopalan, SunEdison’s managing director in south Asia and Africa. He says the cost of solar versus coal – the critical immediate factor – is near a tipping point. “Grid parity”, ie equal cost, has already been achieved for commercial and industrial customers putting panels on their roofs, Gopalan says, and is coming soon for other users.

Rajendra Pachauri is an expert on India’s energy system and the challenge of global warming, as head of the Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) and chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which provides the world’s governments with their most definitive assessments. He thinks coal power expansion in India is likely to choke on supply problems, boosting the attractiveness of solar and other renewables. “It is a myth that India can continue to produce more coal,” he says, noting the shortage of coal that is leaving many plants stranded even today. “We have set up power stations in this country and there is no coal to run them.”

Bloomberg predicts parity for solar in India by 2020, while solar consultancy Bridge to India suggests 2018. “I think the grid parity debate is history now,” says Gopalan.

Grid parity would mean solar subsidies

“It is a myth that India can continue to produce more coal,” says Rajendra Pachauri.

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could be phased out, but Mehta notes that fossil fuels still get more than $40bn (£24bn) in subsidy every year in India: “You give me [a fraction] of that and I will make solar affordable and available everywhere.”

But despite highlighting the advantages of solar power – and new incentives to close old and dirty coal plants – energy minister Goyal is unable to pledge that the proportion of electricity generated from coal will fall from its current 65% in the coming years.

“I would love it to be lower,” he says.

“But the ambitious plans India has to expand infrastructure, create jobs, improve the lives of people, get 24/7 power in every home, I think considering the huge magnitude of the demand shift, for renewables to meet this kind of demand will have serious challenges. So I would imagine coal also would have to expand in a very rapid way.” Even solar champion Mehta agrees, expecting the proportion to be unchanged in 2030.

Goyal says a key obstacle to ensuring solar power grabs its huge opportunity in India is getting the up-front capital at affordable interest rates – coal is relatively easy to fund, he says.

The provision of clean energy finance will be a central one in the UN negotiations, which must deliver a global climate change deal by the end of 2015. Developing nations will

Pachauri is optimistic that India under Modi can follow the cleaner energy path.

“We have a prime minister who first, believes in climate change and, secondly, is a doer. It is a unique opportunity,” he says. “I believe you will see a snowballing of renewable energy developments in India in the next few years.”

But while a step-change in clean energy generation is a must if global warming is to be tamed, climate change does not have to be the principle reason for change, according to Pachauri. “I don’t think India is really [expanding renewable energy] to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Here it is happening largely because renewables will turn out to be the most feasible and most attractive form of energy supply.”

He then paraphrases Deng Xiaoping’s famous quote: “It doesn’t matter if a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice.” Whether the world is prepared to capture enough mice – carbon emissions – to avert catastrophic climate change is what is at stake in the next 15 months of global UN negotiations.

MODI IN U SA US

Two US CEOs Modi Won Over Prime Minister Narendra Modi told nearly a dozen US company chiefs recently that he is committed to liberalizing his country's economy, which has underperformed other emerging markets recently after years of breakneck growth. Modi spoke at a breakfast with 11 chief executive officers during his first U.S. visit since coming came to power in May, vowing to get India's economy back on track. Among those attending the breakfast at the New

John Chambers

Doug Oberhelman

York Palace Hotel were the CEOs of Caterpillar Inc and Boeing Co. "He wasn’t at all like the politicians we’re used to here," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman, who shared his impressions of the breakfast meeting with Reuters. "He acknowledged that the last five years have been very difficult for the Indian population, the Indian economy and the world in general, and he vowed and promised to change that. I believed him. He was very serious. I was genuinely quite impressed.”

New Study Claims Half of USA Won't Do Business With India More than half of executives in the US are less likely to do business in India because of infrastructure issues, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by APCO, a global communication, stakeholder engagement and business strategy firm, in close association with the Alliance for US India Business (AUSIB).

The study found that it highlights the fact that leaders in both nations wish to evolve from diplomatic stand-still and breed friendly ties with each other motivated by the economic benefits and political stability. Noting that business executives in both countries see huge opportunities as far as economic growth is concerned, the survey said most US executives see India as top destination for investment and 70 percent US traders acknowledge that the economic relations are headed in right direction. Ninety five percent of Indian executives want India to focus on infrastructure. "52 per cent investors from the US don't invest in India only because of poor infrastructure facilities. Both nations rank first as Investment destination," the report said. The study pointed relationship health checker against the negative pointers that can hamper the evolution of trade. "Major concerns are Visa restrictions, Chinese grip on market and Outsourcing challenges. Executives are willing to settle in the other country if stability is provided in the long-run based on ethical backing and lower tariffs and taxation," the report added.

Modi had won the confidence of at least one other highprofile U.S. CEO even before the U.S. visit. Cisco Systems Inc Chief Executive John Chambers last week praised him as a leader who had "captured the imagination" of Indian business, adding that he would make the needed "tough decisions" to revive the company's economy.

One of Modi's priorities on this trip is to gather more such endorsements and - judging from Oberhelman's reaction - he won some more converts at Monday's CEO breakfast. "I deeply believe that he’s committed to changing India," Oberhelman said. "There’s no question that part of his mission is to enhance and increase the investment climate in India, both for domestic companies and for direct investment." Caterpillar is the world’s largest maker of earthmoving construction and mining equipment.

The Peoria, Illinois-based company operates several plants and research and development centers in India and together with its two independent dealers - employs more than 10,000 people there.

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MODI IN U SA US

What Modi Really Won for India From US Aimed at boosting their “strategic partnership” — now being re-christened as a “defining partnership” — to new levels, India and the United States recently announced a slew of concrete steps towards collaborating on building a counterterror platform — a major step forward from the earlier task force system.

coordination will lead to a more secure and just world”.

Earlier, before he left New York for Washington, Modi told the Council for Foreign Relations that “there is a need to take the challenge of terrorism seriously. It’s sad that many countries could not earlier understand the ugly face of terrorism which is an enemy of humanity”. Terrorism, he said, could not be measured on the scale of

ven before the joint statement was announced, following the 90-minute meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its briefing, stated that the two countries had agreed to make “joint and concerted” efforts in this direction — including dismantling of “safe havens”, and terrorist and criminal networks.

It was stated that India and the US would now work together to target the financial and tactical support for the Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, al-Qaeda, Haqqani network and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The statement is significant as Dawood is widely believed to be in Pakistan, and the Haqqani network, which has been active along the Afghanistan border, has been working against both Indian and US interests.

Modi and Obama also sought resolution of key issues including the civil nuclear deal. “We are serious about resolution of issues on both sides to enable the civil nuclear energy cooperation to take off,” said Modi. He also used the opportunity to invite Obama to India.

Among the other key takeaways from the meeting are: a renewed 10-year defence partnership, US collaboration for developing the cities of Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam, and for a National Defence University.

Describing America as an “integral part” of his government’s “Look East, Link West” policy, Modi listed the priority areas of collaboration: energy 42

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security, cooperation in counterterrorism and climate change. On the World Trade Organisation issue, he said while India supports trade facilitation, its concerns on food security should also be addressed.

The two countries also announced a new platform to facilitate infrastructure projects. This, it was said, would be instrumental in assisting new portfolio investments as well as the inflow of FDI. Earlier, in their vision statement “Chalein Saath Saath: Forward Together We Go” on Monday, Modi and Obama underlined that “our strategic partnership… will combat terrorist threats and keep our homelands and citizens safe from attacks, while we respond expeditiously to humanitarian disasters and crises”.

The statement, issued ahead of a private dinner hosted by Obama for Modi, supported “an open and inclusive rules-based global order, in which India assumes greater multilateral responsibility, including in a reformed United Nations Security Council. At the United Nations and beyond, our close

political plus and minus. “The world will have to speak in one voice against terrorism.”

The vision statement, released by White House, promised a model: “We have a vision that the United States and India will have a transformative relationship as trusted partners in the 21st century. Our partnership will be a model for the rest of the world.”

It said, “Our strategic partnership is a joint endeavor for prosperity and peace. Through intense consultations, joint exercises, and shared technology, our security cooperation will make the region and the world safe and secure.

Together, we will combat terrorist threats and keep our homelands and citizens safe from attacks, while we respond expeditiously to humanitarian disasters and crises. We will prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and remain committed to reducing the salience of nuclear weapons, while promoting universal, verifiable, and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament.”

(By Ritu Sarin for The Indian Express)

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KEY AMERICANS WHO MET WITH MODI DIRECTLY ullish on opportunities in India, top US corporates, including Boeing, IBM and BlackRock on Monday expressed their keenness to strengthen engagements with the country during their meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promised a friendlier business environment.

They have expressed interest to participate in diverse initiatives including those related to smart cities.

Modi, who is on a five-day visit to the United States, met a galaxy of top American corporate honchos, including from Boeing, IBM, PepsiCo, BlackRock and Google on Monday.

Defence major Boeing's CEO James McNerney said that the company wants to accelerate its engagement with India.

During the meeting with the Prime Minister, technology major IBM's CEO Virginia Rometty envinced interest to participate in the government's new initiatives related to smart cities and digital India.

Reflecting optimism over opportunities in the country, world's largest asset manager Blackrock's CEO Laurence Flik conveyed to Modi that it would host a global investors meet in India next year.

After meeting Modi, India-origin Indra Nooyi, who is PepsiCo's chief, said, "He answers questions brilliantly and is very focused on improving India. So, we are thrilled to be working with him."

Another India-origin CEO Ajay Banga, who is at the helm of MasterCard, said the Prime Minister was a good listener and that he believed that Modi can execute plans like the way he did in Gujarat.

Noting that he had an excellent meeting with Modi, GE chief Jeff Immelt said the India is a great country and place to invest. Hosting a breakfast 44

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Narendra Modi & Virginia Rometty, IBM

Narendra Modi & James McNerney, Boeing

Narendra Modi & Laurence Flik, Blackrock

for 11 CEOs, Modi said India is openminded and want the change, which is "not one-sided".

The Prime Minister also held meetings with six other top American corporate executives including KKR CEO Henry Kravis and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Bill Clinton, former US president, and his wife Hillary Clinton called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday here in New York City and discussed India-US relations.

The Clinton couple had a 45-minute meeting with Modi, who was accompanied by external affairs

minister Sushma Swaraj.

Both the Prime Minister and Swaraj warmly welcomed the Clintons and wished them on becoming grandparents.

Swaraj warmly hugged Hillary.

Chelsea, the daughter of Bill and former secretary of state Hillary, gave birth to daughter Charlotte last week.

Known for their love for India, Bill and Hillary were expected to discuss IndiaUS engagements and the priorities of the new government in this regard.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of reports that Hillary may contest the US presidential elections in 2016.

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MODI IN U SA US

MODI'S US VISIT SUCCESSFUL: WILL DOLLARS START POURING IN NOW? With Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi hard-selling India to US businessmen, the general sentiment is that the country is back on the global investment radar even as the Congress party in India has termed Modi's visit as a damp squib. nlike other high-profile foreign visits by heads of state, Modi’s trip did not result in any big-bang investment pacts or business deals.

However it did clear the air between the two countries with Obama and Modi promising a 'strategic partnership model' for the world.

But the key takeaway from Modi's US visit is that he has successfully managed to portray India as the next, hot investment destination and as a massive market for US companies to invest in, as purchasing power rises in India. In other words, he has managed to woo everyone — from Obama to big business and off course the NRIs.

opportunity to broaden and deepen our relationship.” They added: “While India benefits from the growth generated by US investment and technical partnerships, the United States benefits from a stronger, more prosperous India.”

While Obama was impressed by Modi's interest in addressing poverty and growing India's economy, as well as his determination that India should help bring about peace and global security, Ajay Banga, chairman of the US India Business Council, who is also the CEO of MasterCard, said "The best days of US-India relations are coming."

During his breakfast meeting in New York with 11 CEOs, including those of Google, Citigroup, Pepsico, Blackrock, IBM and Boeing, Modi invited US business leaders to come to India and join the "Make in India" campaign pitching it as a win-win situation, given that India is moving ahead with great speed.

Following this, BlackRock, a global investment management firm, assured the prime minister that the firm could facilitate investments worth over $6 billion into the country by early next year, said an ET report. BlackRock has even offered to work with the Indian government and host a major investment conference in India early next year, which is likely to become an annual affair.

The bottom line is this: The growth story is no longer just about China, India will play a big part too, which is why Modi sought to ease US apprehensions about India's tax regime and provided more clarity on foreign direct investment.

He expressed confidence that India-US trade can grow five times from the current $100 billion. "The real thing that he has got to do is restore trust in the way people perceive India as an investor destination. For that you need predictability and consistency of policy," Banga said to CNBC TV-18.

According to a report in the Economic Times, CEOs present during the meeting were keen on investing India's food chain and agriculture-related sectors, while others wanted to pump in money into India's infra and energy sectors which is why they sought details on the way forward after the Supreme Court's judgement on coal block allocations.

In a joint op-ed published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, Obama and Modi wrote, “The true potential of our relationship has yet to be fully realized. The advent of a new government in India is a natural

Meanwhile, US Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue welcomed PM Modi's commitment to replace "the red tape with the red carpet" and the government's commitment to labour and tax reforms.

Modi, it seems, has allayed those concerns and assured investors that he means business. He said he would convert the Supreme Court judgement on coal blocks into an “opportunity to move forward and clean up the past”.

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By Sunainaa Chadha for FirstBiz Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra told CNBC-TV18 that all investors are looking for, is a commitment or an unequivocal promise from Modi that instances of retrospective taxation won't happen in the future. Investors are not looking for immediate repeal of retro tax, he added. He added that there was never a doubt that India has potential, but it was more about whether there is a catalyst or a conductor. "They believe Modi is the right conductor," Mahindra told CNBC-TV18 but cautioned that there was still some apprehension over whether the Prime Minister would be able to deliver. "He (Modi) set very high expectations while he is here and the downside of high expectations is we have to deliver", he said.

Terming Modi's meeting with the top business leaders in the US as a 'major game changer', the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that the Prime Minister's move was a real strong signal to bring back the business confidence for major companies around the world.

"Yes, there are issues like bilateral investment treaty, intellectual property rights, wanting India to open its retail sector for the foreign direct investment and India's tough position in the WTO talks on the issue of farmers' security vis-a-vis the trade facilitation, the American corporations see big opportunity in the Indian economy ready to tread fast once again," says an assessment by ASSOCHAM's US office.

The research paper is of the view that US corporate leaders believe that being the single-largest party in the Parliament, the BJP government has an advantage over previous governments, and hence expects Modi to deliver results.

But India ranks 134 among 189 economies in'Ease of Doing Business' index released by the World Bank.

Add to that India's power shortage and shoddy infrastructure. Fulfilling the promise of doing away with archaic laws and running from pillar to poll to gets approvals will be a challenge and will take an equal commitment from stodgy state governments. As this Reuters Breaking View column points out, "Getting them to change their tune will be the real test of Modi’s business-friendly riff."

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MODI IN U SA US

Visa to NRIs One Thing, Visa to Americans Quite Another rime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on new visa policies during his speech to IndianAmericans at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday drew mixed reactions from politicians back home. While some felt that with this move, more Indian expatriates will come to the country, other said it could pose a security threat.

Prime Minister Modi announced lifelong visas for Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card holders and visa on arrival for American tourists while addressing a crowd of 18,000 people at the iconic venue. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Indian expatriates would be thronging to the

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country to do something constructive for their motherland.

"The way the NRIs were cheering Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his speech, the kind of reception that we saw in America for the Indian Prime Minister and the kind of visa issues that were brought into the notice at the end of the speech shows that NRIs would be thronging to India and see to it that they do something constructive for their motherland," said Patra. However, Congress party leader Rajiv Shukla welcomed the new visa announcements, but said there could be a security threat as someone from a militancy-affected country could misuse such rules.

The concern is not without merit

considering the fact that American citizen David Headley visited India many times unnoticed before launching the Mumbai terror attacks.

"I feel with regard to the security concerns that are there about the proposed visa rules, precautions should be taken. Only after discussing them with the security agencies should all the activities be done.

Advantages of proposed new visa rules should not be taken by such a country which is involved in militancyrelated activities," said Shukla. Prime Minister Modi's speech at Madison Square Garden was watched not just by the Indians in America but also by the people in India who sat glued to their television sets.

How Did Modi's Previous US Visits Fare?

When Modi visited America as PM, he was returning to the country where he spent some time in the 1990's as a pracharak. ictures of PM Modi's US visit in the 1990s are circulating all over the Internet and news channels, and a simple Google search will show that these images are the latest buzz.

Photos of Narendra Modi riding a bike, enjoying a boat ride, a day on the beach and one of him with the Universal Studios sign in the background are doing the rounds. But perhaps one image that will probably get shared a lot is one of Modi with a group of friends outside the White House, given that on this visit Modi himself was a guest there. The rare photos show a rare touristy side to the Prime Minister, who always portrays an image of more 'business' than 'pleasure'.

In most of the pictures, you can see the future-PM, who is now known for his natty and sharp dressing sense, roaming around the country in a plain kurta- pajama. Although he's cleanshaven with a lot more hair. Indian Express quotes Dr Panna Barai, the wife of Dr Bharat Barai and the man who is organising the Madison Square Garden rally for PM Modi, recounting Modi's 1993 visit to their home. She told the paper that Modi he had come with "only two-three sets of cotton kurta-pyjamas and would request her to keep one change ready for the next day."

It's only in the picture outside the Universal Studio that we see him in a full-sleeved shirt and pants, which is a rare sighting indeed, given that the PM is now usually seen in bandh-gala suits or silk kurtas and Nehru jackets.

According to a Times of India report, New York was like a "second-home" for Narendra Modi "who stayed for

weeks at a time in the US as a party apparatchik tasked with spreading the gospel of the sangh parivar in America." The report quotes Suresh Jani, an old Modi associate who knew him from when he was an RSS pracharak as saying, "In everything he (Modi) did here, he had India on his mind." The report adds that "Modi stayed with the Janis in their Jersey City home."

Modi's visit to the Statue of Liberty in New York, it appears had a strong impact on him and Jani told TOI that Modi asked "why something like that could not be done in India." No real coincidence then, that the PM has announced a plan to build a bigger statue of Sardar Patel near Vadodara.

As a pracharak, Narendra Modi also visited Chicago, Boston, Texas and California.

It seems Modi also had a tough time in following his diet regime in US. The PM is vegetarian and also doesn't eat onions and garlic.The report quotes Prakash Swamy, a journalist recalling how when he invited Modi and

Govindacharya (the RSS leader who eventually sent Modi to join the BJP) for a meal, Modi drank more rasam since he felt that a "liquid diet" was better for him.

Interestingly this US visit of the PM also coincided with Navratri and and while there were elaborate menus for a private dinner at the White House, Modi gave it a miss by having only warm water.

Interestingly in 2005, Modi was he was supposed to attend a convention in New York at Madison Square Gardens, but the US government cancelled his visa in light of the Gujarat riots. For many of his NRI associates, this return is also being a seen a big victory.

Given that this visit took place after 14 years, it was not surprising that tickets for the event were all sold out. According to a Zee News report, "The Indian American Community Foundation (IACF), which is hosting the programme, said 18,000 free tickets were distributed to various community organizations across America. The rest was for donors and invitees. The seating capacity of the venue was 20,000."

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By Adhil Shetty - CEO, BankBazaar.com

LIFE C OVER CO

10 Life Insurance Myths ife insurance must be a part of every individual’s financial planning but one needs to debunk various age old myths in order to buy adequate life cover. Let us take a look at the top 10 popular myths associated with life insurance.

1. Life insurance is for older people: Many youngsters have a feeling that they may require a life insurance policy in the middle age or after 40 only. The fact that death is the ultimate reality of life and can happen to anyone irrespective of age, caste, creed or gender. The earlier one gets a life insurance cover; not only it is light on the purse but also increases the overall protective range for the individual.

2. I am single, so I do not need life insurance: If you have no family or dependant you may want to still consider life insurance policy. Life insurance policies usually expire at the age of 60-65 years offering substantial returns to the insurer at their retirement period. With increasing life expectancy, life begins at 60 for a large number of people.

Investing in life insurance can mean an added financial cushion for your retirement years and also saves you from tax burden during the earning years.

3. Life insurance is a tax saving instrument: Many people buy life insurance simply as a tax saving instrument. While it is true that life insurance offers tax benefits under section 80c of the Income Tax Act, the sole purpose of life insurance is to provide a protective cover in case of sudden death. Tax incentives and investment returns provided by life insurance policies must be considered as an add-on benefit, while one should also consider the cover, returns and other factors associated with it.

4. Company’s group insurance is good enough: Many salaried individuals do not look beyond the group insurance provided to them by their employer. Group 52

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plans and schemes and not reply only on the advice of the insurance agent.

7. Savings bank account or credit card offers me life insurance: Some banks are offering free life insurance to their savings bank customers as well as credit card clients.

Considering such life insurance as a protective cover is a big mistake and must be considered only as an added advantage of using the core banking services.

8. Buying life insurance in my kids name is a good idea:

insurance is good only as long as the individual is working with the company.

In case of a change of job or a sudden red slip, the individual is completely devoid of any life insurance. Also in case a salaried individual plans to leave the job for self employment in his mid age, taking a life insurance in the 40’s can be an expensive proposition.

5. Term insurance offers no returns: A lot of people consider term insurance as a bad product and waste of money since they get no returns at the end of the tenure. What most of the people forget is that term insurance offers life insurance round the year at nominal prices bringing peace of mind to the individual and his or her family. The growing popularity of term insurance as a life insurance product is testimony to the fact that it is one of the better life insurance products available in the market today.

6. Insurance agent knows best: Many people think the life insurance agent in their best friend and can advise them to choose the best product for their case. The fact is that a large number of insurance agents are poorly trained and try to sell the most lucrative product which offers them a chance to compete their monthly targets than anything. As a customer for life insurance, one must do some homework about various insurance

Many people think that since the life insurance policy would eventually help their dependent children or their spouse, they are better off taking the insurance in their name directly. Life insurance is an individual centric product and must be taken in the name of the earning member of the household always. Of course children and non working members of the family can be nominees and have independent life insurance policies as well.

9. Non liquidity of money doesn’t suit for me: Some people try to keep away from life insurance policies due to the fact that money invested in policies are locked n for a certain period of time.

They think that life insurance doesn’t suit them as they don’t have the freedom to use the money when they have an emergency situation, It is true that there is lack of liquidity in life insurance, but consider the long term benefits and advantages of a life insurance policy, especially during times of an unforeseen mishap.

10. Expectation of high returns: Some people have an unrealistic expectation of doubling up the invested money during maturity period, thinking life insurance policies are high return investment vehicle. This is wrong as many policy plans are not as attractive as equity investments or real estate investments.

You cannot expect huge returns from your invested premiums, but the fact that helping and terms of unexpected mishaps, or retirement benefits is the main attraction of life insurance policies.

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Freshly Minted ines get finer by age. Even some bungalows turn more valuable by heritage. But when it comes to luxury apartments, what matters the most is not even contemporariness, but futuristic qualities. That is why, despite tens of thousands of completed homes as well as second-sale homes available, many discerning homebuyers make a beeline for newly launched projects. Even with all its uncertainties, like timely completion, a freshly launched project is preferred by many. It is more like buying a luxury car. Nobody discerning wants even the 2013 S-Class any more. 2014 S-Class may be, and if possible, 2015 S-Class, today itself - that is the buying philosophy. Similarly, despite their best efforts, even the best among developers would admit that building materials, technologies, designs, finishes, and luxury amenities are forever evolving into the better.

And to compete effectively in the market, the mainstream developers continue to embrace and innovate on these technologies. That is why their 2012 homes can’t be better than their 2015 homes, just like in the case of luxury auto.

However, there is one caveat. On one and only one front, the older homes can be better location. Good residential locations are fast being depleted across all major Indian cities.

But what if a new launch excels in the location aspect too? What if the location is unbelievably inside the Central Business District (CBD), or at least at a special micro-market inside city limits from which every nook and corner of the CBD is rapidly accessible? Those are the projects that seasoned investors silently buy, but mainstream homebuyers often miss.

Seasonal Magazine brings you a collection of such just launched projects, that are guaranteed to have that freshly minted feel many years after you move in.

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Purva 270, Bangalore

Rapid Access, Yet Unclutte T

he latest project from Bangalore headquartered Puravankara Group in their home turf is Purva 270 at CV Raman Nagar. The national-level developer is forever packing in more punch with each of their new launches, and Purva 270 is no different. At 10.35 acres at CV Raman Nagar, it has a claim of being the largest ongoing project in Bangalore’s Central Business District (CBD), by land area.

There are, of course, many larger projects in Bangalore, even

by Purva itself, but this one is the largest project in the Indian Silicon Valley’s CBD. What that means is simple enough everything is quickly accessible. And that ‘everything’ includes not only the tech parks you may be working in, but the malls where your wife frequents, and the international schools where your kids study. For those who are yet to be intimately familiar with Bangalore, here is the location explained - Purva 270 at CV Raman Nagar is just 3 km from the buzzing Indiranagar.

Garden City’s famed MG Road and Koramangala too are very easily accessible. The secret is that 3 major roads - Old Madras Road, KR Puram Road, & Outer Ring Road are all within a 1 km radius of Purva 270. That makes access to major tech parks including ITPL and Bagmane very easy. In case you prefer Namma Metro to move around, Bayyappanahalli Metro Station too is quite nearby. No wonder then that property prices in CV Raman Nagar has witnessed a 20%+ appreciation in this year alone. But if so much can be said about rapid access to work, study, & shopping, Puravankara has taken care to ensure that such rapid access doesn’t end up as hustle and bustle inside the Purva 270 campus too. Purva knows its customers well, what they are looking for, and as such, has left aside 70% of the 10.35 acres as open green spaces. In fact, ‘Uncluttered’ is the theme around which Purva has envisaged this project. But the real uniqueness of Purva 270 is yet to be mentioned, and has got to do with how the design has been made. Each and every apartment is designed as a corner apartment, thereby giving each apartment an expansive 270 degree view. On offer are 2-BHK and 3-BHK apartments, and Purva is well-known in the market for spacious units. Purva 270 too doesn’t disappoint in this regard and has options like 1392 sq ft, 1659 sq ft, and 1980 sq ft. Price start from 6350 per sq ft.

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red Life

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Prestige Gulmohar, Bangalore

Where Life Blooms P

restige Estates Projects is traditionally known in its Bangalore headquarters for high-quality residential projects that generally carry Western names, much in tune with its globally-exposed homebuyers from IT and business backgrounds. Examples are many, with recent ones being Prestige Sunrise Park, Prestige West Woods, Prestige Lakeside Habitat, and Prestige Spencer Heights.

But with its most recently launched project in Bangalore, this national-level developer has attempted a refreshingly different name - Prestige Gulmohar. And it is not just the name that is different, but the entire theme. ‘Life Gulmohar Style’ was not just a BBC radio drama on Indian women, but something that many Indians understand.

Gulmohar style life refers to a life that is lived to the full. It is an aspirational value for most, as how many can afford to live like that? And what best than the Gulmohar Tree to symbolize that? The flowering tree that was widely planted by the British as a street-side tree across India for its unique beauty as well as shade-providing qualities is second to none in colourfulness - bright red flowers and green leaves.

The message Gulmohar projects is of flamboyance, not only due to its colour, but due to the sheer number of flowers that even outnumber its leaves during some seasons. Bangalore and Mysore are especially home to several hundreds of Gulmohar trees. Beyond selecting Gulmohar as its name and theme, Prestige has done meticulous work to ensure that it lives up to its slogan - ‘Live Life in Full Bloom‘. The excellence starts from the location. As you come through Hennur Road, towards the direction of Ramamurthy Nagar, you cross the Kalkeri Main Road coming from MG Road and going to Kalkeri. Prestige Gulmohar is near the intersection of these two important roads. The exact location is called Horamavu, and from here it is quite easy to access both MG Road as well as Outer Ring Road at Hebbal, which means the locale is nothing but an emerging gem. The land is generous at 3.20 acres, and the design is high-rise so that much space could be left as green and free. Nobody will feel cramped or resource-hogged, as there are only 404 premium apartments spread over 5 towers. On offer are 2-BHK, 2.5-BHK, and 3-BHK apartments. If three words can describe Prestige Gulmohar fully those will be ’spacious’, ’airy’, and ’open’. You will be spoilt for choices when it comes to area - with over 20 options ranging between 1169 sq ft to 1941 sq ft. The living room and bedrooms are large affairs, while the kitchen is not only large but modern.

The master plan as well as individual unit designs have been done meticulously so that the free flow of life is not affected a bit. Luxury amenities including a large premium clubhouse, a brilliant pool, and a helipad atop one of the towers deserve special mention. Prestige has also packed in a whole portfolio of leisure and recreational amenities that are valued by those looking for the Gulmohar lifestyle.

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Sobha Isle, Kochi

Luxury Island Living in S

obha may be headquartered at Bangalore, and its Founder PNC Menon may be a globe-trotter, but Kerala seems to be where its heart is, beyond the obvious reason. The passion for Kerala was first visible when this national-level developer launched its first township kind of development in Thrissur, the Sobha City. Now, it has again come out in open with its first Kochi launch - Sobha Isle. When most other national developers of its stature made a beeline for Marine Drive, Sobha steered clear of that idea and has chosen a Kochi backwater location - Silver Sand Island - for its first project in the city, and its first waterfront project in the state. While Sobha City of Thrissur has a sizeable manmade lake, here at the heart-shaped Silver Sand Island, the water body is natural, and you would need to go through a short private bridge to get to the island. Sobha Isle occupies 5.78 acres of Silver Sand, but being a super luxury plus project, accommodates only 500 apartments.

That makes the design obviously high-rise, and the 5 blocks of Sobha Isle will shoot up 25+ floors into the sky when completed. Despite being right inside the city, space provided to each home has been generous.

Options range from 3-BHK, 3-BHK+Study+Utility, and 4-BHK+Utility homes. And spaces for each apartment ranges from 1842 sq ft to 3014 sq ft. Sobha Isle excels when it comes to the ease of rapid access to a host of schools, colleges, railway stations, bus stands, hospitals, malls, and multiplexes. While Vyttila Mobility Hub is just 300 metres from the project, the Ernakulam Junction Railway Station is less than 6 kms away.

In fact, within a 6 km radius of Sobha Isle, there are several premium schools, super-speciality hospitals, & malls with multiplexes. In true Sobha style, build quality promises to be the best spanning the entire project Structure, Foyer/Living/Dining, Bedroom, Toilets, Kitchen, Balconies/ Utilities, Utility Room, Joinery, Common Areas, Staircase, Lifts, Landscape, & Common Facilities. Homes at Sobha Isle will cost more than a crore, but comes with several luxury amenities. These include Multipurpose hall, Association Room, Table Tennis, Billiards Room, Card, Carrom & Chess Room, Gymnasium, Yoga / Aerobics, Hobby Room, Squash Court, Badminton Court, Swimming pool, Children's play area, Jogging track, Landscape, Designer landscaping, Rain Harvesting, Organic waste converter, STP - Sewage treatment plant, Water Treatment plant, Visitor Car parks, Driver's rest rooms, and Entrance Plaza with security kiosk.

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DLF Ultima, Gurgaon

Live Next to 1000 Acres of Reserved Open Space I

ndia’s largest listed developer, DLF, has launched its flagship project in DLF Gardencity, near Gurgaon. Titled DLF Ultima, the NCR headquartered developer is pulling out all stops to ensure that it lives up to its name. The Ultima campus itself is impressive at 22 acres. But what is more impressive is that it is part of the 600 acres stretch that is DLF Gardencity where world-class office and retail developments like DLF Galleria 91 and a world-class club are coming up. Gardencity is adjacent to four golf courses, a few international star hotels, hospitals, and premium schools. But the real greatness of DLF Ultima is even beyond the perimeters of Gardencity. Because, next to the Ultima campus is something natural that will never ever change - 1000 acres of reserved open space.

This luxury gated community has direct access to NH8 and is strategically located between Delhi, Manesar, & Gurgaon. DLF Ultima homes are generous, with options being 3 & 4-BHK, with most units having an attached study room too. Planned with two central greens and water bodies, the design is by the award-winning designer, Paul Friedberg. The internal greens alone amounts to 7.6 acres of beauty.

The design by Friedberg is such that the Ultima campus feels like a seamless extension with the 1000 acres of neighbouring greens.

DLF understands the lifestyle of its prospective buyers and has accommodated for 3 parking spaces for each 4-BHK and 2 parking spaces for each 3-BHK. The views offered by DLF Ultima being spectacular, the design by renowned architectural house Arcop offers large veranda type balconies measuring 25 feet by 8 feet. DLF is offering the project fully air-conditioned and with fully-fitted modular kitchen and appliances. DLF’s ambition with Ultima has been to offer living and recreational standards comparable with the finest resorts in the world. At the same time, DLF understands the security requirements of its elite clientele and is offering CCTV for all common areas together with a multi-level security system.

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Brigade Lakefront, Bangalore

Walk Along Your Own Lakefront

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B

angalore realty is back in action and buzzing, but one factor that has never contributed to the buzz in Bangalore is proximity to water bodies.

Though there are water bodies in Bangalore, the city’s landlocked status makes it certain that it is no Mumbai, Chennai, or even Kochi in that regard.

Now, city headquartered Brigade Group is trying to address this one drawback.

Brigade Lakefront, launched at Whitefield, goes even one step ahead, in fact.

The master-plan of this 20-acre campus where this just launched project is coming up ensures that its residents can go for long and serene walks alongside a freshwater lake, as though the lake is one’s own. But don’t think this kind of tranquil locale compromises accessibility. Being at the EPIP area of Whitefield, everything you would want in life - schools, colleges, hospitals, shopping hubs, and IT parks are readily accessible, with many of them within walking distance.

Brigade Lakefront offers ample options for every homebuyer’s need in its 2, 3 &

4-BHK luxury apartments. The design is that of a medium high-rise spanning ground plus 14 levels. Space for an apartment ranges from 1334 sq ft to 3357 sq ft. Brigade has packed in quite a punch into Lakefront, with stunning features like a 30,000 sq ft Club House with all world-class amenities, and a Rooftop Swimming Pool. Sports amenities include tennis and basketball courts.

Even while its luxury remains such, Brigade has priced Lakefront quite sensibly, starting at Rs. 83 lakh onward inclusive of car park.

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Lodha - The Park, Mumbai

Can You Imagine Your Own 7-Acre Park in Mumbai?

M

umbai based Lodha Group has a claim that it is India’s No. 1 developer. Whether anyone else headquartered in NCR contests it or not, one thing is sure, with each new launch, Lodha is upping the bar of excellence to be at par with the world’s finest in luxury. The Park, their latest project is no exception, and beats every pre-conceived idea about Mumbai’s finest luxury projects. While everyone else is competing on constructed luxury, Lodha is trying to trump everyone else with something unimaginably expensive in Mumbai - natural luxury.

The Park is literally what it claims to be - a green park right inside the city. The span is unbelievable at 17 acres for the project, with 7 acres left exclusively for the park. The location is even more implausible - in the centre of Worli. For Mumbaikars, the location is known as the starting point of Mumbai’s Golden Mile, where The Park’s neighbours are some of the city’s finest hotels, luxury malls, and entertainment hubs. Access to any of Mumbai’s suburbs and the airport is easy, thanks to the nearby Worli-Bandra Sea Link. The 7 acre park is no marketing gimmick, with plans for over 1000 trees of different species, a butterfly garden, canals teeming with colourful fish and serene waterfalls, differently themed gardens, a fruit orchard, shaded walkways and avenues, pavilions for the elderly, and world-class health and fitness facilities.

The Park offers world-class valet and concierge services thanks to its service provider, Club Concierge, a world-class name in this field. Master-planned and landscaped by international architects, the towers planned in The Park also offers stunning views of the campus as well as of reputed neighbours like Mahalaxmi Racecourse and Arabian Sea. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the brand ambassador for the project.

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By Pr of. JJanaki anaki Nair Pro Nair,, JNU

Coun ie w ountter V Vie iew

A Word About Smart Cities

The “smart” phone moment passed me by, since I was determined to maintain my edge over a mere inanimate object. But the new and eager call for “smart” cities is too intriguing to let pass without reflection and comment. he call to “smarten” Indian cities has gone beyond the tired old promises of clearing garbage, building more housing for the poor, providing drinking water, guaranteeing electricity supply and better roads. Instead, it sets its goals high - placing hope entirely on creating a new urban space consisting of hot spots, continuous and seamless wifi access, sensors which alert you about impending traffic jams or tell you how to curtail water wastage and bring every household onto a smart e-grid. It hopes to leverage and mobilise technology to improve energy consumption and waste

management, clear congestion, allocate scarce resources wisely, provide Internet connectivity and infrastructure to enable ease of access and movement.

Sometimes, a few other desirables have been thrown in such as healthcare and good governance.

This technobabble about our collective future is not very different from the dreams which other technologies once generated. In the 1960s, when we were young and stupidly enamoured of what electricity could achieve, the most popular room at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in Bangalore was the Room of the Future, whose door would open with a mere “hello.” Appropriate lights and music would turn on as you entered and settled down. That Ideal Home, in what was then a Non Fan Station (Army classification for cool cities like Bangalore), was a dreamlike space, but no one seriously believed they would be part of anybody’s real experience.

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But that was before the remote control was even dreamed of. As Bangalore moved away from its exalted Non Fan status, new dreams were spun out of the marvels of city planning and management represented by Singapore.

At the end of the last millennium, the Karnataka Chief Minister even pragmatically promised “strips of Singapore” — despairing at the hurdles in India posed by democracy. Meanwhile, IT giants who made Bangalore their home spoke of building “a home where no buffaloes roam” a la Santa Clara, California, with Narayana Murthy, the CEO of Infosys, as the Mayor.

Though we don’t have a “smart” city yet in India, a 100 of them have been provided for in the latest budget, following the model of Gujarat’s Dholera.

Gujarat’s Dholera, which is stoutly being resisted by — you guessed right — those who will be dispossessed of their lands, will see many real estate companies occupying the Internet with their offers of “smartness.” The enchantment with “smart” cities, which began with the previous Finance Minister, was significant enough to be made a part of the 12th Five Year Plan.

Needless to say, such ambitious technological visions involve huge finances, and once more, predictably, the mere thought of the quick millions to be made in building these dreams is leading many companies, not to say governments such as that of Singapore, to salivate.

Is the “smart” city, the “one size fits all” solution to the myriad problems that plague the cities and towns of this

subcontinent? One quickly realises that it is not; rather, the “smart city” will evade the intolerable strains on public and private life posed by the ungovernable Indian city. In order to do this, “smart” cities will design a new future for their inhabitants: “greenfield” sites will be made to ensure the homogeneity of its population. It is a scaling up of the “gated community” concept to the city level.

The dream of the “smart city” is a morally and socially indefensible one in a deeply segmented and hierarchical society like ours, in which the quest for meeting the basic needs of its citizens, even decades after independence, has been all but abandoned. The pursuit of smartness is merely another name for a technological escape from our bewildering and taxing social milieu.

Meanwhile, emboldened no doubt by the success of many privately built gated communities, the Sanathana Dharama Parirakshana Trust from Sringeri has taken the pursuit of smartness to new heights. On offer at a site about 40 kilometres from Bangalore is the first exclusively Brahmin community township, a vedic village no less, with a temple complex, a Veda Pathasala, Goshala, alternative medicine centre, etc. Houses curving around the auspicious symbol of ‘Om’ will ensure its inhabitants protection from the rough and tumble of Indian democracy.

That such a space has even been imagined and advertised, (and by the claims of the advertisement “sold out”) in a nation which has, over the last century, been acutely and shamefully short on just and humane urban visions, is a defiance of democracy, and a mockery of the market’s “invisible hand.” It not only lays bare the bankruptcy of our collective urban imaginations, it reinvents the spatial brutalities of caste.

(Janaki Nair is professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU. Credit: The Hindu)

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SOCIE TY OCIET

By Navin B Chawla, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India

For the Love of God We need to take a leaf out of the book of Mother Teresa’s continuing work to better understand why we are still so shamefully placed on the Human Development Index. usum was a child of about six when I first saw her in one of Mother Teresa’s ashrams, very close to where I live. Two things struck me at once. The first was that she was crippled and the second was her lovely smile. In those days, I went quite often to that Home, and little Kusum was always there to greet me. I soon learned that she would never be able to stand on her feet because of her many disabilities, and so the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity would wait on her hand and foot. They fed her, bathed her, dressed her in new clothes every morning, and carried her to the toilet every time she needed to go. They changed her clothes each time she inadvertently soiled them.

Painstakingly, she learned to say “Hello” to me when I came by and one day I was delighted to hear her add “uncle” to complete her little sentence. The Sisters had found Kusum somewhere between two busy roads where she was being forced to beg for alms.

On the afternoon that they found her, it was pouring with rain and the drenched child had a wracking cough.

They looked for a parent or a guardian.

They found none. They reported the matter to the local police. They needed to take her to a hospital for medical attention. After she stabilised, they brought her to their ashram, where she joined about 60 children who all suffered from mental or physical disabilities. More than one 70

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consciences in some way or the other, we seldom, if ever, do anything to help with our own hands.

orthopaedician to whom she was taken opined that her legs had broken either in an accident or perhaps deliberately. But when anyone asked her who had done this to her so that she could be made to beg, she would burst into tears. That was the only time she would cry. For the rest of the time, Kusum’s smile would invariably reach her eyes.

“Implementers like us hardly ever ‘adopt’ an area in the country to see if the schemes that look good on our files are being implemented on the ground” Kusum could well be the child whom we see from the comfort of our cars, when we stop at a traffic intersection.

We react with disgust (“Why doesn’t the government do something about these beggars?”) or a sense of guilt, as we either give the child some money or look in another direction, hoping the traffic light will change to enable us to speed away. But while we salve our

Little known to most of us, there is an intrepid band of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Sisters and Brothers who spread out each day into streets, slums and ghettos. They do so not just in our cities, but also in urban clusters in 136 countries. They rescue the homeless. They feed the hungry.

They treat the sick and leprosyaffected. They rescue abandoned children like Kusum from predatory streets and provide them lifelong care with the love they should have rightfully received from their real mothers — who cast them aside because the children were either challenged, deformed or illegitimate. The Sisters perform these daily miracles without expectation of reward or favour.

For the 23 years that I knew Mother Teresa, I witnessed the growth of her organisation till it had covered almost 600 orphanages, old age homes, leprosy and feeding stations, and schools and homes for the dying, in 123 countries.

However, I used to worry about what would happen to the Order that she had founded when she passed away. I had seen many Orders decline steeply after their charismatic founders died. In the course of writing her biography, I felt the need to ask her how an organisation that had grown exponentially during her lifetime could possibly survive without her at the helm. The first time

Arguably, we need to take a leaf out of the book of the Ramakrishna Mission, or of Baba Amte’s and Mother Teresa’s continuing work, to better understand why we are still, 67 years after our Independence, so shamefully placed on the Human Development Index. that I attempted to do so, she did not answer, but instead pointed a finger heavenwards. A few weeks later I tried again, but this time she just laughed my question away. It is very awkward for most of us to repeatedly discuss the death of a parent or elderly relative or a friend with the person directly. But as a biographer, I had to persist. On the third occasion, she finally gave me her answer. She told me that I had visited so many of her “homes” — in India, in Europe and the U.S. Her Sisters everywhere did the same kind of work, wore the same saris woven by exleprosy sufferers, lived and worked the same rigorous schedule; yet Mother Teresa was not everywhere. And then in a gentle dig, she asked why her organisation could not be as well organised as one in the government. She added a crucial caveat. As long as the Missionaries of Charity remained wedded to its special fourth vow — that of providing wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor — and did not end up serving the middle classes or the rich, “we will be all right,” she said.

Many friends have asked me how Mother Teresa’s organisation has fared over the years since her death in 1997.

My answer is based on the underlying spirit of the Sisters and Brothers of her Order whose abiding faith in God is their anchor. That is what propels these brave and always cheerful women and men to step out each day to scour the streets for those who have fallen by the wayside. For in the act of rescuing or caring, they are one with their God. Mother Teresa once explained this to me simply but meaningfully. “You can,

at best, look after a few loved ones in your family. I can look after everyone, because for me they are all God.” This also helped in explaining her answer to a rich lady who visited her and saw her cleaning the ulcers of a leprosy patient.

“I can never do this work for all the money in the world,” the lady said. “Nor can I,” answered Mother Teresa cheerfully.

“But I do it for my love of Him.”

being implemented on the ground — in whole or even in part.

Ending this on a less cheerful note, after 41 years of experience in the government, I have had to conclude that the world of bureaucrats and planners, of which I too was a part, remains divorced from the reality of our poor.

While we are still determining where to draw the poverty line, implementers like us hardly ever “adopt” an area in the country to see for ourselves if the schemes that look good on our files are

Five years ago, Kusum developed several complications related to her early deprivation. She died in a city hospital where the Sisters rushed her.

She had enjoyed just a dozen years of love and security. She was just 18 when she died.

Arguably, we need to take a leaf out of the book of the Ramakrishna Mission, or of Baba Amte’s and Mother Teresa’s continuing work, to better understand why we are still, 67 years after our Independence, so shamefully placed on the Human Development Index.

(Navin B. Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner, is the author of Mother Teresa: The Authorized Biography.

Credit: The Hindu) SEASONAL MAGAZINE

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OUTB OUND OUTBOUND

20 SAFE & BEAUTIFUL COUNTRIES FOR INDIANS TO TRAVEL Do you know which are the most peaceful countries in the world to travel to?

Outbound tourism is growing rapidly in India, and according to studies, two aspects Indian outbound tourists prefer are beauty and safety of the destinations. After all, Indians travely with their families and nobody wants to expose their kids to violent crimes or terrorism. Since 2007 each year, the Global Peace Index has been issued by the IEP (Institute for Economics and Peace) and is a

measurement of the peacefulness of countries based on external and internal measures. Although it seems like the world is becoming more cruel, according to the Global Peace Index there are 20 most peaceful countries in the world.

They also happen to be some of the most breathtakingly beautiful countries.

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Norway Many people do not expect Norway to appear in the list of the most peaceful countries in the world.

Perhaps, this is bec ause o eivik, ma beca off Ander Anderss Behring Br Breivik, masss mur der er oun tr d. Sur e, it w as an off the ccoun ountr tryy har hard.

Sure wa murder derer er,, who hit the pride o extr aor dinar t, but ac cor ding tto o the Global P eac e Inde aordinar dinaryy inciden incident, acc ording Peac eace Indexx traor Nor way is one o orld’s most peac eful ccoun oun trie Norw off the w world’s peace ountrie triess and friendly and sa e tto o liv e. Nor way is the ccoun oun tr st saffe plac place live Norw ountr tryy with the highe highest le levvel o off human de devvelopmen elopmentt in the globe globe,, plus, the go govvernmen ernmentt of O slo alw ays plac es peac ea or efr on Oslo alwa place att the ffor ore fron ontt o off the prioritie prioritiess o off peace tr the ccoun oun ountr tryy.

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Switzerland According to IEP, the Swiss maintain a well-functioning government and an open political culture. Illustrating the quality of government, Switzerland received the lowest score for political instability. It’s also among the world’s most peaceful countries that have low levels of violent crime. Although Switzerland is known for its neutrality in regional, international and global political issues, it maintains strong diplomatic relations with various countries around the world.

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Belgium According to the Global Peace Index, Belgium is one of the best and most peaceful places to live in Europe and on Earth. Situated in the heart of Europe, this small country holds a special place. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is home to the European Union and NATO. Belgium boasts medieval cities, beautiful town halls, majestic castles, and captivating natural beauty. Homicide and imprisonment rates are low in this country, even though Belgium did experience a crisis within its government over the 2008-2011 period.

Qatar

According to the Global Peace Index, Qatar is the most peaceful country in the Middle East and one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Violent incidents are very rare in this country and the crime rates are relatively low compared to other industrialized nations. Qatar is one of the most flexible and liberal countries in the Middle East where women have many rights, including working, driving and voting rights. The country is undergoing transformation under the National Vision 2030 to achieve a diversified, sustainable and advanced economy.

Czech Republic A relatively new country, the Czech Republic gained its independence from the Soviet Bloc in 1989 due to the Velvet Revolution and its subsequent split with Slovakia. After the division of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic has largely concentrated on building a strong capitalist economy and creating a stable climate for investment. In 2009, the Human Development Index (HDI) ranked the Czech Republic as a country of ‘Very High Human Development.’ Renowned mostly for its magnificent capital city Prague and breathtaking natural beauty, the Czech Republic draws tourists from all over the world.

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IRELAND With its rich historical sites, amazing green pastures and friendly people, it’s not surprising that Ireland is one of the most peaceful countries on Earth! Ireland is an overall fabulous country with a plethora of reasons for tourism! Its rich literary history, castle-topped hills, spectacular coastline and legendary hospitality make Ireland a wonderful place to visit any time of the year.

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Portugal You might be surprised to know that Portugal is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, but it’s true. The country has been a member of the EU for roughly 26 years and it forms a part of the European Monetary System and use the single European currency. Portugal is the world’s 43rd largest economy according to the World Bank and it has one of the highest GDP growth rates among the OECD countries. The country has the low crime rates, great standards of living and a stable government. Plus, fascinating sandy beaches, golden plains and impressive mountains, a millennial heritage and vibrant cities make Portugal one of the best places to live in.

Japan One of the most enchanting countries culturally, Japan has the third largest economy in the world. Since the World War II, Japan has been really peaceful, with little internal conflict and low crime. The country settles on an internal security force in order to maintain the peace. Japan is a peaceful as well as breathtakingly beautiful country worth visiting.

Bhutan According to the 2013 Global Peace Index (GPI), Bhutan is also among the 20 most peaceful countries on Earth. The point is, Bhutan has remained unchanged in international and domestic conflict in the last 6 years with a GPI score of 1.6 out of 5, 1 being really low. The report uses 22 indicators to measure internal peace, including number of police per 100,000 people, levels of perceived criminality, level of organized crime, and external peace indicators that include military expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product and nuclear and heavy weapons capabilities. I personally think Bhutanese people are peace loving and they are well cultured. Plus, Bhutan boasts plenty of spectacular attractions for everyone.

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Singapore As an active member of the international community and, overall, a small nation, Singapore can never take its right to exist and security for granted. Since achieving its independence in 1965 as a sovereign Republic, Singapore has always concentrated on being a great neighbor, through establishing social, peaceful, economic, cordial political relations with all countries.

The country has worked with the United Nations and its supporting agencies on a great variety of efforts.

It also participates in various global, unilateral and multilateral organizations to promote international cooperation, including WTO (World Trade Organization). Singapore is among the most peaceful countries in the world as well as one of the world’s wealthiest countries. The homicide and violent crime rates are lower than the criminal rates.

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Denmark

Denmark tops the list of the most peaceful countries on Earth since it’s really a safe place to live. Even while Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, was under occupation by the Nazis during the World War II, it still did not fight. The point is that people living in Denmark prefer to focus on economic matters, instead of involving themselves in various armed conflicts. Danish people are very friendly, open and helpful. Personally I have been to Copenhagen twice and I wish I lived in this country. I’m pretty sure that those who have been to Denmark at least once could say the same.

Australia Mauritius Australia is a beautiful and peaceful country that offers cultural diversity, spectacular beaches, loads of breathtaking natural beauty, wonderful fauna and friendly people with an amazing sense of humor. Although Australia is a large country, approximately the same size as the USA, it has a small population of about 20 million, so there’s a lot of uninhabited space worth visiting. Australia’s low crime rate, stable political system, high standards of health care and well-maintained roads make it a safe and comparatively easy country to live in or just to explore.

According to the GPI Report 2013, Mauritius is one of the most peaceful nations on Earth and it was also ranked the most peaceful country in Africa. The strong score of this island country in the GPI highlights the relative stability of the region and thus further promotes it as a trusted platform for wealth management services and estate planning.

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New Zealand

Each year since 2007, the Institute for Economics and Peace has ranked New Zealand as one of the most peaceful countries in the world. With a small percentage of its population in prison, limited military capability, strong relations with Australia and down-to-earth hospitality, New Zealand is a wonderful country to live in. This is a country of natural beauty, diverse scenery and quirky natives. Visitors from all over the world come to New Zealand to experience rugged landscape, breathtaking alpine glaciers, awesome beaches and fantastic geothermal and volcanic activity. The country is also renowned for its fine wines and there are a great number of grape varieties planted throughout New Zealand. So if you are a great wine lover, you should definitely visit New Zealand at least once in life.

Austria

Austria is a small landlocked South Central European country which gains a place on the list of the most peaceful countries in the world for its stance on international politics. Since World War I and the break-up of the AustroHungarian Empire and World War II, Austria has been content to embrace a life of peace and serenity. Many people claim that Austria is a great country to live in and I personally agree with them. After all, with its world-famous resorts in the breathtaking Alps, and magnificent cultural centers like Vienna, I think it’s not surprising to see Austria on this list.

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Canada Having one of the best standards of living in the world, Canada is also one of the most peaceful countries on Earth. It has a population of approximately 33 million people, yet it’s the second largest country in the world by area. With clean and safe cities, spectacular scenery and extremely friendly people, Canada is a wonderful and peaceful country to live in. The largest strike against the peace score of Canada is that it has a comparatively high military capability, though it currently is not involved in any conflict.

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Slovenia A beautiful European country, Slovenia is also among the most peaceful countries in the world. The country got its lowest marks in funding for the United Nations peacekeeping missions, number of police and security officers, level of perceived criminality in society, number of organized internal conflicts, violent protests, and number of internal and external wars fought. I agree with the Global Peace Index and believe that Slovenia deserves its place in the list of the most peaceful countries on Earth. Moreover, with its wonderful cities like Maribor and Ljubljana teeming with unique culture, Slovenia is a fantastic travel destination.

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Sweden One of the most beautiful Scandinavian countries, Sweden is located in the far north of Europe.

Although Sweden is one of the biggest weapon exporters in Europe, the country has a low level of robberies (only 9,000 a year) compared to the United States (about 350,000 a year)! According to the Global Peace Index, Sweden is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, in spite of the fact that it’s among the world’s top arms exporters. Besides, Sweden has not been to war and has not participated in any combats for the whole 2 centuries.

Iceland Iceland was also ranked as one of the most peaceful countries in the world, staying out of the main conflicts in the world. Iceland seldom or never hits the headlines and despite the collapse of the Icelandic banks several years ago, the country is remained as an amazing place of spectacular natural beauty. Tourists from all parts of the world come to Iceland to view its huge glaciers and raging volcanoes, as well as numerous unique natural and cultural attractions in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.

Finland Finland is considered one of the most peaceful and livable countries, which is not renowned for its combative nature. Finland is still a country that embraces mandatory civil and military service for young people, and the country’s only participation in fighting has been as a part of joint United Nations peacekeeping forces. When speaking about Finland, I want to say about its education. Finland places education at the heart of literally everything. Finland’s education system is ranked fifth best in the world.

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ECONOM Y ONOMY

Raghuram Rajan Cautions American Policy RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, who had predicted the 2008 financial meltdown in 2005 itself, has said that abrupt reversal of low interest rates globally could create substantial amounts of damage and that it should be done in a predictable and careful way. e was also worried that altering the price of capital for substantial period of time distorts investment decision and the nature of the economies.

"We're in the hole we are in. To reverse it by changing abruptly would create substantial amounts of damage. So I'm with (US Federal Reserve) officials in saying that as we get out of this, let's get out of this in a predictable and careful way, rather than in one go," he told Time magazine. He was asked whether quickly reversing low rates could backfire.

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Asked whether super easy money has led to misallocation of capital, he said his greater worry was that by altering the price of capital for a substantial period of time, "are we also, in a sense, distorting investment decisions and the nature of economy we will have. "Have we artificially kept the real rate of interest somehow below what should be the appropriate natural rate of interest today and created bad investment that is not the most appropriate for the economy?," he asked.

To a question whether long term low interest rate mean trouble, Rajan said his sense was that monetary policy can

do only so much and beyond a certain point it does more damage than good.

A number of years of generous central bank policies of various countries have convinced markets that they will continuously come to their rescue and will keep rates really low for long, and that has pushed asset prices beyond fundamentals and made markets much more vulnerable to adverse news, he said.

Asked about the lack of coordination in the global financial system led by the US, he said the US should recognise that actions of emerging economies to protect themselves over the long run have come back to affect the US. He said there was room for greater dialogue on how these policies should be conducted not just to be nice but because in the medium run it was in the US' own self interest. "If you are not careful about the volatility you create, others will have to respond, and everybody is worse off," he said.

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BANKING

Will PM’s Jan Dhan & Financial Inclusion Power Next Round of Growth for Banks?

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M just proved RBI wrong.

While Raghuram Rajan thought that one year was too short a period to provide bank accounts to 7.5 crore hitherto unbanked households, Modi not only proved that it is very much doable, but that it can be done in even 5 months, instead of one year. That is, not by next Independence Day, but by the next Republic Day itself.

Such was the reported enthusiasm among many sections of the people to get their own bank account without depositing a single paise. Around 1.5 crore such new accounts were created in a day, setting what is possibly a world record! Who cares if it was done by putting a shotgun to the PSU banking sector’s head?

If 1.5 crore accounts can be created on a single day, 7.5 crore such accounts within 5 months looks like a sitting duck target. In fact, nobody knows why RBI reportedly thought that it was undoable.

Because, in a way, the core of PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana - zero balance accounts for the poor - is nothing new. In fact, the previous UPA government added 6.09 crore such accounts in last fiscal.

Critics argue that it achieved nothing.

Possibly true too, as majority of such accounts are lying dormant. Maybe that is what Raghuram Rajan meant in his opinion - that banks may be able to open crores and crores of zerobalance accounts, but it may not contribute much to financial inclusion within a year.

PSU banks claim that they incur around Rs. 1000 for creating and maintaining each of such accounts. So, it is clear that who has been the loser in this exercise. Will Modi’s Jan Dhan Yojana be any different?

The Achilles heel of the earlier scheme was lack of transactions. With no

money to deposit, and credit impossible, the only possible transaction in such accounts was Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) or cash refund of subsidies.

mobile-banking enabled, and in this land where multiple mobile phones and dual-sim phones are the rage, that may make a difference in transactions.

But DBT ran into rough weather on various issues including Aadhar’s legitimacy and never really took off.

This time around, PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana is better prepared, as even if DBT remains a distant reality, it has provided for other transactions.

The new zero-balance account also offers free accident insurance cover of 1 lakh, and Rs. 30,000 of life insurance cover. Both have been big draws for making people scramble to have a Jan Dhan, but both are not going to increase transactions and compensate for the hit PSU banks and LIC are going to take.

The Jan Dhan account offers a RuPay ATM/Debit Card, and an account holder can theoretically put money in that account and use it to withdraw or buy stuff. How many of them will do that, however, is anybody’s guess.

The master-stroke of Jan Dhan, however, has been the overdraft facility for Rs. 5000 for each such account.

Some early reports suggest that NABARD is going to finance this scheme with a Rs. 1000 crore corpus.

Secondly, and this is more important, the Jan Dhan account will soon be

Though anyone can calculate that Rs. 5000 worth of overdraft each for 7.5 crore accounts is not possible with Rs. 1000 crore, PSU bankers are already taking the pain to explain that this overdraft facility is not automatic by any means, and credit-worthiness will be assessed before extending any credit, and not even that, even this overdraft will be in a staggered fashion - a first sanction of Rs. 2000 after six months of satisfactory transactions and credit-worthy behaviour, and then the full limit of Rs. 5000!

If Modi’s Jan Dhan Yojana too has to succeed, Direct Benefit Transfer regime for everything from kerosene to fertilizer has to be implemented. But what if, by a miracle, it does get implemented sooner rather than later?

That would be a real game-changer for not only the masses, but for PSU banks who are suffering now, for potential future glory.

So, the game is back to square one DBT. If Modi’s Jan Dhan Yojana too has to succeed, Direct Benefit Transfer regime for everything from kerosene to fertilizer has to be implemented.

But what if, by a miracle, it does get implemented sooner rather than later?

That would be a real game-changer for not only the masses, but for PSU banks who are suffering now, for potential future glory.

That is the power of PM’s Jan Dhan and the financial inclusion drive - it can either cripple or boost the banking sector, depending upon how associated projects like DBT gets implemented.

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SEASON’S DESTI NA

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ATIONS-KERALA is a monsoon of a different kind. Even while heavier-than-usual monsoons lash across select pockets like Kerala, raising the economy’s hopes, India’s tourism industry has been blessed with a downpour of events, awards, & tourists. True to the Indian spirit of ‘Aditi Devo Bhava’, the country comes first in warmth of its people and hospitality with the highest score of 94.44 / 100.

India’s efforts, backed by a massive annual overseas promotional spend seems to have delivered, with international tourist arrivals up significantly in the first half of this year. Tourism events are also on a huge upswing, from Assam to Goa, Delhi to Kerala, Gujarat to Orissa. Kerala which pioneered organized destination marketing in the country is however facing increased competition from emerging players.

Elsewhere in the country, many states are going that extra mile to win tourists on specific themes, with the most productive these days being the wildlife theme with sanctuaries like Ranthambore and Sariska in Rajasthan, The Jim Corbett in Uttaranchal, Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, & Panna in Madhya Pradesh, much in demand now. All in all, some estimates put the windfall for the country’s hospitality industry at around $1.5 billion this season. Though the infrastructure continues to be woefully inadequate, there are silver lines in the clouds like the ambitious airport modernisation program, slated to begin soon. Seasonal Magazine begins a new series on state-wide destinations, starting with some of the finest Kerala destinations.

It

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SEASON’S DESTINATIONS

ONCE UPON A FOREST

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Muthanga, Wayanad

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o marks for guessing Kerala’s most preferred destinations among international tourists – it is wellknown tourist spots like Kumarakom Lake and Varkala Beach. But try to guess Kerala’s most preferred destination among domestic tourists these days, and you will be hard pressed for an answer unless you yourself haven’t visited Kerala as a domestic tourist from say, Bangalore or Chennai. Enter Kerala by cruising down through the Mysore-Kozhikode National Highway No 212, and you will enter this destination – the one and only Wayanad.

And greeting you at the very Kerala border is Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary. Now, Muthanga brings different memories to different people.

For domestic tourists from Bangalore and Chennai – most of them groups of young couples working at new generation companies – Muthanga is their first taste of Wayanad, complete with forests, indigenous people (‘adivasis’), streams, elephants, wild boars, deer, tigers, and other wildlife. But for Keralites, Muthanga is an unfortunate memory, where police opened fire to evict ‘encroaching’ adivasis, some years back. Anyway, Muthanga is peaceful land now and is a major tourist attraction in Wayanad. The sanctuary is spread over an expansive 345 sq km forest land, and comes under the Indian Government’s Project Elephant.

This sanctuary is part of the protected Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, and is contiguous with Nagarhole National Park and Bandipur Tiger Reserve of Karnataka, and Mudumalai National Park of Tamilnadu. The main attraction of this Wayanad destination are the herds of wild elephants that roam freely. While other species like deer, monkeys, birds etc are frequently spotted, more aggressive ones like wild boars and tigers can also be seen occasionally. The rich flora in Muthanga comprises of trees and plants that belong to the moist deciduous semi evergreen forests. Scientific conservation is given high preference in these natural forests, complete with conserving the native lifestyle of the tribals. Rides on tamed elephants are arranged by the Forest Department. The nearest town is Sulthan Bathery of Wayanad District which is 16 kms away, while the nearest airport is Karipur International Airport, Kozhikode, which is 136 km away. The best time to visit Muthanga and Wayanad is between June and October when the monsoons nourishes and paints the forest the richest green you have ever seen.

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NO MAN’S LAND

SEASON’S DESTINATIONS

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magine a land where man has not dwelled till now. Yes, not even indigenous tribes. An ice empire like Antarctica was one such place – till exploration teams set base there. Another topography that makes dwelling tough for humans is the montane rainforests, which are high altitude rainforests. And what happens in a montane rainforest, when humans can’t invade? The rich flora and fauna thrive unhindered over the ages to create an invaluable region of unimaginable biodiversity. Kerala is home to such a paradise. Welcome to the one and only Silent Valley. Breathtakingly beautiful, disturbingly dangerous, and wonderfully virgin. This rainforest got its name from early British explorers & botanists, like Robert Wight, who in 1847 observed that the place was devoid of Cicadas, which contribute most to the nonstop noise in thick forests. Unlike popular tourist destinations in Kerala, Silent Valley is not for everyone. In fact, it is not a tourist destination in the classical sense – it is a mountainous rainforest which can’t be enjoyed fully without trekking. However, you can choose the extent of the trek – from a short 2 km downhill day trek to the sparkling ‘Kunti Puzha’ (River Kunti), to overnight treks, to treks that last 3 nights and 4 days with nights spent at camping spots deep in the forest! Because, there is so much to explore at Silent Valley that spreads over 22,121 acres, and over 80 km of trekking length. But don’t think this no man’s land is open for anyone and everyone – you have to get special prior permission from forest authorities, and, believe it or not, a forest guard cum guide will accompany each and every trekking group – whether it is a single day trek or multiple days trek. Because, Silent Valley is that precious; it is not just an uninhabited rainforest. It is a rare rainforest of national importance and international renown. Since 1983, it has been designated as Silent Valley National Park. One is not permitted to litter the place with plastic, disturb the animals & birds, or injure the plants & trees. This Noah’s Ark is home to numerous birds and animals, many of them endangered species.

The Park is home to over 138 bird species, of which 16 are endangered.

Numerous animals including tigers, leopards, & elephants, are found here, with endangered species like lion-tailed macaque and Nilgiri langur hogging more limelight. The Park is also garden to a delightful collection of over 100 butterflies and 400 moths. However, one species will alarm the trekkers – the almost unavoidable leeches. Silent Valley can be approached from two sides, with the popular route being Palakkad – Mannarkad – Mukkali – Sairandhri – Silent Valley. The Mukkali – Sairandhri segment is a 23 km stretch of steep winding roads. The destination of Sairandhri is the entry point of the Park, and walking is the only way to get around once inside the Park. Another interesting route to Silent Valley involves a heavy downhill trek of over 3 days - Bangitapal – Walakkad – Poochipara – Sairandhri. However, 3 days of walking with 3 overnight stays at Bangitapal, Walakkad, & Poochipara is not for everyone, and is generally taken by adventurous tourists approaching Silent Valley from Ooty. This will be a surprise to many, but from the “Queen of Nilgiris”, Bangitapal is only a 75 km drive away. In fact, Silent Valley forms the most precious core of the Nilgiri International Biosphere Reserve. The names ‘Kunti’ and ‘Sairandhri’ (Draupadi) shed light on this region’s religious significance; Hindus believe Pandavas had visited this place while in exile. For Keralites, Silent Valley has always been an environmental issue too, with proposals for hydroelectric projects coming up every now and then. The newly designated buffer zone around the Park will help in pre-empting such projects as well as unlawful activities like ganja cultivation and illicit brewing.

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Silent Valley, Palakkad

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SEASON’S DESTINATIONS

RIVER WILD

COLD MO Mattupetty-Munnar

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he has many moods, and what you see here is not her wildest.

Come the monsoon, and she can transform herself to a more voluptuous figure – plunging down multiple times the water that you now see in the main photo. She is the Athirappilly Falls, arguably Kerala’s finest waterfall. She contributes to the river ‘Chalakudi Puzha’; better put, she is Chalakudi Puzha. Athirapilli is not wild just for its unhindered drop from over 80 feet of untamed black rocks; its location is right inside a wilderness – the dense Sholayar forest ranges. The lure of this waterfall is that you can spend a whole day here, and still don’t feel like leaving. There are many things you can do here.

You can float around in the rock-laden pure medicinal waters, almost a safe kilometre before Athirapilly takes the plunge (caution needed). Or you can climb down a lengthy forest trail to be where the million litres of water hit the river down with deafening rumbles and spraying mist (adventure needed). Or you can swim through the river to stand between the plunging waters and the rock columns (madness needed). Or back up through the forest trail, you can even tread, wade, and swim through the river to perch right next to where Athirapilly takes the plunge (not at all advisable). In fact, lurking dangers has always been Athirapilly’s biggest drawback. Many have lost their lives here, despite serious warnings put up by the local authorities and police. However, for the less adventurous and for those who exercise sufficient caution, Athirapilly is a completely safe place even with kids. The water is cool and sparkling, and a few minutes of being in it invigorates one like nothing else can. The waterfall is best enjoyed in the monsoon season – with daytimes best suited for being in the water; and dusk suited for panoramic views of the larger picture. During scorching summers, water flow becomes less, but it remains surprisingly cool. Just 5 km from Athirappilli, there is another waterfall, Vazhachal, which is lesser in height but nevertheless competes in beauty.

Some areas of Vazhachal are cordoned off from visitors, as it has proved much more fatal to the foolishly adventurous. However, tourists can enjoy the full scene through the wire-nets here. Resorts and hotels are less in number at Athirapilly compared with many other destinations, while homestays have started to come up only recently. There are a couple of water theme parks, and a boating service, enroute to the destination.

Recently, a proposal by the Kerala Government to establish a 160 megawatt hydroelectric power project on the Athirappilly River has met with stiff resistance from environmentalists who fear destruction of the river, waterfall, and ecosystem. Athirappilli belongs to Thrissur District, and is 63 km away from the city. Nearest town is Chalakudy, 30 km away, while the nearest airport is Cochin International Airport.

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Athirapilly,Thrissur

OUNTAIN

E

very one of the 14 districts of Kerala is beautiful, but the Miss Kerala crown has always been on Idukki’s head. How can it be otherwise, with her every feature and curve enticing? Who can compete with Idukki landscapes like Munnar, Thekkady, Peermede, Vagamon, or Kuttikanam? Among these heaven-on-earth destinations, Thekkady used to be the favourite among tourists, but during the last ten years, Munnar has charmed more travellers than any other Idukki destination. Munnar has a town of the same name, but is used more commonly to denote a larger area – a destination of destinations. This greater Munnar includes Rajamalai, Anamudi Peak, Mattupetty, Devikulam, Echo Point, Top Station, Marayoor etc. Two wildlife parks - Eravikulam National Park at Rajamalai and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary - are also considered as part of the Munnar experience. Not all tourists who visit Munnar will visit each and every spot. Ironically, the most beautiful location in Munnar is often overlooked – the 5576 ft high Mattupetty, often called the Switzerland of Kerala, for its cool mountains, undulating green meadows, and lovely lake. Today, not everything is right with Munnar. Disturbed by mounting encroachments, Kerala Government has initiated an unprecedented demolition drive that brought down numerous resorts and hotels in different parts of Munnar.

However, in this respect too, Mattupetty has been largely undisturbed, thanks to the remoteness and virgin nature of the landscape. If you are planning to visit Mattupetty, don’t go without a few rolls of film or a few memory cards – the place is picture perfect. Literally meaning ‘cattle village’, Mattupetty has always been a haven for livestock, especially cows. Migrant labourers from neighbouring Tamilnadu used to rear cattle here, abundant with endless green meadows which meant everlasting fodder for the cows. Mattupetty first shot into the national and international limelight in 1963 when the Indian and Swiss Governments decided to jointly set up a world-class cattle breeding farm at Mattupetty. Christened ‘Indo Swiss Project Kerala’ (ISPK), this one-of-its-kind venture selected Mattupetty for two reasons – the unending meadows and the cool climate. Both were essential, as the Indo Swiss Project focused on crossbreeding with Swiss cows; they had to be at home here! The beauty of Mattupetty Village as well as the Indo Swiss Project, has been put to use in many movies, the most notable of which is the internationally acclaimed Malayalam awardwinner, ‘Chidambaram’, by G Aravindan. Mattupetty offers many activities for tourists. The village has high-altitude evergreen forests (Shola forests) surrounding, which offer the perfect space for trekking. Explorers will be pleasantly surprised by the many brooks and cascades here. Mattupetty also features a beautiful lake, which is in fact a reservoir created by the Mattupetty Dam. The lake is exquisitely beautiful, especially when its blue is set against the lush greens of the meadows and the dark greens of the forests. Boating is available at economic rates for exploring the 13 km long lake and nearby forests, which features many rare birds and animals. The Mattupetty Dam is a neat picnic spot, and offers nice views of the lake. Inquisitive travellers would be surprised by the presence of locomotive rails put to odd uses at the dam. Rails at Munnar? The nearest major railway station is at Ernakulam, 130 km away!

Intriguing, isn’t it? Unknown to many, Munnar – which was the summer resort of the British rulers - had railway service more than a century back. It used to run from Munnar to Top Station until 1924, when landslides caused by heavy rains and storms destroyed it. The Indo Swiss Project, started more than 4 decades back, has contributed immensely to the country’s and especially Kerala’s livestock breeds. Today it is renamed and part of a bigger organization, Kerala Livestock Development Board Ltd (KLDB). Though not an official tourist spot, and despite visits requiring prior permission, this unique farm that is home to numerous cows and over a hundred unique breeds, attracts tourists from all parts of the world.

Last year, Mattupetty again shot into the limelight when the Government started work on an ambitious project to promote a pet and farm tourism centre here..

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SEASON’S DESTINATIONS

WATER WORLD!

Kumarakom, Kottayam

When it comes to backwater tourism, Kerala is a natural choice even for international tourists. Fed by 38 rivers and linked by 1500 km of navigable canals, the state’s impressive backwater system of 34 lakes, many of them interconnected, is one of nature’s class acts. And when it comes to Kerala’s backwaters, one destination stands out – Kumarakom.

The reason is simple enough – Kumarakom occupies a prized location on the banks of Kerala’s largest natural lake, the ‘Vembanad Kayal’. Measuring an unbelievable 49,421 acres, Vembanad Lake borders three Kerala Districts – Ernakulam, Alappuzha, and Kottayam. Of these, the cluster of little islands that make up Kumarakom belongs to Kottayam District. Many major rivers including Periyar, Pamba, Muvattupuzha, & Meenachil flow into the Vembanad Lake. The boat ride from Kumarakom into the expanses of Vembanad Lake is awe-inspiring, and nobody can be blamed for asking the inevitable question – is it a lake or a sea? However, water is only one of the elements that made Kumarakom a tropical paradise. There are other goodies that water brought along – mangrove forests, wetlands, migratory birds, paddy fields, coconut groves, and a teeming aquatic population. Kumarakom is structured around enchanting waterways and canals, where green weeds and white lilies make way for boats of all kind – canoes, country crafts, speedboats, and of course, the icon synonymous with Kumarakom – the houseboat or ‘kettuvallam’.

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The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, spanning 14 acres, is home to over 90 species of resident birds and over 50 species of migratory birds from as far away as Siberia. The lake and the surrounding wetlands support what is perhaps the largest waterfowl population in India, and a boat ride around the sanctuary will be enough to spot exotic birds like egrets, darters, herons, teals, cuckoos, wild ducks, and flocks of Siberian Stork.

One attraction for these birds – the thriving aquatic life – is also a major attraction for tourists who relish freshwater delicacies like Pearl Spotted Fish (‘Karimeen’), Scampi (‘Konchu’), & Shrimp (‘Chemmeen’). Mouth-watering Kumarakom dishes include grilled ones like ‘Konchu Pollichathu’ and ‘Karimeen Pollichathu’. When it comes to accommodation, there are enough options in Kumarakom by way of homestays, and resorts by both private and public operators. Recently, some major resorts in Kumarakom have come under the government scanner for encroaching land by reclaiming lakes, and might face strict action including demolition and confiscation. Though many relaxing activities can be undertaken in Kumarakom including fishing, angling, hiking, getting an ayurvedic massage etc, the real value of Kumarakom might be missed unless one goes for a long trip through the backwaters to other destinations like Kochi, Alappuzha, or Kollam. The longest of these trips is the Kumarakom-Alappuzha-Kollam trip, which on a typical houseboat will last 2 days and 1 night, costing around Rs. 12,000 for single and Rs. 15,000 for double accommodation. Or if you prefer something short and sweet, the island of ‘Pathiramanal’ (Sands of Midnight) is just 40 minutes away. Kumarakom is 16 km away from Kottayam City and 92 km from Kochi International Airport.

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DEEP BLUE SEA S

ome Kochiites might not agree with the title, ‘Deep Blue Sea’.

Because, what we see here is a view from Kochi’s famed Marine Drive, and the view is technically of Vembanad Lake. Kochi (earlier Cochin) is on the Arabian Sea coast, but the city is also witness to the confluence of Vembanad Lake and Arabian Sea. But when lake meets sea, what can demarcate between them? Kochi is the only city covered in this compilation of breathtaking Kerala destinations; all others are forests, valleys, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, & beaches. In fact, that is one of Kochi’s prime strengths – despite being a bustling city Kochi holds enough natural charms to rival any destination in Kerala. The geography is that unique. Kochi is made up of mainland, islands, backwaters, lagoons, seasides, and what not. Kochi can be rightly said as a destination of destinations. Beaches like Cherai & Fort Kochi; islands like Willingdon, Bolghatty, Vallarpadam, & Vypeen; mega infrastructures like Cochin Port Trust & Cochin Shipyard; and heritage locations like Mattancherry and Tripunithura Hill

Kochi, Ernakulam Dt. 98

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Palace, are all destinations unto themselves. Kochi City belongs to Ernakulam District, while the mainland portion of the city is often called Ernakulam Town. Kochi has a generous coastline of 48 km, and is virtually at the sea level.

The metropolitan limits of Kochi include a scattering of islands on the Vembanad Lake, ranging from tiny 250 acre islands to modest 1500 acre ones. Water bodies are the principal tourist attraction of Kochi, and the sea-lake confluence can be explored through various short and long trips in boats. Regular public ferry services are also available from the two ferry stations in the mainland Ernakulam Town.

Popular ferry trips from the main boat jetty include the 15-minute trip to Willingdon Island; the 20-minute trip to Fort Kochi; the half-hour trips to Mattancherry & Vypeen; and the 2-hour journey to Varapuzha. Longer travels connecting all these spots, as well as timed pleasure trips to the lake, the sea beyond, and back, are also available. There are also a wide variety of boats available – from small speedboats, to stately houseboats, to big commercial boats with food, dance, & music.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

Kuttanad, Alappuzha

M

ost Kerala destinations have to ‘work hard’ to keep themselves beautiful. The waves at Varkala have to continually splash against the sands, to keep the tourists coming. The river at Athirappilly has to continually jump down to depths to keep visitors amused. But there is one destination in Kerala that amazes all travellers by doing nothing – Kuttanad. She can take your breath away, leave you speechless, and remind you of eternity – all in one stroke, a glance of her.

She is the woman who wakes up beautiful. Endless green fields, sunbathed water bodies, swaying coconut palms, and a labyrinth of waterways, are only some of the scenes that makes ‘The Rice Bowl of Kerala’ a tropical paradise. All destinations can be explained, but Kuttanad can only be experienced. Or, how will you explain that 2,71,700 acres of land is water-logged here? Or, how will you explain that a majority of

this land is submerged under water for most of the year? Or, how will you explain that despite this, she is the most fertile land for the staples in Kerala? Quite difficult. But even more difficult to explain is the incomparable geographic dynamics of Kuttanad.

Believe it or not, around half of Kuttanad – around 1,23,500 acres – lie below the sea level! More precisely, 2.2 metre to 0.6 metre below sea level.

And sea is not far either; while only a narrow strip of land separates Kuttanad from Arabian Sea, Kuttanad is directly connected to Vembanad Lake which is connected to the sea!

Amazing, isn’t it? However, you have only scraped her surface until now.

Kuttanad is nourished by four major rivers – Pamba, Meenachil, Achankovil, & Manimala – and her vastness is crisscrossed by numerous canals and waterways. Many of the inland waterways will astonish the first-time visitor – they flow above the land level!

During monsoon, the rivers bring freshwater to the region; and during summer, sea water enters Kuttanad making the water brackish. And Kuttanad has a unique claim to fame – it is the only place on this whole earth where paddy is cultivated below sea level; and one among a few places in the world where any kind of farming is done below sea level! Now you should be beginning to appreciate the gumption of the people who call Kuttanad home, and who has toiled with land and water alike to survive.

They are the people who once completed a dam (Thanneermukkam Bund) all by themselves, when Government action was stalled due to lack of finance. To this day, this earthen segment of the dam is in action, preventing salt water from entering

the fields. Yes, the nearly 2 million people of Kuttanad and their unique lifestyle is something worth exploring for the discerning tourist. Where else will you find men in small boats shepherding a paddling of ducks?

Where else will you find women waiting at canal shores for country boats that bring grocery and vegetables? Where else will you find flocks of parrots feeding from paddy fields, and flocks of darters flying across water? Get ready to also explore shrimp farming and at least half a dozen fishing methods. There are numerous ways to explore Kuttanad. You can use the roads, you can use the waterways, or better still, a combination of these.

Don’t forget to stop at wayside or waterside eateries serving local delicacies like ‘Karimeen’ (pearl spotted fish) with Tapioca. The 2,71,700 acres of land that make up Kuttanad falls into three districts, Alleppey, Kottayam, & Pathanamthitta. Kuttanad is also broadly classified into Lower Kuttanad and Upper Kuttanad. While Lower Kuttanad is predominantly made up of areas in Alleppey & Kottayam, Upper Kuttanad consists of areas in Alleppey & Pathanamthitta. Many Kuttanad villages have become legends of their own in Kerala’s social, cultural, historical, tourist, literary, and religious existence.

Famous Lower Kuttanad villages include Kumarakom, Nedumudi, Kavalam etc, while Upper Kuttanad has celebrity villages like Niranom, Thakazhi, Parumala etc. During the recent decades, Kuttanad has been affected by environmental problems like water pollution, drinking water shortage, & lake encroachments. The most scenic views of Kuttanad are seen on the Alappuzha-Changanassery road that spans 31 km.

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Cliffhanger!

Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram 100 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

K

erala’s most popular beach has always been Kovalam.

But with popularity comes the unavoidable evils like destructive development, overcrowding, lack of privacy, and safety concerns. International tourists – mainly the Europeans - started asking around for a second beach in Thiruvananthapuram where they could safely unwind, and that is how they stumbled upon Varkala. But Varkala and its beaches have always been there – in fact it is a location of significant historical and religious importance in Kerala. Also, it was not just the remoteness or privacy of Varkala that started attracting tourists here. Varkala is a magnificent beach in its own right, even rated ahead of Kovalam by many tourists, for its sheer beauty. The beach sands are expansive, uncluttered, clean, and beautiful, providing for ample space to relax in privacy. The waves are of right height – enough to overwhelm you, but not aggressive enough to topple you. Adding to the experience that is Varkala is a unique range of laterite cliffs that shine amber during sunrise and sunset. The high cliffs are next to the beach, can be climbed, and offer breathtaking views of the waves and sands down. Most of the hotels and resorts in Varkala are atop these cliffs. The cliffs feature many natural spas and spouts.

Technically called Varkala Formation, these cliffs are unique and have been declared a national geological monument by Geological Survey of India, the nation’s apex geological body.

According to scientists, these cliffs have been formed by a longdrawn process termed tertiary sedimentation formation, and is a unique feature of Varkala compared with the rest of Kerala’s long coastline. The main beach of Varkala is the ‘Papanasam’ Beach which means ‘redemption of sins’ in Malayalam. Varkala’s religious importance in Hinduism is closely related to this concept – thousands of Hindus come here every year to wash away their sins in the waters here. Varkala also features an ancient temple – the Sree Janardhana Swamy Temple, which is believed by many to be 2000 years old. The ‘Sivagiri Mutt’, a sprawling monastery established by the great Hindu social reformer Sree Narayana Guru is at Varkala and attracts thousands of pilgrims every year. Catering to the needs of the foreign tourists, Varkala is fast becoming an ayurvedic hub with many health resorts offering massages and other inpatient treatments. One of the most cost-effective destinations in Kerala, this seaside town also offers many homestays. Other attractions near Varkala include Kappil, a unique destination where the roaring seas and placid backwaters come together. Varkala is 51 km south of Thiruvanathapuram City and 37 km north of Kollam City. While Varkala has a railway station of its own, the nearest airport is Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, 57 km away.

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MANAV RACHNA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

PhD on Tap and a Start-up Culture Manav Rachna International University (MRIU) is buzzing with activity. It recently publicized massively for nothing less than its doctorate programs in various streams, and for nothing less than 79 such research positions! The self-financing sector is really showing the conventional sector how to move ahead. What was once the realm of research scholars, and a handful of coveted research positions, has become virtually a PhD-on-Tap affair, thanks to private universities like MRIU. Some of its students are really going places, with an MRIU team recently selected for a coveted Microsoft competition finals for Office Apps.

r. OP Bhalla was a man who kept on searching throughout his life. Always searching for a bigger role for himself and his team, in this wide world. Originally a medical doctor, his quest for bigger and better opportunities led him first to real estate development, and then finally to self-financing higher education.

When he started out, lakhs of NCR students were literally fleeing their homes for South India, every year.

Today, Dr. OP Bhalla is no more. But like all great entrepreneurs, he has left behind an enterprise that has a robust life of its own - the Manav Rachna International University (MRIU).

In India’s great tradition of family-

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owned businesses, there are also enough leaders to carry on the flame at MRIU. Chief Patron Mrs. Satya Bhalla is not just Late Dr. Bhalla’s wife, but an experienced teacher and educationalist in her own might. Their son, Dr. Prashant Bhalla, currently the Chancellor at MRIU, is also highly experienced in the field, having completed 14 years of leadership at various Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) that together is home to 20,000 students at a time, across Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida, & Sonepat, from pre-nursery to doctoral level. Dr. Amit Bhalla, also from the family, brings in young energy to the group in his current capacity as Vice President.

However, like some of India’s largest and finest businesses, these edupreneurs too have left the dayto-day management of this educational enterprise to thoroughbred professionals. Vice Chancellor Dr. NC Wadhwa (IAS Retd.) and Pro Vice Chancellor Prof. Victor Gambhir personify this professional touch. Today thanks to this great team of family-led as well as professional team, Manav Rachna students have been scaling great heights in various competitions.

Manav Rachna College of Engineering students bagged the first, second and

Dr. Prashant Bhalla, Chancellor

Late Dr. OP Bhalla, Founder

application for an out-of-range alarm, medication reminder, ‘puff counter’ and panic button for asthma patients.

The students behind all these innovations are at Manav Rachna’s Dr OP Bhalla Incubation and Innovation Centre. Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI) boast of having filed for 34 patents so far.

Now, under Chancellor Dr. Prashant Bhalla’s guidance, MRIU is planning to have its own venture capital fund to support the start-ups on its campus.

Dr. Amit Bhalla, Vice President

third positions at the national round of Microsoft Imagine Cup recently.

They won in the innovation category with products such as Smart Skull, an automatic system to alert an accident victim’s relatives and emergency services; MovAid, perhaps the world’s first personalised solution to measure and monitor the recovery of an individual after orthopaedic trauma rehabilitation, surgery, injury or joint replacement; and Project Respiron which has a device and smartphone

“In the current environment, getting a job is a challenge. We are encouraging students to move towards entrepreneurship.

These and several other similar achievements by Manav Rachna students are significant because MRIU is no IIT and these students were not even NIT grade, as otherwise they wouldn’t have chosen the costly selffinancing option offered by institutions like Manav Rachna.

Though placements are today adequate at MRIU, if tomorrow the situation changes on the jobs front, the Bhallas are trying to create a Plan B at least for their smartest students.

“In the current environment, getting a job is a challenge. We are encouraging students to move towards entrepreneurship. Students have come up with innovative ideas which are being nurtured and mentored by the entrepreneurship cell,” says Prashant Bhalla, Chancellor of Manav Rachna International University.

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Assam Don Bosco University

SEIZE THE DAY, SUCCEED IN LIFE

Carpe Diem in Latin translates to Seize the Day, and is the unique motto of Assam Don Bosco University in India’s North East. In a terse two-word mantra, Vice-Chancellor Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Mavely, SDB, has captured for the institution, its teachers, and its learners, the essence of being proactive.

Life is - after all - only decades, years, months, weeks, and days. Life at Assam Don Bosco University is filled with eventful and productive days that any student or faculty can seize to live life to its fullest potential.

ife has been at a hectic pace for Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Mavely and his team at Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) for the last four months. Starting in early May and extending till mid August was the admission season, with its call-forapplications, tests, and interviews. With this private university running numerous courses including BTech, MTech, MCA, MSW, and various MSc/ MA programs in topics ranging from physics to education to mass communication, life was indeed hectic for the whole team.

sponsor, and over 170 delegates came in from 10 universities in North East.

The team from Assam Institute of Management bagged the first prize for best presentation, while the runner-up was the team from Gauhati University.

Fifty six ADBU students also got opportunity to present their papers at the conference, which saw eminent personalities from academics and industry like Dr Joshua Thomas, Deputy Director of ICSSR & NERC; Prof. Nayan Baruah, HoD of Commerce, Gauhati University; Prof. Aparajeeta Borkakoty

The first classes commenced several weeks back, and even the last classes to start began by mid August. But if anyone thought it is finally time for Fr. Stephen Mavely and the top leadership team at ADBU to relax a bit, nothing could be more wrong.

They were already plotting for a mega event, and it happened on 22nd-to23rd August. ADBU married two difficult concepts - entrepreneurship and its trends in its home turf of North East - to create a two-day brainstorming session. Dr. Stephen set the tone when he categorically stated during the conference that “…entrepreneurship is the in thing to do in the University.”

The conference could attract Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi, as the chief 104 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Mavely, Vice-Chancellor

of Gauhati University; Dr. Manoranjan Kalita of ADBU’s Engineering School; and several others participating with their great ideas on how to further entrepreneurship in North East.

Earlier, the Independence Day celebration at ADBU was also noted for its uniqueness when everyone signed in Rabindranath Tagore’s prayer for the country “Into that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake.” Fr. Mavely stunned everyone when he exhorted ADBU’s smartest and brightest students to take up politics as their vocation to bring about ethical governance in this country.

Just a day before Independence, on August 14th, it was another impressive event, even if it was only for the insiders. Six research scholars, together with their respective guides, presented their PhD registration synopses, which were stunning for their depth and diversity. Studies presented during the occasion included projects in cuttingedge areas like biotechnology for cancer cure, semiconducting nano materials, and Noel molecular hybrids of biological importance, besides three other projects on the humanities side with special relevance to North East.

Indeed, every day at ADBU is worth seizing for a successful life.

Over 120 research scholars are currently pursuing their doctoral studies in the university in about 20 odd fields.

Research climate is actively promoted in the University. Involvement in research and publications form an important part of the appraisal of staff at ADBU. Even the UGC Visiting Team commended the University on having a full-time Director of Research.

Though ADBU has almost all core departments and in-demand courses, its flagship is the undergraduate engineering program with almost half of the on-campus students pursuing their BTech. Placements have been good with around 80% of students getting placed.

ADBU is also unique in that its offcampus or distance learning division Don Bosco Global - is larger in student strength than its on-campus wing, and attracts students from the world over.

While there are around 2000 students on campus, another 6000 pursue the online courses.

ADBU is promoted by Salesians, started by St. Don Bosco, and which is today the second-largest men’s Catholic congregation in the world.

Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) is arguably one of the most experienced higher education promoters in the world, running 15 universities worldwide. Assam Don Bosco University is their 16th global university and the first in the English-speaking world. All other Salesian universities are in the Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries, especially in South America.

Thanks to the support from the global Salesian organization in bearing the capital costs of this university, ADBU can afford to charge relatively reasonable fees when compared to other private universities.

Admissions are based solely on merit, at ADBU. Not only that, ADBU ensures that the whole process of admission is 100% transparent. There are no management quotas, no capitation fees, and no agents to canvass

admissions. ADBU follows the nationally recognized entrance tests, as well as state level tests, and their own entrance exams.

ADBU is also noted for launching many innovative courses. For instance, while usual philosophy courses are just about philosophers and their philosophies, ADBU is offering a course which is about philosophizing or doing philosophy. In simpler terms, it is about how philosophy can be used to explain the community around us, its problems, and how philosophy can help one to cope up with the challenges of life.

Another innovative course has been in the media space, on Convergent Media and Technologies. Increasingly, there is a seamless convergence of media where print, radio, television, journalism and internet are no more separate areas or entities. Today's media personnel are expected to be savvy in every facet of the media world. ADBU’s new course is designed to help develop such multi-faceted professionals.

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SASTRA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS GET RECRUITED BY MICROSOFT, AMAZON, & PAYPAL It has been yet another blockbuster season for Thanjavur based SASTRA University in placements, and admissions. Sastra saw companies like Amazon, PayPal, Microsoft, Zoho, Freshdesk, MuSigma and Bosch recruiting students before bulk recruitment season. nlike its peers SRM and VIT, SASTRA runs no entrance test of its own, but bases its admission on a combination of the benchmark JEE-Main exam and plustwo marks, which is a very transparent process. SASTRA also doesn’t believe in university rankings by various media organizations.

Meanwhile, many of SASTRA’s faculty too have been proving their mettle on the international stage. Recently, Dr. Srinivasan Vedantham, Professor in SASTRA's School of Chemical & Biotechnology bagged the prestigious 2014 BASF Newtrition Asia Research Grant. This research grant is awarded by global chemical major BASF. BASF's Scientific Advisory Committee comprised of scientists from academia, government & industry. The awards committee selected Dr. Srinivasan's proposal for a 25000 Euros grant, together with three proposals from Chinese universities and one from an Indonesian university.

SASTRA’s philanthropic face again came out in the open with the media coverage about the Kumbakonam verdict that saw 94 students die in a school blaze in 2004. SASTRA had 106 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

financed the entire studies of Madhumita, a survivor, from Class 6 to her MSc and BEd. Growth has been so far so good at SASTRA. If you want a typical engineering college that turned into a university overnight, look no further than Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology, & Research Academy (SASTRA) University that started its life simply as Shanmugha College of Engineering in 1984.

However, it goes to the credit of SASTRA University that they have taken this elevated status seriously.

SASTRA has always tried to be a quality institution, even though the framework for a self-financing university - whether it is private or deemed - doesn’t foster a singular focus on quality.

How far has it succeeded in its quality pursuit may be open for debate. But certain quality aspects stand out.

But so has been the majority of selffinancing universities in this country, almost all of them starting their life as self-financing engineering colleges.

But there has been certain differences too for SASTRA compared with the typical private universities.

Firstly, unlike peers VIT, SRM, or Lovely, this Thanjavur based university has not grown its admission intake mindlessly. Even now, SASTRA is home to only around 10,000 students indicating that it is not a moneymaking enterprise alone.

For one, it is technically not a private university but a deemed-to-be university, which is a slightly elevated standing in some regards, as the status is accorded by the Central Government rather than any state government.

The staff ratio is also appreciable at 700 staff, in comparison with the prevailing ratio at many private universities. The infrastructure is also commendable at 30 lakh sq ft of builtup space.

But so has been state-level competitors like VIT University and SRM University, and this status is really a side-effect of Tamilnadu State not allowing private universities on its own.

Another aspect that should require special mention is SASTRA’s unique focus as well as achievements in the field of research. SASTRA has been recognized as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO) by the Department of Scientific

Prof. R. Sethuraman

and Industrial Research, Govt. of India, enabling SASTRA to undertake research for various agencies like AYUSH, CMRI, CSIR, DBT, DRDL, DRDO, DST, ICMR, ISRO, etc.

But it is another matter that among academic research rankings based on citations, SASTRA is yet to achieve a landmark ranking, which some SASTRA scholars are attributing to a flawed metric.

The University’s patronage for the mathematical genius Ramanujan through various awards, conferences, and institutions that further research in mathematics is noted even abroad.

SASTRA also follows one of the most transparent and fair admission procedures among all self-financing universities. For instance, in their core BTech course, around 70% seats are filled on the basis of JEE-Main

rankings. Which is, fair enough and transparent enough. Industry too is taking SASTRA seriously, with one example being the recently established Microsoft Technical Services Lab inside the SASTRA campus by the software major.

On the placements front, SASTRA is a reasonable success, with the likes of TCS favouring the institution’s candidates year after year.

That completes the circle for many students and parents, as what more could they ask for? Even if they can’t get to study computer science at an IIT, NIT, or even a government engineering college, they can study CS at SASTRA and even land a job with an IT major.

Undoubtedly SASTRA fulfils that value proposition that is the basic USP of a self-financed university.

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INTER VIE W INTERVIE VIEW

“CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND MSME FOCUS ARE UNIQUE STRENGTHS OF KVB” t has been more than 3 years since K Venkataraman took over as MD & CEO of Karur Vysya Bank. It has been in no way an easy 3 years. The entire banking industry in India was rattled during this period due to slow economic growth, high inflation, high interests, and the resultant surge in NPAs. Still, this ex-SBI professional could grow KVB’s topline by 2.28 times during this period. Net profit has grown by a maximum of 32% during this same period. No wonder then that Venkataraman has been re-appointed as MD & CEO for a further three years, that is until May 2017. The KVB stock, which has been historically one of India’s smartest wealth creators, has surged by nearly 80% during the year-to-date. KVB has concluded a successful QIP issue recently, which enables it to face higher credit growth in the future. K Venkataraman is cautiously confident of the future for KVB as well as Indian banking industry, with his main concern being the suppression of demand due to the current high-interest regime. He hopes that as and when Government’s strategies to fight food inflation succeeds, RBI will be in a position to cut rates, which will usher in growth once again. Seasonal Magazine in conversation with K Venkataraman, MD & CEO, Karur Vysya Bank: 108 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

Y our QIP had been an inst an Your instan antt cess. Wha omp ou ffor or it, is succ Whatt pr promp omptted yyou suc it ffor or shoring up yyour our ccapit apit al a apital ass per the ccomplianc omplianc e norms, or is it ompliance in or busine intt ended mainly ffor business s expansion? Wha t is the e What exxten entt o off dilution on equit equityy?

We were not in any emergency kind of situation to shore up our capital.

We took the sanction for this fundraising around an year back, and were looking out for an appropriate window of opportunity. But it didn’t arrive last year, and we withheld the QIP as the extent of dilution would have been higher then, and besides we were in no urgency. Even now, there was no urgency. But when the capital markets started turning around recently, we got this window of opportunity, and promptly went for it. KVB was one of the first banks to complete the QIP in this season, and we moved fast because we wanted to do it before the market gets overcrowded with offerings from peer banks due to the new Basel norms. Because, only a select segment of investors are looking out for QIPs in the BFSI sector. The equity dilution has also been limited, around 11%. We expect loan growth to pick up, going forward, and this QIP has enabled us to address it without going to the brim.

Wher e doe our ba As Where doess yyour batttle on NP NPA st and no w? Do yyou ou think the w or st stand now wor orst is behind KVB no w? now The NPA battle is an ongoing one, it never really gets over in a sense. But as far as KVB is concerned, most of the NPAs haven’t been deliberate or due to gross mismanagement by our customers. The depressed demand for their products, due to the peculiar economic environment prevailing in the country, upset the calculations of many of our SME clients, and while many of them tried to reduce the leverage by selling of their realty assets, that too didn’t work out fully due to a sluggish realty market. So, the NPA battle is an ongoing one at

K Venkataraman, MD & CEO, Karur Vysya Bank

KVB, like in most other banks. But having said that, I definitely think that the worst is behind KVB now. We expect that slippages during this year will be much lower than in last year.

If the w or st is behind KVB wor orst KVB,, wha whatt ding tto o yyou, ou, ha ac cor acc ording hass been the bank’s str engths in ba strengths batttling the bad loans pr oblem? problem?

We have basically followed a twopronged strategy that proved very successful. Firstly, ever since the first hints of assets getting weakened, we

had tightened up our appraisals and due diligence regarding sanctions and disbursals. Marketing teams were made fully independent of the appraisal teams. Secondly, we had strengthened our recovery mechanisms. Earlier, many of our branches were not fully equipped to handle recoveries. They would think that two or three months of nonrepayment would get sorted out eventually. But banking is never done that way. How can a stressed customer who can’t pay one month’s interest be expected to pay three

months dues? So, recovery processes are essential in banking, and that is also one front where we have improved much.

Ho w do yyou ou vie w the JJan an Dhan How view pr ogr am and the push ffor or financial progr ogram inclusion? Ho w is KVB par ticipa ting How participa ticipating in this initia tiv e? initiativ tive I think that this is a great initiative from the part of PM and the new government. Earlier, if we needed more deposits to be mobilized, the marketing was entirely up to us. But Jan Dhan has made a revolutionary change. The same kind of customers SEASONAL MAGAZINE 109

who had earlier declined to start accounts, are now queuing up to open their accounts, only because the Government has promised them some incentives like insurance, and also because the awareness has been created that subsidy payouts will be only through such accounts in the future. I think, as such, Jan Dhan is a brilliant move. There are some detractors in the banking industry itself, who argue about the cost of starting and maintaining Jan Dhan accounts, but I don’t think it is a big deal for the banks. Another view is that these will be very low-value accounts, but my counter is that many of them won’t remain that way. These customers too will come up in life as the nation grows and their children study and get employed, and besides that, as an Indian bank I think it is our duty to assist the economically disadvantaged. If such a customer who is regular with his deposit account and transactions, however small they might be, comes to us for a loan to maybe start a small business, we would be more inclined to sanction it. KVB is fully participating with Jan Dhan, and we have already achieved nearly 80 to 90% of some target set for us.

SBI ha hass rrec ecen ently educed ec en tly rreduc educ ed the ates and mor e bank more bankss ma mayy deposit rra be ffollo ollo wing tha out e. Ar e the Indian ollowing thatt rrout oute Are o so in est rra ates se intter ere sett tto sofften sooner than eexpec xpec xpectted?

KVB has, in fact, reduced the deposit rate by a similar percentage even before SBI did it. But we did that not in anticipation of the softening in RBI rates or the lending rates, but because there was very little that we could do with extra deposits. Credit still hasn’t picked up significantly. From RBI’s point of view, which is basically an inflation-fighting view, much more needs to be done on the fiscal side for RBI to start easing rates. But the flipside is that the high interest-regime works by suppressing demand, and that is not good for the economy as a whole in the long run. Even the NPA 110 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

problem can aggravate if the demand is suppressed for much longer.

Hopefully, I feel that the new Government is acting forcefully to contain food inflation by threatening drastic action against hoarders, and this as well as some fiscal measures initiated by the Government can limit food inflation, going forward. And once, food inflation is contained, RBI will get more room to cut rates, and I expect rates to soften from the fourth quarter onward.

Y our R eturn on A ood a Your Re Assse setts st stood att 2%. Ar e yyou ou planning ffor or an up0.92%.

Are 0.9 tick in this figur e in the shor t-t erm figure short-t t-term or in the longer tterm? erm?

Yes, definitely, we want our RoA to improve. If we could, we would like to achieve our historically best RoA like 1.25% to 1.35%. One reason why the RoA is depressed is that KVB now chases higher quality assets, in which the returns will be somewhat lower. We were forced to take this path, due to the NPA problem in the entire banking sector, due to the sluggish economy.

In such an environment, quality or safety of the assets become paramount, and as and when the

“ Earlier, if we

needed more deposits to be mobilized, the marketing was entirely up to us.

But Jan Dhan has made a revolutionary change.

”

economy improves and the NPA situation improves, we expect to achieve a higher RoA. Ho w ha our initia tiv es tto o How hass been yyour initiativ tive erna eA TMs, ne alterna ernatte channels lik like ATMs, nett push alt banking, and mobile banking ffaring? aring?

All these three alternate channels have been growing very rapidly at KVB. You may be surprised to know that KVB has the fourth largest ATM network among all private sector banks, that is, after the big-three of the industry. But having said that, we are not very bullish anymore on growing the ATM deployments any further. Because, the ATM delivery model is truly at crossroads now, after many years of rapid growth. Cost consciousness has kicked in, and if the free model is eventually replaced by a paid model, we think that ATM delivery will be more costlier for customers than coming to the branch itself. As

and not due to high-tech hacking.

FFrrom a mainly South ba sed bank, based is KVB planning ffor or a pan-India expansion in the ccoming oming yyear ear earss?

“ We are definitely

you know, there is a proposal to charge a fee for more than 3 transactions in other-bank ATMs and for more than 5 transactions in same-bank ATMs. So, we are closely watching the developments, like how the inter-bank fees will be charged, and like how newer models like white-label ATMs would evolve. But regarding the other two channels - net banking and mobile banking - we are very bullish. We are already sensing that our younger customers are eagerly embracing mobile banking, because they are wellversed with the technology, and they also know how to manage the risks.

In fact, all these alternate channels ATM, net, & mobile - are quite safe as long as the customer doesn’t reveal his password or PIN to anyone. The industry, however, needs to educate customers more on the fact that a bank will never ask a customer for his password or PIN. Online fraud in banking is happening in this way only,

expanding across India, but with some preferences.

We are biased towards expanding more in some regions like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, & Maharashtra, apart from our home state of Tamilnadu.

”

We are definitely expanding across India, but with some preferences. We are biased towards expanding more in some regions like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, & Maharashtra, apart from our home state of Tamilnadu. This is mainly because of the synergies that we find in comparison with our home state, like similar kind of MSME and midcorporate clients.

Wher e doe our NIM st and no w, Where doess yyour stand now e yyou ou ccon on fiden egaining are onfiden fidentt o off rregaining and ar lost spac e on this fr on t? space fron ont?

For the last fiscal, it was 2.64% and for the June quarter it was 2.73%. In fact, NIM has been improving for the past three quarters, sequentially. We are definitely confident of regaining lost space here, as and when the economy improves.

A c c or ding tto o yyou, ou, wha Ac ording whatt dif en tia om similar-siz ed difffer eren entia tiattes KVB fr from similar-sized peer ate a ell a peerss in the priv priva ass w well ass public sec ? secttor or?

Our main strength is that we have a unique tradition, being a 98 year old bank. We have competed with all kinds of banks, in our history, and grown wonderfully during each phase. This is primarily because of KVB’s longstanding tradition of high ethical standards in business, as well as our very good customer service. Even before our customers confide their problems with us, if we can sense it, we reach out to help so that their business cycle is run efficiently.

Because of this trait, customer loyalty is very high, with generations continuing to bank on KVB. We are not a corporate focused bank, but an MSME focused bank. In recent years we have also been growing our retail portfolio very rapidly.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE 111

In-F ocus In-Focus

CAN FIN HOMES GETS READY FOR ITS NEXT ORBIT Can Fin Homes which sprang up to a new life starting in FY’12 under Managing Director C Ilango, has grown its topline, profits, and stock price admirably, during the last three years. Now, Can Fin is planning for a Rs. 300 crore Rights Issue, and it may prove to be a golden opportunity for new investors as well as existing investors that include Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran, to participate in this growth story that leverages middleclass Indians’ unquenchable thirst for homes. t took 9 years for Can Fin Homes to double its topline of Rs. 113 crore in FY’2000, to reach Rs. 223 crore in FY’09. That was the first orbit of this Canara Bank sponsored Housing Finance Company (HFC).

Then, growth started picking up, though slowly.

Between FY’09 and FY’12, this Joint Sector NBFC grew its revenues by over 28%. Though it was still modest, this first up-tick was against the headwinds of the global economic

112 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

crisis that started off and reached a peak even in countries like India that was swept into this worldwide whirlwind. That was Can Fin Homes second growth orbit.

But the real magic started happening from Ilango’s second year in office.

Between, FY’12 and FY’14, Can Fin Homes would double its topline from Rs. 286 crore to Rs. 578 crore.

There was a management change that facilitated this orbit shift.

During April 2011, C Ilango was appointed as the Managing Director of Can Fin Homes. Within his first year itself, this senior banker who was t h e n a D e p u ty G e n e ra l Manager with Can Fin’s promoter Canara Bank, started delivering.

Something that took 9 years earlier started happening in 2 years. Can Fin Homes had entered its next orbit. And topline wasn’t the only thing that was growing under MD Ilango who is now also ranked as a General Manager with parent Canara Bank.

Profits surged by 73% from Rs. 44 crore to Rs. 76 crore within these two

years. And even that wasn’t everything.

Can Fin Homes stock that was languishing for long under sub-100 levels started moving up. During calendar years 2012-2013, the stock would smoothly double from Rs. 90 to Rs. 180. And even that was not all.

2014 would go down in the history of Can Fin Homes stock as the year of vertical uplift. On 7th of July 2014, within a little over six months into the current calendar year, Can Fin Homes stock would rise to a dizzying height of Rs. 487 from Rs. 180 - a 164% rise or 27% rise every month!

The Bangalore headquartered firm had entered an even higher and wider orbit, this time by way of a 164% higher market cap. What was the magic?

Of course, the steady growth in topline over Q3 & Q4 of last fiscal, & Q1 of this fiscal helped, as the revenues were

growing even on a sequential basis.

But the real thrust to the stock came not from earnings expansion during this period, but from P/E expansion.

In other words, the stock was re-rated by the market. The collective market wisdom finally woke up to the fact that here was a housing finance company that had woken up from its long

2014 would go down in the history of Can Fin Homes stock as the year of vertical uplift. On 7th of July 2014, within a little over six months into the current calendar year, Can Fin Homes stock would rise to a dizzying height of Rs. 487 from Rs. 180 - a 164% rise or 27% rise every month!

slumber, and was growing as rapidly, if not more, as its frontline peers like HDFC and LIC Housing Finance, and that it deserved to be traded at not half of LIC Housing’s P/E ratio but at par.

A strong re-rating cue came first during the March 2013 quarter when Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran bought a 1.49% stake in Can Fin Homes stock. Then in the next four successive quarters, Catamaran would keep on buying, steadily building up its stake in Can Fin Homes to 1.72% 1.82%, 2.20%, and 2.98% respectively.

Now, MD C Ilango is planning to take the company to the next logical orbit.

Can Fin which hasn’t enlarged its equity from a sweet-and-small Rs. 20.50 crore during the last 14 years, will go in for a Rights Issue to collect Rs. 300 crore to finance the company‘s significant expansion plans.

While the fact that it is a Rights and not a QIP or FPO signals management’s conviction to invest further in this company’s capital, any enlargement of equity will entail dilution, and Can Fin Homes stock may consolidate in the short term.

Though the specifics of the Rights Issue is yet to be decided, if Can Fin Homes continues with the same management vision of proactive growth, there is no doubt that the longer-term story for the stock would continue to be rosy. Many wellperforming companies’ stocks have bounced back swiftly from the impact of a Rights Issue, and needless to say, for the current shareholders of Can Fin Homes the opportunity to exercise their Rights will be very beneficial in the long-term.

C Ilango, MD

Managing Director C Ilango’s plan appears visionary - it will use the new capital to take on bigger players like HDFC and LIC Housing Finance as well as the home finance divisions of private and PSU banks, to take Can Fin Homes to its next growth orbit, that will feature higher demand than ever before for home loans from India’s burgeoning middleclass population.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE 113

In- F ocus Focus

LIC TAKES UP GREATER CHALLENGES, BUT WITH GREATER PRUDENCE LIC’s real challenge will be how it can match the aspirations of the Indian public which drive it by buying its policies, and the ambitions of the Government and its PSUs to make their own finances better.

SK Roy, Chairman 114 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

This knowledge prompts successive Central Governments to push LIC more and more, to up its contribution towards this nation’s economic growth. That is what makes LIC prop up NPA-laden PSU banks, and that is what makes LIC subscribe massively to subsidy-troubled PSU offerings like ONGC, and that is what makes LIC resurrect the stock markets when FIIs leave it high and dry.

he economic challenges facing the nation is not lost on anyone. Life Insurance Corporation of India being fully stateowned and being a monopoly in the public sector life insurance sector is huge in size, and that really being a contribution of the Indian public, there is no wonder that Government expects LIC to take up greater and greater challenges with each passing year.

It is also worth mentioning that many other public sector institutions can’t financially take up the kind of challenges LIC can easily undertake.

LIC is much larger than many realize.

SB Mainak, MD

For instance, the assets of LIC stands at over Rs. 17 lakh crore. That makes it comparable to State Bank of India’s asset base on a standalone basis, but a core difference is that while SBI’s assets are largely in corporate, agricultural, & retail loans, here at LIC, much of the assets are in equities, debentures, and bonds.

That makes LIC’s asset base poised to grow at a much faster clip in the future. That also makes LIC largely immune from the Non Performing Assets (NPA) or bad loans crisis plaguing PSU banks like SBI. According to LIC Chairman SK Roy himself, the real asset value of LIC is much higher than the official figure of Rs. 17 lakh crore, as apart from the marked-to-market (MTM) financial assets like stocks and bonds, most other tangible assets of LIC like its real estate, buildings etc are valued conservatively at just the book-value.

The life insurance behemoth, in fact, hasn’t faced a need to revalue itself so far, being an unlisted entity.

Anyway, the crucial question is from where did LIC of India create this massive asset base, and what makes it surge higher year after year?

Everyone knows the answer - Indian public - but this too needs detailing.

LIC’s first year premium income for 2013-14 has been Rs. 90,000 crore.

VK Sharma, MD

The latest example has been PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana, where LIC was asked to provide life cover of Rs. 30,000 for each hitherto un-banked individual joining the scheme, free-of-cost. But with Jan Dhan expected to enroll at least 7.5 crore citizens, it is no easy task for LIC. Even a minimum premium of Rs. 100 per person for Rs. 30,000 cover would entail an expense of Rs. 750 crore.

In earlier days, LIC would have reluctantly agreed to such a scheme.

But today, LIC has turned much more prudent, and while it is agreeable to provide life cover to all these 7.5 crore individuals at the least possible premium, it has reportedly expressed its inability to do it free-of-cost, and has requested the Government to compensate it to the extent of the actual premiums required.

LIC has also toughened its stance against corporate governance issues in private sector companies where it is invested in, as the Cairn-Vedanta loan episode shows. In LIC’s 58 years of existence, such episodes have been rare.

Usha Sangwan, MD Mind you, not the total premium collected, but just the first year premium. Money just flows into LIC coffers week after week, month after month, year after year. And it is all public money.

Not corporate money, not trust money, not society money, not even HNI money. Just real public money, of individuals, as only individuals harbour the fear of dying and its economic aftermath!

It recently celebrated its 58 t h Anniversary with a whole week of celebrations - Insurance Week - that saw new policies like Jeevan Shagun, and Jeevan Rakshak being launched.

LIC is also planning to re-launch ULIPs soon.

While that will take care of growth, LIC’s real challenge will be how it can match the aspirations of the Indian public which drive it by buying its policies, and the ambitions of the Government and its PSUs to make their own finances better.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE 115

RECORD-BREAKING KERALA TRAVEL MART 2014 CONCLUDES

T

he eighth edition of Kerala Travel Mart concluded recently, having broken a series of attendance records. The major event attracted 241 international buyers from 45 countries. The three-day event at the Samudrika Convention Centre, Willingdon Island, hosted a total of 861 domestic and 241 international buyers. These inbound attendees took part in a total of 30,000 appointments with local exhibitors, who showcased a range of Kerala tourism products.

In total, 45 countries were represented at the event. And while the UK, Germany, France, Malaysia and USA topped the list, newer markets like Singapore, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic and Brazil also sent buyers to this year.

A series of forums and seminars was also held at the Kerala Travel Mart. One of these saw Suman Billa, secretary of Kerala Tourism, 116 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

The eighth edition of Kerala Travel Mart concluded recently, having broken a series of attendance records.

The major event attracted 241 international buyers from 45 countries.

lead a seminar entitled ‘Kerala Tourism: Way Ahead’. This outlined the need to draft a road-map for the development of community-based tourism in the state, including the promotion of local artists, artisans and agricultural communities.

Other discussions also outlined the potential of the ‘Spice Route’ project, which is currently being developed across 31 countries. The Kerala Tourism booth on the main show floor also showcased the heritage sites that will be promoted along the Spice Route.

The Mart also focused on key sectors, such as weddings and wellness, as well as new industries such as cruise tourism, which hold strong growth potential in future.

And following the event, buyers were taken to explore the state on a series of fam trips.

The next Kerala Travel Mart will convene in 2016.

(Credit: Travel Daily - India)

Overwhelming Response to 'Trained in GermanY Mumbai 2014' here was overwhelming response to the first ever Indo-German Job Fair and Conference in Mumbai.

exclusive event titled “Trained in GermanY Mumbai 2014 following the success of the first such job fair held last year in Pune.

The first ever Indo-German Job Fair and Conference to be held in the city, at a five star hotel in South Mumbai, was a grant success with over 20 IndoGerman companies participating and over 500 pre-registered/selected visitors. Some of the participating companies were Deutsche Bank, Bosch, Siemens, Bayer Group India, SAP, Mercedes-Benz, LAPP, and Bajaj Allianz. The visitors which were preselected by the Alumniportal Deutschland & Make it in Germany, the hosts of this exclusive event, were mainly from the targeted STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine) background.

The criteria for visitors to attend this fair was that they either were professionals and alumni who have studied, worked, done research or training in Germany, especially from STEM backgrounds or who are interested in a career in German or international firms, either in Germany or India. This job fair aimed at connecting people having a “Germany” connection with German companies, emphasizing on an “e-connection” along with a personal connection as the event concluded on 9th October 2014 with a virtual job fair titled “Virtual Trained in GermanY 2014”

The Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC) organized on behalf of the ‘Make it in Germany’ initiative and the social media network ‘Alumniportal Deutschland’ this

The event was inaugurated by German Consul General, Michael Siebert; the Country Director of GIZ GmbH, Mr. Stefan Helming; and the Director General of IGC, Mr. Bernhard Steinruecke. This was followed by a

lively panel discussion presided by eminent speakers from BASF, Illies Engineering (India) Pvt Ltd, Batliboi Ltd, and moderated by Anne Wittenorg, Head of Strategy & Business Development, Directorate for Migration (GIZ GmbH). The topic of discussion was - Career Development in German Companies: The difference between career paths in big German Groups and German SMEs and Exchange of experience from the point of view of employers and employees. The participating companies were given the opportunity to do a brief company presentation and the Career Café section enabled visitors and companies to hold more in-depth interviews/talks.

The Visa Section of the German Consulate also participated by holding a Visa Enquiry session post lunch.

The Closing Ceremony was held in the presence of Sabine Olthof, Head of Alumniportal Deutschland; and Mr. Joern Rhode, German Consul General in Bangalore.

(L-R: Director General of IGC, Mr. Bernhard Steinruecke; German Consul General, Mr. Michael Siebert; Sabine Olthof, Country Director of GIZ GmbH; Mr. Stefan Helming, and Mr. Mahendru, DAAD Regional Director) SEASONAL MAGAZINE 117

Gadge Gadgett

Will Fashion World Accept Apple Watch?

Apple Inc's newly unveiled smartwatch split fashion arbiters who may prove pivotal to its broad acceptance. Unlike any other Apple product before, the Apple Watch has to fit in as a fashion accessory too, and not just as a tech gadget. any praised the "Apple Watch", priced from $349 when it debuts next year, for its clean aesthetic, but some influential fashion writers and editors said the watch had a masculine aura, which would limit its allure to parts of the style-conscious crowd. Others said the design, while pleasing, was less than revolutionary.

The gadget, which must be paired with an iPhone, is shaped like a traditional timepiece, with a small square display.

A dial on the side, reminiscent of the winding mechanism on a mechanical watch, can be spun or pushed to manipulate what is on the touch screen.

Apple will offer three different versions - sport, standard, and a luxury edition - with finishes including stainless steel and gold plated. The display can be customized to show the time in numbers or a facsimile of a watch with hands.

Wrist bands range from leather and stainless steel to sports models in hues from pink to blue. The Watch recognizes voice commands and carries sensors that can track activity such as steps and heart rate.

Roseanne Morrison, fashion director for The Doneger Group, an industry consultant, said the design fell short of her expectations.

"It's not pretty," she told Reuters. "It's very future techno as opposed to feminine sexy."

Many contacted by Reuters agreed that 118 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

the device was better looking than existing offerings from the likes of Samsung Electronics and LG, which are judged to be clunkier.

But rival tech giants like Google Inc and Intel Corp are increasingly competing with Apple in the emerging market for wearable devices. Based on tablet and PC adoption rates, Citigroup expects the smartwatch market to reach about $10 billion by 2018 versus an estimated $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion in 2014.

Eric Wilson, fashion news director for InStyle Magazine, said Apple also faces

competition from luxury watch-makers like Rolex. Swatch has said it's exploring a watch with intelligent digital features.

"The Apple Watch will be a status symbol to carry," he said. But the design is "generic in the sense of its flexibility and individualization." With the exception of the bright colors and gold trim, he added, it is "a very masculine watch."

Some fashionistas may prove reluctant to wear a smartwatch at all, said Sonny Vu, chief executive of Misfit Wearables, which makes an activity monitor that

can be worn as a broach, on a necklace, or on a wrist band. Some female consumers are concerned about tan lines, for instance, and many might own a watch that has sentimental value, he said.

Impending ATM Charges to Encourage Mobile Banking

But other fashion critics were effusive.

"It is immaculate in terms of how function meets design. The issue is really about how much people want to wear something so clearly, essentially an amazing gadget," said Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue.

The Watch is the closest the US company has come to selling a fashion accessory and marks its first foray into the personal luxury goods market, although its iPhones and other gadgets have long been seen as fashion symbols.

Wearable technology was the "topic of the moment" at New York Fashion Week. Many fashion editors were invited to the Apple product launch for the first time this year.

In recent years, Apple has hired Patrick Pruniaux, former vice president of Tag Heuer's global sales and retail; Angela Ahrendts, former chief executive of Burberry Inc; and former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve joined as vice president of special projects.

A first-time invitee to an Apple event, Marie Claire tech editor Jenna Blaha, said she was impressed with the Watch but would need to touch and feel the device before recommending it to readers.

At Tuesday's launch in Cupertino, California, Apple displayed a gallery of watches but onlookers had to be content with tightly controlled demonstrations by Apple employees.

Gwen Stefani, fashion designer and "No Doubt" singer, told Reuters even she wasn't allowed to play with these watches.

Many of the fashion experts agreed that the most compelling wearables haven't hit the market yet. Fashion editors were curious about an expected wearable accessory from fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff; a high-fashion smart bracelet from Intel; and a smart ring from Ringly.

he banking sector may see a shift towards cashless transactions, after the RBI allowed banks to charge for more than five ATM withdrawals from November. Reports claim that mobile transfers may replace ATMs. Reserve Bank of India's move to allow banks to charge for ATM withdrawals from November maybe bad news for consumers but could boost the nascent mobile banking business. Currently, a little over three crore customers are registered for mobile banking - with SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank leading the way.

Bankers like Aditya Puri say customers have so far enjoyed free ATMs services but there is no such thing as a free lunch anymore. The MD of HDFC Bank says, “There is a logic behind it and it is a fair logic. A normal customer does not use it more than 4-5 times and this has been verified by banks and RBI. If it is used more than five times, there is a cost to the banks. After all, the bank puts the ATMs and their costs will be charged costs. Each bank is

ready to make its own decision, each bank will charge what it feels right.

And you have the option to choose which bank to use.”

However, there is an opportunity in this as bankers say this move will push customers into doing more of cashless transactions in future.

Mohan Tanksale, CEO, Indian Bank says, “There was some incentive to go to ATMs and reduce cash transactions. Now move to POS, mobile transactions. I don't think for most people it makes much difference. If a person is required to go to branch, he incurs a cost. He has to give at least 10 minutes for doing transactions. He might not like to go to the bank frequently; he’d like to draw money in bulk. He's losing interest, he's getting on account. But considering all tradeoffs, he's not a loser at all.”

While there is a debate on whether banks should increase the interbank fees on ATM transactions, private sector banks are in favour of this hike while public sector banks are voting against it as most of their customers use other bank ATMs and any hike in interbank fees will mean higher cost.

SEASONAL MAGAZINE 119

Travel

Dubai Tourism Conducts Roadshows in 5 Indian Cities 17 member Dubai led delegation travelled to Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, aiming at consolidating Dubai's position as India's No.1 outbound destination. ubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), led a delegation of representatives from the Emirate’s tourism industry on a B2B roadshow of five key metro cities across India, with the aim of further increasing the number of visitors to Dubai from its second biggest source market. The roadshow came shortly after Dubai was named the number one international destination for Indian holidaymakers, in a poll by Hotels.com.

follow close on the heels of a recent announcement of multi entry visas for Indian travelers and the strong position that India occupies as one of the top source markets of travelers to the Emirate of Dubai. In the longer term, Indian visitors will continue to be a key strategic focus for Dubai, especially as the United Arab Emirates readies to stage the iconic World Expo 2020, marking the first time the mega event will be held in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region.

As part of a multi-pronged 2014 marketing strategy to further boost the overall number of Indian travellers to Dubai, the roadshow in New Delhi was held on the 15th of September which was followed by visits to the cities of Kolkata (16th September), Chennai (18th September), Bangalore (19th September) and Mumbai on the 20th of September. During the five city visit, the delegation led by Dubai Tourism interacted with over 1,300 Indian retail partners that included tour operators, travel agents, cruise specialists, wedding planners and MICE specialists.

Issam Kazim, CEO of the Dubai Corporation of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, commented: “India consecutively ranks as the second top

Dubai Tourism along with its coparticipants comprising leading hotel chains, resorts, and destination management companies, updated the retail trade with information on Dubai’s new tourism product offerings that can further enhance Indian visitor experiences. The multi-city workshops 120 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

source market globally for visitor traffic into Dubai. In 2013, the total number of Indian visitors totaled 888,835 representing a 16.34% increase over 2012 and the current first half 2014 figures indicate a healthy trend, with more than 490,000 Indian guests staying in our hotels between January and end June 2014. Our B2B workshops play a vital role in facilitating the overall number of inbound travelers into Dubai as it helps build a strong alliance between the Indian and Dubai private sector retail chain.”

Hoor Mohammad Noor Al Khaja, Head of Region at Dubai Tourism, said, “We are excited about conducting our multicity B2B roadshows in India. India is a very lucrative market and we are aware of the potential it holds in terms of inbound visitor traffic into Dubai. We are thus happy to be tapping this important market through our unique B2B workshop. Our delegation comprising of 17 organizations is

Issam Kazim, CEO, DTCM

supported by our co-sponsors such as Emirates Airlines, Sofitel The Palm, Dubai and Bonton Tours & Travels.”

Commenting on the upcoming Dubai India Roadshow 2014, Carl Vaz, Director - DTCM India said, “Our roadshow creates a platform of interaction for tour and travel operators, cruise and MICE specialists and even wedding planners from various parts of India to widen their product knowledge and thus enhance Indian traveler experience creating more first time and repeat travelers.

Our key market segments this year are leisure group series departures and the family segment in addition to niche segments comprising weddings / honeymoon, school groups, adventure / sport and luxury seekers and single women travellers who will be heading for the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) 2015. More-so with the recent announcement of multiple entry visas, we have opened a new avenue for travelers to take in regional cruise options.”

The 17 member Dubai delegation

“India consecutively ranks as the second top source market globally for visitor traffic into Dubai. In 2013, the total number of Indian visitors totaled 888,835 representing a 16.34% increase over 2012 and the current first half 2014 figures indicate a healthy trend, with more than 490,000 Indian guests staying in our hotels between January and end June 2014.” comprised hotels, resorts, hotel apartments, attractions and destination management companies.

The delegation at the roadshows included Emirates Airlines, Sofitel - The Palm, Bonton Tours & Travels, Atlantis - The Palm, Discovery Travel and Tourism, Joher Travels and Tourism, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, Lama Desert Tourism, North Tours, Ramada Plaza - Jumeirah Beach, Royal Arabian Tours, Royal Gulf Tourism LLC, Sea View Hotel / Royal Ascot Hotel, Travco Travel, Warwick Hotel Dubai, White Sands Tours & Travel & Yoko Tourism.

The program for the workshops included presentations by officials of Dubai Tourism, Emirates Airlines, Sofitel The Palm, Bonton Tours & Travels in addition to detailed networking sessions between the Dubai delegation and leaders of the Indian travel trade community.

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Singapore to Partner AP in Development

Andhra chief minister briefs a Singapore delegation about the plans for ports, airports, highways, industrial nodes

Competition Commission to Investigate CREDAI, Builders

The government of Singapore will work with the Andhra Pradesh government in infrastructure, industrial and city development efforts. A delegation led by former Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong met chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, recently and offered this support, according to an official press release.

The chief minister was stated to have informed the delegation about the plans of the state government for transforming AP into a logistics and manufacturing hub.

He also briefed about the state’s plan for ports, airports, highways, industrial nodes in Visakhapatnam-Chennai and the Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridors and petrochemical corridor besides development of smart cities and promotion of tourism in a big way.

The delegation offered to share Singapore’s experience in the design of the new capital city and assured that it would encourage Singapore-based companies to participate in various port, airport, industrial and tourism projects.

The Singapore delegation suggested to the chief minister that funds could be tapped from the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to be set up with China, Singapore and several other countries including India, as founder members.

The delegation also extended an invitation to Naidu to visit.

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Finally, COmpetition Commission of India has woken up to what many homebuyers already knew - that builders are conspiring with each other through CREDAI to artificially inflate prices in various cities.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India or CREDAI, the apex body for private real estate developers, came under the Competition Commission (CCI) scanner for entering into one-sided agreements with buyers and for allegedly colluding with builders to arm-twist buyers. In the same connection, CCI will pull up at least top 20 top real estate developers, questioning for which will begin next week onwards and the investigation is likely to be pan India.

CREDAI had sought buyer agreements from builders and had called to standardize buyer agreement. The competitive body is now probing if this code of conduct is anti-competitive. The CCI first received a complaint against NCR-based builders Tulip but is now investigating top builders like Unitech, Omaxe, Parsvnath, Oberoi Realty, Ansal API, K Raheja Corp, BPTP, and TDI, Speaking about the CCI observation, CREDAI chairman Lalit Kumar Jain told media that the private builders' body has not been charged with favouring any particular busines. "We are in the process of drafting our response to CCI observation, Jain said. He also spoke about the need to have one rule under which all real estate agreements can be made.

Can We Leave Banking to Bankers, Any More?

American banks started giving housing loans to low-income American households, a move welcomed by socially minded people. hat caused the credit crisis of the summer of 2008 when the world banking system almost collapsed, when storied banks like Morgan Stanley, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland and others had to be rescued by their governments, and which since then has trapped us all in a long period of stagnation that has come to be known as the Great Recession? Was it the work of avaricious, scheming, unprincipled bankers as many media commentators have made it out to be?

A new generation of scholars - this time, sociologists and anthropologists, who hitherto have been busy with researching social practices of primitive tribes and social structures like India's caste system - are starting to cast their eyes on the financial sector and the men and women and organisations that inhabit that world to find answers to such and related questions.

Before I describe their work, here is a 30-second primer on the 2008 financial crisis in case you missed it because you were at that time distracted by staple Indian news headlines about cricket match fixing, the antics of Bollywood stars or the many scandals unearthed by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Comptroller and Auditor General.

American banks started giving housing loans to low-income American households, a move welcomed by socially minded people, because everyone deserves to own a home; by intellectually oriented people, because the new financial instruments devised to do this lending were mathematical innovations; and by people in the financial services industry, as a new source of revenue and profits.

The lending banks took these loan papers (known in the financial trade as assetbacked securities or ABSs) and used them to get themselves re-financed (so that they could make more such housing loans). Investment banks then made

Ajit Balakrishnan bundles of these loan papers (called collateralised debt obligations or CDOs) and sold them to other banks worldwide.

To protect themselves from unpleasant surprises, the holders of these papers went to insurance companies and got themselves insured. Credit rating agencies, as is their duty, assigned credit ratings to these instruments.

All of this worked well so long as American property prices were on a continuous increase: the local banks made money on the interest they earned, the investment banks profited from the fees of selling these papers, insurance companies profited from the insurance premiums they received. But when property prices started declining, the households who borrowed to buy their home started defaulting on their loan payment installments - and the paperholding banks, seeing the decline in the value of their holdings, went to the insurance companies with their claims.

All of this happened so fast that, in the wink of an eye, practically all the players were left holding papers that they thought were worth billions of dollars but were essentially worthless. They were saved, as we have noted before, only by the kindness of their governments.

Again, was this the work of scheming, unprincipled investment bankers that led the world to this catastrophe? No, says, Donald MacKenzie of the University of Edinburgh. In an article in the American Journal of Sociology, titled "The Credit Crisis as a Problem in the Sociology of Knowledge", he says that the process of generating knowledge about the correct

value of these CDOs was what caused the catastrophe. The time-tested way to discover the value of a financial instrument or commodities is by continuous auctions, coordinated either by an exchange or by dealers who act as "market makers," and the wide dissemination of the resultant prices and, thus, generate "public knowledge". The CDO tranches discussed here were not, in general, traded in markets. Also, the banks, insurance companies and credit rating agencies, says Professor MacKenzie, were organised in silos: one part of the organisation had a clear view of the value of the ABS portion and another part of the CDO part, and practically no one had a view of the value of the whole ABS/CDO instrument. In other words, the way these institutions are organised internally as well as the division of labour across organisations in the financial services industry has become the focus of study and the study is being done by anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists.

Professor MacKenzie's own book, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets, describes how financial theories made the trading in derivatives a legitimate activity. Karen Ho, an anthropologist, went to work in an investment bank much as Margaret Mead in an earlier era did with aborigines and her book Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street is filled with the voices of stressed first-year associates, overworked and alienated analysts and how they get socialised into a world of high risk and high reward. Mark Blyth, a political economy professor, examines the current austerity policies in fashion in the United States and Europe in his book Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea and wonders whether such policies may lead to the rise of fascist forces as it did in the 1930s. In other words, finance, in the modern world, has become too important to be left to mere accountants, auditors and MBAs. SEASONAL MAGAZINE 123

LUXURY

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ LAUNCHES THEIR PRESIDENTIAL SUITE Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in Switzerland has recently launched their completed Presidential Suite which is quite the epitome of luxuriousness. The elegant, 300 square metre residence situated on the fifth floor of the Spa Suites building has two bedrooms, a spacious living room, a smokers’ lounge, a wine cabinet and a kitchen.

From four balconies, guests can enjoy the views of the vineyards of the Bündner Herrschaft and gaze out over the Rhine Valley.

High-profile interior designer Claudio Carbone has incorporated customised ceiling lights and standard

lamps made of Venetian Murano glass or decorated with Swarovski stones, marble floors with elaborate inlay work and rosewood furniture.

Upon request, the Presidential Suite can be extended into the Presidential Floor, which spans 600 square metres and has a total of six bedrooms, each with its own separate bathroom, living area and balcony. The new suite is available from CHF 5,500 to CHF 8,000 (around EUR 4,500 to EUR 6,600) per night and the Presidential Floor from CHF 12,000 to CHF 16,000 (around EUR 9,900 to EUR 13,200).

LOUIS VUITTON LAUNCHES TAMBOUR HEURES DU MONDE WATCH Aiding avid travelers, Louis Vuitton has launched the new Tambour Heures Du Monde, which reveals a face that is asymmetric and unusual. At first glance, an off-centre map of the world on the dial catches the eye with its light relief and satin engraving designed to highlight different continents. Surrounding it, the initials of 24 cities — corresponding to different time zones — are alternately written in yellow or white for enhanced legibility. Simply activate the push button located at 2 o’clock to position the little yellow mobile marker (which circles the map of the world) under the time zone whose time you would like to see displayed in the large window next to the date. Diurnal and nocturnal times are distinguished by the colour of their numbers: white for day and grey for night. The function is incredibly simple to use, even when you need to adjust its settings, as a discreet corrector is positioned at 4 o’clock which allows you to set the time in the zones (for example, when the clocks go forward or back). The elegant grey dial features a vertical satin finish. In addition, the reverse is just as beautiful as the front, because the transparent back of the 44-mm diameter steel instrument reveals an LV 101 automatic calibre whose oscillating weight bears the LV signature cut into the metal. Presented on a grey alligator bracelet featuring a black calfskin chape with yellow stitching and a saddle stitch finish, the case is watertight to 50 metres.

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PIAGET ADDS NEW CREATIONS TO ITS ROSE COLLECTION Rose, with its remarkable shape, beauty, fragility and scent, has always enchanted the creative mind of Yves Piaget. The ultimate tribute to this unconditional love, the winning species at the 1982 International Competition of New Roses, with its 80 petals and bewitching scent, is christened the “Yves Piaget Rose”. The company’s uncontested muse, the rose has stood through Piaget’s history through its creations, which are as sparkling and bold as they are subtle. The Piaget Rose collection, launched in 2012 for the 30th anniversary of the Yves Piaget Rose, has a third extension. Dedicated to feminine beauty, 14 new jewellery creations have been launched, each as delicate and magnificent as the other.

TAJ LANDS END, MUMBAI, HOSTS ‘CUISINE OF THE PALACES’ FOOD FESTIVAL Masala Bay at Taj Lands End, Mumbai, is presenting a feast fit for Maharajahs with the special ‘Cuisine of the Palaces’ promotion. Relive the culinary life and times of Indian royalty as you dig into gastronomical delights from royal households of India. Chef Saikat Nag and his team have revived some lineage recipes and cooking techniques – considered a distinct form of art by the Nawabs and Rajputs. The carefully tailored and exquisite menu includes hand-picked dishes from across the princely states of Hyderabad, Rajasthan and Awadh. The menu also includes some iconic dishes from the palace hotels of the Taj Group across the country ranging from Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, Taj Lake Palace Udaipur and Umaid Bhawan in Jodhpur. Choose from starters such as Makai ki Raab, Jheenga Dum Anari, Hare Channe ki Shammi and more. The main course menu includes classics like Machhi Jaismandi, Gosht Beli Ram, Mangodi Methi, Subz Nizami Handi, Pittod ki Sabzi, Hyderabadi Khatti dal, Kacche Gosht ki Biryani and Lucknowi Subz Dum Biryani among others.

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ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS OPENS SUMMER STUDIO IN PORTO CERVO, SARDINIA After the success of the Rolls-Royce Studio in Cannes on the Cote d’Azur last year, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars will welcome guests both to Cannes and a second ‘Summer Studio’ at the exclusive enclave of Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, Italy. This unique brand experience centre will offer guests an insight into the world of the iconic marque in a relaxed club atmosphere until 30 September. The Studio will showcase Wraith, Ghost, Phantom and Phantom Drophead Coupé, offering guests the opportunity either to learn about the cars through a static display in luxury surroundings redolent of Goodwood, or to drive them on the roads of Costa Smeralda.

Visitors will also be given the exclusive opportunity to see the Phantom Drophead Coupé ‘Waterspeed’ Collection car, of which only 35 exist. -

WESTIN INTRODUCES NEW GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS AND WELL-BEING COUNCIL MEMBER Westin Hotels & Resorts has unveiled the next stage of its year-long Westin Well-Being Movement with the announcement of two new nutritionfocused partnerships with SuperChefs and The Juicery and the newest member of the brand’s Well-Being Council, dietician Ashley Koff RD. Westin has teamed up with SuperChefs, a group of doctors, dentists, dieticians, chefs and other experts dedicated to educating kids on the importance and the fun of eating smart, to create The Westin Eat Well Menu for Kids. The extensive new

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menu, which has rolled out to properties worldwide, includes eight signature dishes created and tested by kids, receiving a stamp of approval from notoriously finicky eaters. A new, dedicated fresh juice and smoothie offering, Westin Fresh by The Juicery, is currently rolling out to hotels worldwide.

“As we continue to roll-out innovative wellness options for our guests as part of the Westin Well-Being Movement, we saw this as a perfect opportunity to introduce two new programs that are carefully customized to help guests continue their healthy eating habits while traveling,” said Brian Povinelli, Global Brand Leader for Westin & Le Méridien Hotels.

THE PENINSULA NEW YORK INTRODUCES PRE-NATAL SPA PACKAGE The Peninsula Spa at The Peninsula New York is offering pre-natal pampering with the help of Amy Tara Koch, style expert and author of “Bump It Up: Transforming Your Pregnancy into the Ultimate Style Statement”.

Designed for Manhattanites to celebrate a special time in their lives, and relax at the same time, the

Bump It Up Bliss Pre-natal Package features three 60-minute Maternity Massages, three 30-minute Pre-natal Personal Training sessions, cravingsbased snacks and a copy of Koch’s pregnancy style bible “Bump It Up”. It also includes a complimentary day use of the swimming pool, fitness centre and all yoga and core classes.

Priced at US$ 660, it sure is a great investment on your health!

BOBBI BROWN INTRODUCES THE LIMITED EDITION SURF & SAND COLLECTION Inspired by Ms Brown’s favourite vacation destination, the new Surf & Sand Collection includes summer beauty essentials for creating an effortlessly chic, sun-kissed beach look. Featuring a colour palette from sandy neutrals to surfy blues to sunset pinks, and Bobbi’s beloved Beach fragrance in a convenient rollerball form, this collection is as simple and seductive as it gets. These two eye palettes feature eight subtle yet stunning eye shadows in a wide range of sheer tones and formulas for endless standout eye looks, both poolside and cocktail appropriate. The Surf Eye Palette is perfect for experimenting with pastel shades—from shimmering pink to sparkly soft blue to soft aqua. The Sand Eye Palette’s range of neutral eye shadows – from metallic bronze to sparkling gold – is ideal for layering. The Brightening Blush, a blush-bronzerhighlighter hybrid, instantly creates

a fresh look. Simply swirl the three shades in the compact together using a Blush Brush and apply on the apples of the cheeks. The Sheer Lip Color has four new breezy shades (Sunlit Pink, Summer Nude, Peach Sorbet, Pink Taffy) that are sheer enough for summer but still deliver a pretty and polished look. The Long-Wear Eye Pencil also has two new shade: Black Chocolate and Bronze. The

ultimate luxuriousness comes from the new shade in Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick. A pale, champagne gold, Long-Wear Cream Shadow Stick in 24 Karat is perfect for highlighting the inner corner of the eyes for a pretty, summer-time look.

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LUXURY

BOTTEGA VENETA INTRODUCES THE GARDENA MESSENGER FOR MEN Combining details, craftsmanship and functionality, Bottega Veneta has introduced Gardena, a recent addition to the men’s bag collection, presented for Fall-Winter 2014/2015. A contemporary, versatile messenger, originally introduced for women in the Early-Fall 2014 collection and characterized by its understated details, now avails itself to men. Soft and unstructured, the Gardena is generously sized for ample capacity and comes with an oversized flap enhanced with iconic intrecciato elements, buckle closures, and an adjustable strap that gives the bag a relaxed look and feel. The Gardena in Buffalo is offered in Nero, Aubergine and New Army colours, while the Gardena in Ostrich and Waxed Leather is offered in Nero, New Light Grey and New Chartreuse. The Gardena in Calf Hair and Madras Heritage, on the other hand, is offered in Nero, Tourmaline and New Dark Grey

JAGUAR LAND ROVER DEVELOPS THE SELFLEARNING INTELLIGENT CAR OF THE FUTURE

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THE IMPERIAL NEW DELHI Making sure your August is delicious and appetizing, The Imperial New Delhi is hosting two food festivals, which will satiate any craving you might have! Chef Veena Arora brings in yet another menu with her own creations at The Spice Route, while exploring the popular specialties of Malaysia and Thailand, available from August 2 to 11, 2014. Chef Veena says, “Noodles or I should term them as Vermicelli rice noodles, are extremely light and can be prepared in multitude of ways. In Thailand, these ultra thin noodles are eaten for breakfast and are deliciously consumed with soups or eaten as a complete meal in the form of soups.”

The menu offers six distinct types of noodles including Chef Veena’s secret recipe called Chef’s Special - Crispy Por-Pia skin noodles wok fried with pokchoy and soya sauce. Keeping novelty and variety in the menu, Chef Veena surprises with Kieow Tieow VSeth-Wok fried rice noodles with yellow curry paste and chicken, flavoured with garden fresh sweet basil, while the popular Malaysian recipe Mee Goreng - Spicy yellow noodles with squid rings and prawns surely promise one a culinary haven.

Phad Khee Mao - Wok fried Thai rice noodles with chilly and oyster sauce, puts together the unique texture of extremely thin noodles.

Jaguar Land Rover has developed a truly intelligent self-learning vehicle that will offer a completely personalised driving experience and help prevent accidents by reducing driver distraction. Using the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques, Jaguar Land Rover’s self-learning car will offer a comprehensive array of services to the driver, courtesy of a new algorithm that recognises who is in the car and learns their preferences and driving style. The software then applies this learning by using a range of variables including your calendar, the time of day, traffic conditions and the weather to predict driver

ROGER DUBUIS LAUNCHES TWO NEW VERSIONS OF THE VELVET JOAILLERIE AUTOMATIC AND EXCALIBUR 42 CHRONOGRAPH behaviour and take over many of the daily driving ‘chores’, allowing the driver to concentrate on the road ahead. Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology for Jaguar Land Rover, said, “The aim of our self-learning technology is to minimise driver distraction, which will help reduce the risk of accidents.

Presenting the driver with information just at the right time while driving will reduce both cognitive distraction and the need for the driver to look away from the road to scroll through phone lists, or adjust mirrors, temperature or seat functions while on the road.”

Roger Dubuis has presented two outstanding timepieces that typify the best qualities of the brand, the Velvet Joaillerie Automatic for her and the Excalibur 42 Chronograph for him. Velvet Joaillerie Automatic has an incredible set of details, right from the blackened numerals and appliques to the trompe l’oeil part-circle, part-barrel shaped case.

The attachments, set with diamonds, merge into the case and extend onto the bracelet with the central horn – part of the brand’s DNA – becoming a subtle embellishment. The bezel and bracelet sparkle with 262 diamonds. While 66 diamonds add a decorative halo to the bezel, the bracelet is resplendent with 196 diamonds, totalling 1.33 carats and 1.65 carats respectively. The Excalibur 42 Chronograph is a dash of elegance. With the generous 42 mm diameter, the chronograph makes an immediate impression of robustness. Its firmly masculine, sporting appeal is reinforced by a straight-line design. The Excalibur 42 Chronograph is inspired by the World of the Warrior and carries the hallmark of the brand’s ingenuity in its mechanisms. Its elegant case houses the new RD681 automatic chronograph movement with a micro-rotor.

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OFFICINE PANERAI ADDS 11 COLOURED STRAPS TO ITS WATCHES Officine Panerai introduces colour straps which harmonises the simplicity of its watches. The new accessories have a lively character, fresh and versatile, maintaining Panerai’s unique and recognisable style. For the first time an elegant white version has been added to the semi-matt alligator straps already in the range – red, green, blue, pink, Bordeaux, orange and yellow. Another absolute first is represented by the new coloured straps with a polished finish, available in more intense shades of red, dark pink and violet. The particularly brilliant effect of the surface is achieved by an elaborate process of hand polishing using special agate stones. The leather used for Panerai straps is exquisite, distinguished by large regular scales according to TEC standard (Toutes Écailles Carrées: rectangular scales only). The raw material comes from monitored farms in Louisiana in the United States, which operate in compliance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

CHANEL ADDS TWO NEW ANTI-AGEING PRODUCTS TO ITS LE LIFT LINE Chanel has added Le Lift Sérum and Le Lift Crème Yeux to its 2013 range of Le Lift, which had included three revolutionary creams.

With the collaboration of Professor Melino, recognized worldwide for his studies on ageing, Chanel Research was able to demonstrate the key role of micro-RNAs (miRs), which are small fragments of RNA that work like switches to modulate the synthesis of the skin’s youth proteins. Constantly disturbed by the environment, stress and lifestyles, their production has a direct consequence on the appearance of the skin, leading to the loss of density, suppleness and resilience.

JEANRICHARD UPDATES ITS TERRASCOPE COLLECTION FOR THE SUMMER Taking advantage of the sunny weather and matching it, Jeanrichard has illuminated in 18K pink gold three models from its flagship Terrascope collection. With their characteristic case divided into various sections, these timepieces allow for subtle combinations of materials. The first of the summer Terrascope models features lateral inserts in pink gold surrounding a bezel and the middle-case in steel. The second showcases a bezel in pink gold emerging from a case in black DLC steel. The third model is elegant with a bezel and lateral inserts in pink gold combined with a middle-case in black DLC steel. All of these variations of colours are emphasised by subtly alternating finishes (ranging between vertical satin-finished, polished or sandblasted) and hands and hour markers in pink gold with a luminescent treatment, adding a touch of lustre alongside the watches' matt black or grey dials.

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ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA INTRODUCES MADE TO MEASURE SERVICES FOR UPPER CASUAL CLOTHES Ermenegildo Zegna Made to Measure, a personalized service that was restricted to formal suits and accessories, now goes a step ahead and from AW2014 expands to include Upper Casual clothes - casual bomber jackets, leather pieces, polos, and knits. The new service is designed to offer customers the opportunity to create completely customized everyday attire. In the Zegna boutique, trained professionals help each client select the style, fabric and particulars to customize leisurewear best suited for his character and lifestyle. The contemporary casual clothing includes a selection of custom-tailored trench coats, overcoats and over jackets available in five different outdoor-proof fabrics including cashmere, 14MilMil14, Trofeo Light, Traveller Wool Elements and silk.

FURLA OPENS A NEW STORE IN NEW DELHI, INDIA Furla has opened a new store in New Delhi, in Select City Walk Mall, with the boutique measuring over 563 sq ft area. It was restyled to valorize the entire Furla universe, the brand’s creative spirit and sophisticated style.

Among the notable features of the interiors are the architectural elements inspired by the beautifully restored 18th century Villa in Bologna, which currently houses the company’s headquarters.

ONE OF 100 TO CELEBRATE THE MASERATI QUATTROPORTE ZEGNA LIMITED EDITION After making its world debut at the 2013 Frankfurt and Geneva Motorshows, the exclusive Maserati Quattroporte, developed in collaboration with Ermenegildo Zegna in a limited series of only 100 cars, went into production. To celebrate the Quattroporte Zegna Limited Edition, which boasts a special finish in terms of colour, materials and trim, quality and exclusivity that link the traditions of Maserati and Zegna, the two Italian companies are launching a tour of four international events starting from Shanghai in July 2014, followed by New York (Sept 2014), Dubai (Feb 2015) and Milan (Spring 2015). The events will present the Quattroporte Zegna Limited Edition to a select audience of guests, and also to celebrate the partnership between the two Italian brands.

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Educ ation duca

India Cheapest for College Study The average annual cost, including university fees and living expenditure of an undergraduate international student in India is $5,642, of which $581 is university fees.

I

ndia has emerged as the least expensive foreign destination for university undergraduate students among a list of 15 countries.

Australia, Singapore and US occupy the top three positions in the expenditure chart for overseas students, according to HSBC’s latest survey — The Value of Education: Springboard for success.

The average annual cost, including university fees and living expenditure of an undergraduate international student in India is $5,642, of which $581 is university fees.

At $42,093 a year, Australia — a hugely popular destination for Asian students — is the most expensive option globally, followed by Singapore at $39,229 and US at $36,564. Overseas students need to spend on an average $35,045 a year for undergraduate studies and living in the UK, according to the survey.

The comparative yearly costs stand at $12,627 in Brazil, $10,729 in China and $9,460 in case of Mexico, the survey shows. The report, which surveyed over 4,500 parents in 15 countries and territories, examines parents’ attitudes and behaviour towards children’s education around the world.

Sanjiv Sud, head of retail banking and wealth management, HSBC India, said, “Education costs are lower in emerging markets such as India because the 132 SEASONAL MAGAZINE

state-run universities are heavily funded by the government and also the cost of living for overseas students is lower here.”

Indian parents perceive the US provides the highest quality of education. About 62 per cent of Indian parents ranked the US in their top three destinations for quality education, the survey report shows.

The report also suggests Indian parents with higher incomes are more likely to regard the US (69 per cent) and the UK (67 per cent) as providing the highest quality education compared with parents with lower household incomes: US (55 per cent) and UK (40 per cent).

More than four in five (85 per cent)

The comparative yearly costs stand at $12,627 in Brazil, $10,729 in China and $9,460 in case of Mexico, the survey shows. The report, which surveyed over 4,500 parents in 15 countries and territories, examines parents’ attitudes and behaviour towards children’s education around the world.

Indian parents would consider sending their child abroad for a better university education, the survey shows.

According to the report, Indian parents believe that foreign education offers some key benefits to children.

Of the surveyed Indian parents, 62 per cent said overseas education leads to international work experience as an important advantage. It also offers other benefits such as openings to opportunities in life (48 per cent), instilling confidence (48 per cent), exposure to new ideas (43 per cent) and income earning potential (42 per cent).

The Value of Education is a global consumer research study which explores parents’ attitudes and behaviours towards children’s education. The first report, Springboard for success, represents the views of 4,592 parents in 15 countries around the world.

The survey was conducted online in December 2013 and January 2014, among parents who have at least one child under the age of 23 currently (or soon to be) in education, and who are solely or partially responsible for making decisions about their child’s education. This independent research study was commissioned by HSBC and carried out by Ipsos MORI.