Sapna Agarwal

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Dabur is planning to acquire more companies in the healthcare segment in India and could spend up to Rs 500 crore for the buyouts. The move follows the recent acquisition of Fem Care Pharma for over Rs 250 crore.

The company is also open to brand buyouts of up to Rs 200 crore. “We are looking for acquisitions of companies in the range of Rs 200-500 crore and brand acquisition of Rs 10-200 crore,” Sunil Duggal, chief executive officer, told Business Standard, adding: “There is no financial cap, but it should be a good fit and have scalability.”

As with the past acquisition of Balsara — which added brands like Promise, Meswak, Odonil and Odopic to its oral care and home care portfolio — or the recent acquisition of Fem, which now gives it a presence in the Rs 2,500 crore mainstream skincare products market, Dabur is keen to diversify its traditional healthcare portfolio from ayurveda to include mainstream brands.

Dabur’s healthcare segment comprises includes three divisions – ayurvedic medicines (preventive),a small but profitable business; over the counter or OTC (preventive and curative); and health and wellness products like Dabur Chyawanprash. “We are not wedded to the ayurveda platform, so will look at developing or acquiring brands that cater to the healthcare segment,” said Duggal.

In 2006, the company had evaluated the Protinex and Farex brands before they were acquired by Wockhardt. The two brands have a combined turnover of a little over Rs 60 crore and are now back on the sale block. The brands provide the company a good fit with its health supplements portfolio, is the feeling. The company, when asked, declined to make any comment in this regard.

The maker of Hajmola, Real and Vaatika has a turnover of Rs 2,800 crore, of which over 35 per cent of its revenues come from healthcare, 50 per cent from personal care, 10 per cent from food and beverages (F&B) and 5 per cent from home care. “In the course of the next few years, we see healthcare growing from 35 per cent to 40-45 per cent and personal care contributing another 40 to 45 per cent, and the remainder of our revenues coming from F&B and homecare,” said Duggal, who is aiming for an organic growth of 15 to 20 per cent, and further growth from acquisitions and mergers.

The organic growth will come from more launches across its portfolio of skincare, haircare and F&B brands. “Later this year, the company will launch a new ayurvedic brand. It will also roll out brands under the Fem umbrella.

Besides, it will launch variants of light oils and shampoos. Likewise, Burst, its latest juice brand, will also soon be rolled out nationally,” says Percy Panthaki, analyst, FMCG sector, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets.

Aabhas Sharma

At 5.30 in the evening and in spite of a heavy monsoonal downpour, a group of two dozen boys, undeterred by the pelting rain, is kicking a football around St Andrews ground in Mumbai’s Bandra. As part of the city’s Premier Indian Football Academy coaching camp, these young boys, all aged between 13 and 18 years, are hoping to not just emulate icons like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi but harbour hopes of playing in the high testosterone and glamourous European leagues.

Ten years ago, Manchester United and Liverpool Football Club, Arsenal and Bayern Munich were teams Indian teenagers glimpsed occasionally on television, the stuff of fantasy, desirable but unreachable, but these and other European clubs are now queuing up to woo India. Chelsea and Cruziero and Barcelona are no longer distant planets. With interest in football in India growing, football audiences increasing, and with the potential of big money in soccer, India could be the preferred destination for these clubs as they spread their tentacles to this cricket-crazy nation.

Bayern Munich set the ball rolling in 2008 when it played Mohun Bagan in Kolkata with over 1,00,000 fans in attendance — a match that will be remembered for German legend Oliver Kahn’s final competitive appearance. Manchester United initiated its Soccer Schools programme in 2008 in a big way by tying up with Nike to hold an annual Manchester United Premier Cup where selected kids get a chance to interact and train with past and present United legends, indicating the serious intent with which it views its India plans. Liverpool Football Club is in the process of building an academy in Pune which should be up and running by the end of this year. Chelsea and Barcelona have announced their presence by reaching out to schools and through conducting scouting camps.

Clearly, the clubs are in it for financial gain, but the larger issue is how it’s likely to impact Indian football. According to Ian Ayre, commercial director, Liverpool Football Club, the coming of the European leagues to India is like a two-way announcement. “If all we wanted was to make our presence felt, we could just open a few touch points and sell merchandise and we would be there,” he said. It’s developing football and helping budding footballers in the country that the club is more interested in. With that in mind, it’s got into a four-way tie-up with Kick Worldwide, a UK-based football company, along with Bharti Vidyapeeth University, to start the Abhijeet Kadam Football Development Centre. “The potential in India is there for everyone to see,” Ayre said — which is why so many players are in a huddle for their share of the pie. The scale might be nothing when compared with cricket, but at Rs 400 crore (according to sports marketers’ estimates) and likely to grow by at least 50 per cent if the promised investment from these clubs comes through, it’s still sizeable.

Nirvan Shah, who runs the Premier Indian Football Academy in Mumbai, says it’s too early to measure the impact of these clubs on Indian football yet. “Just providing technical know-how is not going to be enough,” he said, “as we don’t have the infrastructure to support such ideas.” Shah knows what’s involved in trying to maintain and run an academy. The costs are high, of course, but that shouldn’t be a problem for the clubs. But if the clubs do set up academies as they have proposed, Shah said, it could do a lot of good for their leagues. “In ten years time, they could actually have someone from India playing for them.” That moment, whenever it comes, might be the litmus test that could result in the popularity of football exploding through the roof.

Anirban Das Blah, CEO of Globosport, which is working closely with the likes of Chelsea and Barcelona to gain a foothold in India, dismisses the notion that the clubs are in it for immediate profits. “What they need to do is forget about their investments for at least three years,” he said. Reluctant to share what the two clubs will do, at least initially, in India, he adds that a new initiative could be expected from them every six months, for a while. If Chelsea is opting for a cautious approach, at least for Arunava Chaudhary, editor of Indianfootball.com, that might prove to be the right policy. “They know what it will mean if an Indian makes it at their club,” he said, “it will be a gold mine.”

Bayern Munich, meanwhile, is lending its support to an academy in Burdwan, West Bengal, where it hopes to prepare the football ground, spot talent, train coaches and lay the blueprint for the academy’s programmes. Its support is technical and infrastructural rather than financial —the costs are to be borne by the Sports Authority of India.

Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon believes the potential in India to be huge. “One of the first things we asked ourselves was whether there is any room for football,” says Kenyon referring to the cricket-mad spectators in the country. But he’s willing to wait for it to pan out in the long term, during which time he wants to associate with the sport from the grassroots up. At the moment, therefore, it’s a work in progress with the club mulling over various ideas on how to move forward in the country.

But the grassroots level is where Arsenal has made its foray in the country. A tie-up with Tata Tea has resulted in a programme called Arsenal Soccer Stars, to identify and nurture latent talent, especially among school children. The programme, targeted at children in the 10-15 years age group, offers participants access to top-class training, including the customised Arsenal development programme called The Arsenal Way. Manchester United too, along with Nike, has been organising coaching camps, and hundreds of kids have had the chance to travel to Manchester to see how junior football is nurtured there. Shah of Premier Indian Football Academy has tie-ups in place with clubs like AC Milan, Manchester United and Cruziero of Brazil, and his pupils travel to their academies for better exposure. “The clubs get a chance to look at talent from India, and we have received excellent feedback on some of our players,” Shah said.

Bharti Airtel too got into the act a few years ago when it announced an initiative with the All India Football Federation, pledging Rs 100 crore over 10 years for the development of football in the country, but it seems to have run into rough weather. A company spokesperson said that it was now focusing on its Satya Bharti school programme through the Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Bharti group, as a result of which “we have decided to put the football academy project on hold for now”. But it has sealed a deal with Manchester United (“worth multi-million dollars”) to provide content to its 94 million subscribers in India, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles.

League money is huge. The clubs are worth billions of pounds, For instance, Manchester United recorded a turnover of £245 million and Arsenal posted similar numbers, but there’s very little of that coming India’s way yet. Barcelona’s support comes by way of setting up two schools in Andhra Pradesh for underprivileged kids for which it has invested ¤2 million. But it’s a non-commercial transaction spread across various initiatives such as scouting camps or talent hunts (which involves lakhs of rupees, as opposed to the crores of rupees that setting up an academy is likely to cost). Yet, if the European clubs start to follow up on their promises with money, investment in football could draw substantial finances over the next few years. As a club spokesperson said in an email interaction with Business Standard, the immediate opportunity in India is in improving the environment for football whether through providing exposure to school children on how academies are run in Barcelona, or by way of technical support in improving the standard of the game in the country.

The biggest catch, of course, is the state of Indian football — as of now it languishes at 144 in world rankings.

National coach Bob Houghton doesn’t believe the foray of European clubs is anything other than an exercise in increasing the catchment area for making money for themselves. “Do you actually believe that they are interested in developing football in the country?” he asked emphatically, dismissing any notions of a growing fan following. “It’s a money-making exercise and if the administrators believe that it will do the sport good, they are in for a rude shock.”

Not so Blah of Globosport, who believes that football can reap huge dividends with what the European clubs are willing to invest in India, so long as improvements in infrastructure go hand-in-hand. “It is up to us to leverage the best deals for the sport or else it will help the clubs more than us,” he explained. At the end, it’s up to the All India Football Federation to seize these initiatives. Should it make them work for its benefit, it’s unlikely the clubs will get by with filling just their coffers, and India will gain immensely in the bargain.

Shobhana Subramanian

Walk in to any small eatery in the southern and eastern parts of the country and you will find it hard to miss the bottle of Horlicks at the cash counter. Horlicks is not a young brand — it has been around for decades. After imports were disallowed in 1955, Hindustan Milkfood Manufacturers started making the drink in the country in 1960 and now it’s owned by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. But there are no evident signs of ageing. Horlicks’ market share of the Rs 2,305-crore milk beverages market is above 50 per cent (source: The Nielsen Company). Rivals know beating Horlicks in the market place is a tough act. Nestlé has stopped making Milo and new entrant Dabur India has decided to stay clear of Horlicks and pitch its Chyawan Junior against GSK Consumer Healthcare’s other beverage brand, Boost.

It would be foolish not to leverage the equity of such a brand. Thus, GSK Consumer Healthcare has decided to use the brand to get into new categories. In the last few months, it has launched biscuits for children, a nutrition drink for women, an energy bar and chilled milk. More could follow in the days to come.

“Our business was doing well as was the economy. So both from our point of view as also from the consumers’ perspective, it was a good time to shift gears,” says GSK Consumer Healthcare Managing Director Zubair Ahmed. Ahmed believes the new products will make a meaningful contribution to the company’s top line in the next few years. “These categories are relevant and our research shows that consumers need these products. We are not creating needs, we’re simply fulfilling them.”

Those who know Ahmed well will hardly be surprised by the fast pace of product launches. As the chief executive of Gillette, his previous assignment, he tried to grow the business rapidly with a slew of new shaving products. He left the grooming products company two years ago after it was acquired by Procter & Gamble to run GSK Consumer Healthcare.

Something for everyone
Ahmed is aware that new products do sometimes end up as casualties but he has taken confidence from the strength of the Horlicks brand. “We’re riding the equity of Horlicks and supplementing it with consumer insights,” says he. Horlicks may be the country’s sixth most-trusted brand but GSK Consumer Healthcare is playing in a market where consumers can be demanding. And rival brands are no rabbits: Cadbury’s Bournvita and Heinz’s Complan each with a 15 per cent share.

So far though, GSK Consumer Healthcare has succeeded in segmenting the customer base by catering for specific needs of women at the same time cashing in on the increasing population of children with Horlicks. Ogilvy & Mather Country Head (planning) Madhukar Sabnavis feels “the brand today talks to every member of the family rather than the entire family.”

With Junior Horlicks, launched in 1995, GSK Consumer Healthcare had positioned a product exclusively for children between the ages of two and five. That, Anand Ramanathan, who advises companies in the FMCG space at consulting firm KPMG, points out is a crucial segment given that India is a young country — a clever ploy to engage consumers at a very young age. The Junior Horlicks brand has grown to become a Rs 150-crore brand now, says GSK Consumer Healthcare head of marketing Shubhajit Sen. Taking advantage, the company launched Junior Horlicks biscuits last month. Again, five years ago, GSK Consumer Healthcare had reached out to pregnant and lactating mothers with Mother’s Horlicks; last year it came up with Women’s Horlicks catering for women across age groups.

“The idea is to address all age groups. There’s Horlicks Lite for the elderly who often have a sugar problem and for the youth we have Horlicks Nutribar which we launched in February this year,” says Ahmed.

With Horlicks Nutribar, positioned on the twin planks of health and convenience, GSK Consumer Healthcare has leveraged the brand to venture into an entirely new product category — energy cereal bars. Says Ernst & Young Partner Ashish Nanda: “When you’ve created a strong brand, it opens up doors to new variants and even new categories. Unless you enter a completely unrelated area, there’s little risk in extending the brand to other products.”

While the company hopes that Horlicks Nutribar will chip in with about Rs 100-150 crore of revenues in five years, it hasn’t stopped there. In April this year, it invited consumers to taste its summer drink called Horlicks Chilled Doodh (milk), available in four flavours. Sen concedes that the product will be up against some keen competition in the Rs 45-crore chilled milk category from Amul Kool and strong regional players like MAFCO in Mumbai, but he hopes the brand can pull in revenues of Rs 50-100 crore in about five years — more than the current market size.

Of course, GSK Consumer Healthcare will promote other brands too — it does need to hedge its risks, after all. Thus, in April, Glaxo ActiGrow, a protein supplement for children, was unveiled. Ahmed explains that the company is cashing in on the brand equity that Glaxo still has with mothers and will leverage that for specialist products like ActiGrow. “We’re looking at new products across food and beverages, like healthy snack foods because the opportunities aren’t taken care of simply by Horlicks,” says Ahmed.

Full of beans
At the moment, Horlicks takes care of GSK Consumer Healthcare’s top line. The brand, which was worth around Rs 800 crore in the early parts of the decade, is today 50 per cent bigger at close to Rs 1,200 core, bringing in the bulk of the company’s annual turnover of Rs 1,580 crore.

If Indians drink more than five million cups of Horlicks everyday it’s because GSK Consumer Healthcare has worked on the product. At one time, in the late 1990s, market research showed that Horlicks was seen “as a nourishing, but boring drink” and was beginning to lose significance. What’s more, consumers were beginning to prefer flavours over nutrients.

So, in 2003, the brand was revamped: It was made tastier and launched in two new flavours — vanilla and honey. The company had earlier launched a chocolate version to try and win over consumers in the North and West who typically prefer chocolate-flavoured drinks. But the success was limited. Nearly half of its sales are still generated from the South, while 35 per cent come from East. But that doesn’t seem to bother investment analysts. IDFC SSKI Managing Director Nikhil Vora points out that GSK Consumer Healthcare has held on to its market share in a space that’s grown at around 20 per cent in the last couple of years. “As the market leader, the brand could yield some share but volumes have grown in double digits for five consecutive quarters.”

Not just higher tonnage, the company does succeed in extracting a price from consumers. In January this year, for instance, prices were upped by about 5 per cent. What has worked in the company’s favour, says KPMG’s Ramanathan, is Horlicks value-for-money positioning. “Horlicks may not be a cheap product but it’s been communicated as a value-for-money product. Parents today are willing to spend more on nutrition for their children and that has helped GSK Consumer Healthcare.”

To that extent, Horlicks may have gained over competitors such as Complan which are perceived to be more expensive, a perception that hasn’t changed over time. Says Ahmed: “Compared to competitors, Horlicks is the best money proposition and, moreover, the consumer gets value for the money spent.” For the new launches too, he has in mind a similar value proposition, though final prices will be fixed keeping in mind the target group. “Women’s Horlicks is far more expensive than the base Horlicks but that’s because the consumer is getting much more and there’s no other product available. Horlicks Nutribars will be primarily a metro phenomenon to start with, so the pricing has been decided accordingly.”

Nourishing the brand
Horlicks does not feel the need for a brand ambassador, though GSK Consumer Healthcare has engaged expensive celebrities like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to endorse Boost. Still, the several new launches could push up the ad budget of one of the country’s top advertisers, most of which is spent on television. Sen believes that spends could inch up over the Rs 194 crore that GSK Consumer Healthcare spent on advertising and promotions last year. Typically, FMCG companies spent 12 to 13 per cent of their turnover on brand promotion.

The radio, through which Horlicks reached out to mothers even 40 years ago, is still an effective channel in states such as Bihar or Orissa where consumers don’t have access to television or where power cuts are frequent. In the early years, mothers were the sole target audience since the product catered to the entire family. However, once pester power became big in the 1990s, the Horlicks advertisements started talking to children too. The change worked because it was also the time when mothers’ mindset was changing — they had become more indulgent and let children drink what they liked, rather than imposing on them a drink of their own choice.

Today, JWT Client Service Director Debarpita Banerjee believes, the Internet can be a good way to connect with kids. So, there are tips posted on examinations on the website — “Exams ka bhoot bhagao” (Drive the exam demon away). Besides, the company has also reached out to children with Wizkids, a contact programme that provides a platform for schoolchildren across 25 cities to showcase their talent.

Adding rural reach
Under Ahmed, GSK Consumer Healthcare has upped the ante on distribution. In an aggressive ‘Go to Market’ approach earlier this year, it created a second layer of distributors in the smaller towns to supplement the existing chain of around 500 big distributors. Most of these 4,000 sub-distributors were appointed in the eastern and southern parts of the country. The idea, according to Vice-president (sales) Navneet Saluja, is to increase the retail reach by at least 30 per cent. “Right now we reach out to around 25 per cent of the rural market and we hope to extend this reach to about 40 per cent of the hinterland in a couple of years. We’re looking to have a presence in towns that have a population of 5,000 people.”

As for reaching out to customers in the urban markets, Sen has begun to work with retailers to create excitement and awareness. “In some outlets, we even created play areas for children,” he says. Although modern trade remains a relatively small channel currently, fetching just 4.5 per cent of the firm’s sales, Saluja’s aiming for higher shares. Ahmed’s not worried about the expense. “We’ll be leveraging the P&L (profit and loss account) for some time because we need to invest in the business and new products,” he says. Clearly, no effort is being spared to grow Horlicks.

Byravee Iyer

For a long time, only those who spent hours in front of the television set, gorging junk snack food, qualified as couch potatoes. It was an unhealthy lifestyle, a sure recipe for disaster. Equally bad, it is now realised, is the lifestyle of those addicted to their mobile phones. It has made them forget the virtues of a workout. The answer is to walk while you talk — exercise and indulge at the same time. This is the latest message from Idea Cellular delivered by its brand ambassador, Abhishek Bachchan.

Two weeks ago, Idea Cellular launched the “walking and talking” campaign. In it, Bachchan plays a doctor who advocates how people can stay fit by simply walking while talking and seeds this idea in the public domain. It all begins when a journalist asks him if technology has made people lazy. The doctor has a brainwave that all people need to do is walk while they talk. The message spreads like wild fire. The doctor begins to lose business.

For the campaign, the brief to the company’s agency of six years, Lowe, was to come up with another exciting idea with a telecommunication connection. “The idea is to set up a problem and provide a solution to it,” says Ashwin Varkey, the creative director of the campaign. Idea Cellular executives claim that the campaign has been well received. The ad, which took about two months to make, was shot by Chrome Pictures and will run for about six weeks. There will be a 360-degree campaign with radio, print, outdoor and digital communication.

Ideas that work
The market for mobile telecommunication services is overcrowded, to say the least. Each circle has at least half a dozen service providers and more want to join the bandwagon. The service is nothing more than a commodity — features offered by the various companies are somewhat similar. In this scenario, any differentiation can be created only through brand-building.

Idea Cellular, which belongs to the Aditya Birla Group, is only too aware of it. “This category is crowded. All mobile companies have similar features. Even if I’m good in one particular aspect, a competitor will be better in another area. That’s why communication plays the differentiator,” says Idea Cellular Chief Marketing Officer Pradeep Shrivastava.

Thus, for the last two years, Shrivastava along with Lowe has bet big if not wholly on its advertisement campaigns. “We needed to look at ideas that have the power to change society while having a relevant mobile connection,” says he. To move it forward, he roped in Bachchan as the brand ambassador. Though not as charismatic as Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan or Sachin Tendulkar, he is known as a good actor and an effective communicator. Also, unlike other celebrities, he is not overexposed. This has helped Idea Cellular cut through the clutter.

The first ad in the series had the setting of a village ridden with caste wars, till Bachchan steps in. He suggests that instead of names, which reflect the caste, all individuals should be known by their mobile numbers. This would get rid of the caste system. Though it was too simplistic a solution for a problem that has plagued the country for centuries, it did connect with the audience. “What an idea, Sir ji,” was the punch line. The logical next step was to build on the theme — how a good idea can reshape the world. “The reason we’ve stuck to this theme is because we’ve had much success with it,” adds Shrivastava. “We’ve got excellent responses based on our brand health monitor.”

Thus, the company brought out the campaign of a deaf and mute tourist in Agra where Bachchan plays the role of a guide and uses SMS to communicate with her. The next ad saw Bachchan as the head of an educational institution. The ad shows how children, especially girls, face education barriers. Bachchan suggests lessons on the mobile phone to universalise education. The fourth ad in the same series broke this January, close on the heels of the nation’s general elections, and showcased the use of mobile phone for democratic decision-making. The “walking and talking” ad is the latest avatar of the campaign.

Striking a connect
Some brand specialist says the campaign is a tough act to follow — the ideas need to be innovative. Otherwise, they fear, it will fail to deliver. The challenge for the creative team is clear. The benchmark has been set and no slip-ups can be allowed. On his part, Shrivastava says the campaign has begun to pay dividends. Idea Cellular claims it is the fastest-growing mobile telecom service provider in the country with new subscribers between 1 million and 1.5 million signing up every month. However, its overall subscriber tally of 45.5 million is way below Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications.

Idea Cellular began life in 1995 as Birla Communications. A year later it was rechristened Birla AT&T and then again in 2001 it was renamed Birla Tata AT&T, informally called Batata. Three big names had joined hands to ride the promising Indian mobile telephone market. However, shortly after, the much-talked about joint venture fell through and Birlas bought out the entire stake and finally in 2002, Idea Cellular was launched. Along the way it has acquired smaller operators like Escotel and Spice.

The journey ahead could be tough. Rivals like Airtel and Vodafone have worked on their brands for several years now. (Airtel in fact wants to become the country’s most admired brand. A recent study had put it second only to state-owned Life Insurance Corporation.) Reliance Communications has upped the ante and signed style icon Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador. Aircel too has Mahendra Singh Dhoni to endorse its brand. And the Tata Group has joined hands with DoCoMo of Japan to launch GSM services in the country.

The growing threat perception does not seem to perturb Shrivastava at the moment: “I have great respect for rivals like Airtel and Vodafone but it is commendable that we are the fastest growing company both in terms of subscribers and revenues,” says he.

The implementation of mobile number portability (MNP) is slated to be delayed further, with the telecom service providers informing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the phased roll out is not possible

Further, pan-India readiness is required for the proper implementation of call routing, according to the service providers who had met DoT officials recently. The operators also mentioned that due to delay in completion of various activities, it would be difficult to meet the timelines for MNP implementation. The DoT had earlier set a September-end deadline for the first phase rollout of MNP in the country.

The service providers are seeking an extension of the date and as delays would be considered as violation of DoT’s direction. This means that MNP would be delayed by another couple of months, sources close to the development said.

Earlier in March, DoT had selected two US companies — Syniverse and Telcordia — as technology providers for MNP in the country. Telcordia will implement the technology in south and east, while east and west would be taken care of Syniverse.

India with over 400 million mobile connections, and an addition of around 10 million per month, is second largest telecom market in the world.

Neha Bhatt

If you thought that the humble bicycle couldn’t find a parking spot in the luxury market, think again. Neha Bhatt finds a rising segment of high-end bicycles that spell glamour and style.

When we last checked, the bicycle was the quintessential no-fuss, non-polluting, low-cost mode of transport. As of today, you can tick off the “low-cost” tag right away. The best of bicycles hardly come under the clunky metalware category, especially as big brands are going all out to incorporate leather and state-of-the-art gadgetry to create high-end bicycles. And if you thought luxury couldn’t be stretched to this seemingly low-profile segment, well then, we suggest you read on.

The Fendi Selleria Abici Bicycle, for instance, is a beautifully crafted piece that’s done in leather and packs in quite a few features. It includes a goat and leather bag, GPS navigator holder, key- and chain-case and a pump and thermos leather cover. Crafted in Italy, all the elements are handmade — cut, sewn, assembled and embroidered to dress this ‘Amante’ model. The signature Fendi logo is embossed on the bike’s front and also within the fully accessorised trunk that replaces the commonplace basket. Available in dark brown and light beige, this pretty thing is priced anywhere between Rs 2-4.75 lakh. While in India, custom orders are taken at the Fendi boutique store in DLF Emporio in New Delhi, this 26-kg bicycle is available, on request, globally too.

Joining the high-end bicycle segment are luxury mountain bicycles from Firefox Bikes. At Rs 91,000 (Fuel EX 5.5), these are available at Firefox stations across the country. Firefox, which has a range of over 40 super bikes and is also the sole distributor of US-based Trek Bikes in the country, has plans to launch five new models of mountain bikes later this year. And while we wait for those, another Firefox model, Camelot, is a neat pick, especially for the younger lot. What’s exciting about this product is its foldable feature — the bicycle can fit into a carry bag!

This single-seater comes with a top spec, six-gear Shimano system, supposed to be the Hewland (the best brand of bespoke gear boxes for racing cars) of the bicycle world. The Camelot is priced at Rs 8,920 and is available at Firefox showrooms in the metros. This bicycle isn’t particularly heavy, though it’s fairly strong with a quick release mechanism and comprises of the best quality components.

Speaking of foldable bicycles, check out Gold Bicycle 2009 on the website ilovemybike.co.uk. If you like it, you can apply for an online purchase. This golden bike, at an approximate cost of £2,500 (minus shipping charges), folds down into a bag the size of a small suitcase. As the designers explain, originally this fancy thing was a one-seater Brompton S2L which was later stripped down, polished, plated in copper and finally covered in 24-carat gold! To jazz it up further, in place of the bar-mounted selector, a special fabricated jockey shift gear change with a pool ball on top (you heard it right) has now been introduced. If you like opulence, this one’s for you.

Where there’s luxury, there’s also Mercedes-Benz. The brand’s Automatic Bike ’05 is exactly what the name suggests. Pretty much automatic in everything, this bicycle comes with automatic gears, sensor-controlled lights and a brake light. This 20-kg bike has a load capacity of 80 kg. At Rs 71,000, the bicycle is suitable for everyday use, with a design exclusive to the Mercedes-Benz stable. The best feature, however, is its digitally-controlled suspension, which changes according to riding conditions. The product is available to order at the Auto Hanger showroom in Mumbai.

If you are looking to ride difficult terrain, and prefer a reasonable price range, we recommend the All-terrain 20” Raider by Firefox, available in a variety of colours, at Rs 5,890. It has a good frame, a front suspension fork and six-speed shifter gear system; it’s a good buy. Another pick could be the Firefox All-terrain 26” Cyclone, which comes with Shimano 18-speed gears. This is available for Rs 9,240.

Merida’s Matts series of bikes and full suspension bikes, meanwhile, in the range of Rs 25,000-30,000, claim better grip and control, and are equipped with sound-suspension technology. The UK-based bicycle brand is available at various outlets across the metros, including Bangalore and Pune.

PS: The Hermes bicycle, redone in a new edition with orange accents, makes one wish it was available in India. The Hermes store at The Oberoi, New Delhi, does not take orders for this Rs 1.80 lakh bicycle — yet. The earlier edition of this bike featured leather accents on the saddle and handlebar grips. The new one is made of lacquered stainless steel, while the frame, handles and saddle are clad in Taurillon Clemence leather — complete with a kickstand, front and back lighting, carrier with a special bungy cord, mud flap and spoke protector. Now that’s what we call a bicycle.

And that’s what we call a ride.

Neha Bhatt

Upasna Kamineni, Dr Prathap C Reddy’s grand-daughter, is expecting an elephant as a birthday gift. She talks to Neha Bhatt about her privileged life, her fight with obesity, and why she is involved with different charities

She is an heiress to one of Asia’s largest medical empires, but Upasna Kamineni, the 22-year-old granddaughter of Dr Prathap C Reddy, founder-chairman, Apollo Hospitals, makes no fuss about her lineage. “Ever since I can remember, healthcare was discussed across the dining table at home. So this is in my blood. I started early, I was involved in various charities while still in school and I have a keen interest in wellness, especially that of children,” she says, perhaps explaining her recent appointment as vice president, Apollo Charities.

Despite the responsibility now entrusted to her, there is an air of quiet restraint around Kamineni that belies her age. She sits on a sofa across the room with a business-like air, which is why I am surprised to hear what she tells me next: “I was obese as a child and teenager, which made me under-confident. I struggled to lose weight. The only way I could make myself feel better at that time was to acquire material things,” she says candidly. So what was it like growing up in a privileged household? “I grew up in a large, extremely close-knit family, with 10 cousins and younger siblings. I don’t think I was spoilt, because I had everything I needed. I did want an elephant though,” she says.

You look at her and realise that she isn’t joking about that. The elephant, she says, is something “which I hope to get this month on my birthday”. It is likely to join the animal farm at her home in Hyderabad — that already houses two rescued “tonga” horses and six donkeys. Kamineni’s association with Blue Cross brought her close to the cause of these animals. She helped them find shelter, and now her family intends to open an eco park (complete with a night safari) in Hyderabad, spread over 112 acres.

At work, Kamineni is currently involved with an awareness-building campaign on cervical cancer. This follows her efforts with other Apollo initiatives such as SACH (Save a Child’s Heart) and SAHI (Society to Aid the Hearing Impaired). Another pet project, launched recently, is the health and lifestyle publication, B+ve. “Most of us have become part of the rat race, leading to various physical and psychological disorders. The magazine is an effort to throw light on these issues and suggest ways to fight them in our day-to-day life,” she explains. Next in line is Project Hydrate, to be backed by Apollo Pharmacy and headed by her mother Shobana. Launched under this will be a new product line. “Our motto behind Project Hydrate is to encourage people to drink a lot of water through the day. Our first product will be bottled water with the instruction, ‘Finish this bottle by the end of the day’. I also plan to launch a sunscreen lotion, just right for the Indian skin and climate,” adds Kameneni.

With a background in business studies, she seems to be raring to go. “Funnily enough though,” she says, “while studying business at an American university, I was drawn more towards the arts. I took credits in theatre and even dabbled in fashion.” In fact, her first professional attempt when she returned home to Hyderabad after graduating was to organise a gala fashion show. “I wasn’t sure yet where I wanted my career to go. But soon after that I realised this is not where I wanted to be.” It wasn’t as welcoming as the corriders at Apollo, perhaps.

Kamineni soon joined her mother and aunts at the Rs 1,450 crore healthcare empire. “The maternal side of my family is involved in healthcare since it is my maternal grandfather (Dr Reddy) who founded Apollo. Therefore, the thought of working in any other field did not occur to any of them (her mother and aunts),” she says. “We are all happy to join this profession. Even my cousins are involved in wellness in one way or the other,” she adds.

In and out of wards, Kamineni spends a large part of her day with children who are being treated at the Hyderabad hospital. “A number of children are from other countries so we don’t quite understand each other very well but I am learning sign language,” she says. With women patients she often swaps recipes, being herself an enthusiastic cook. She admits to not being a fan of Indian food though, because “it has too much masala”, but she recalls, quite fondly, the rich meat dishes cooked by her paternal grandmother, who belonged to a royal family.

Kamineni, however, is extremely cautious of what she eats, and spends an hour in the afternoon kickboxing at the hospital gym. “I fought obesity through my school and university years and I’m not done yet. To make myself feel better, I would drown my grief in shopping, till it hit me that I must make drastic lifestyle changes,” she says. Her confidence levels soared and she began to feel like a different person. Since then, Kamineni has been able to set herself up to challenging tasks. A young professional, she feels bold and she is certainly ready to take on the world.

Pradipta Mukherjee

Licensed radio companies seem to be embracing the online media wholeheartedly. Why not, after all the music-hungry audience here is swelling by the day.

Given the cut-throat competition in the FM radio space, radio companies are always on the look out for newer, untapped areas. And perhaps that is the reason why major radio stations such as Big FM, RadioCity and

Fever FM have descended on the World Wide Web as well as the mobile platform.

These radio stations are of the view that millions of youth worldwide are always online at any given point of time and that they can be tapped as the internet radio and audio broadcasting via the Net are not enough to quench their thirst for music. Online music, games and infotainment not only create a connection between radio stations and consumers, but also provide an additional source of income for radio companies in the form of online advertisements.

Apurva Purohit, the chief executive officer of RadioCity, says: “We are in the process of creating an online encyclopaedia of music on www.planetradiocity.com with information on musicians, singers, bands, music directors and composers. There would also be a ‘music history’ section where one can get news about movements in various music and their origins. The section would also have lots of fun trivia as well as information on different genres of music. Users would also be able to create their own music station.”

Musicopedia, due for launch on planetradiocity.com in early August, would compile the best of music from the portal and allow users to create and share their own playlists, or hum with one of the many themed playlists uploaded by the online music team. Users would also be able to choose from a series of contextual playlists such as Monsoon Magic, R D Burman’s Birthday, Michael Jackson Tribute, Retro Vamp Numbers and many more. In addition, Facebook users would be able to enjoy the best of music from planetradiocity.com by adding a related widget to their Facebook profiles and listening to themed playlists uploaded on a daily basis. Facebook users can also save their own favourite numbers and play them from their own profiles.

But, what about investments? “We would be spending around Rs 3-4 crore every year on adding new features to our website. Already we are seeing 3.1 million hits per day,” says Purohit.

Online radio is not just about music, games or infotainment. It also does talent-hunting. For instance, RadioCity has launched a contest called ‘King of Lyrics’. This is, in fact, a platform for aspiring lyricists to showcase their talent. Every month, a new theme is set and users are asked to send in their lyrics. As of now, there are more than 1,000 original lyrics submitted to the site with more being added on a daily basis.

Likewise, Big FM is also revamping its website and is looking at online advertising revenues as an additional source of income.

According to Anand Chakravarthy, marketing head of Big FM, the intention was to get out of the radio station, go to individual consumers and convert them into your listeners or loyalists beyond the radio.

“We are investing in revamping our website to have more members to write blogs on specific radio jockeys (RJs). We will also add social networking space to our site. We will introduce a section where our listeners can write movie and music reviews, and we can take a cue from these opinions while deciding our next set of programmes,” says Chakravarthy.

Big FM’s marketing budget for this year is around Rs 15 crore, a part of which would also go into building online properties.

As part of an innovative strategy, Big FM is going to select offices and commercial complexes where its RJs would host shows, play games with the employees there and convert them into RJs in an attempt to involve them with the radio station.

“Close to 50 per cent of our budget is spent on street-level marketing. We have a listener base of 20 million across 45 stations,” he informs.

Even Fever FM has a similar story to tell. Says Pralay Bakshi, station head of Fever FM, “We are looking at upgrading our website to include information on all our marketing activities as well as create pages for users.

As of now, we just have schedules of different programmes on our website. We have already tied up with Facebook and Orkut, where we have a dedicated Fever FM page. We have around 3,000 members from Facebook and Orkut. We depend heavily on SMSes. So, we send activities and contest details regularly through text messages.

Fever FM has specific merchandising plans. “We have observed that winners of contests in Delhi want cash. However, in a city like Kolkata, they want momentoes that they can show off. So, we will keep renewing our range of merchandising options such as mugs, books, bags et cetera,” says Bakshi.

Pradipta Mukherjee

It’s the smallest business in the Rs 23,000 crore ITC Group. But the conglomerate’s eight-year-old child is finally making its presence felt amid the growing buzz that ITC Foods is on course to make its maiden profit this year. For a business, which analysts say, was losing close to Rs 60 crore annually till sometime ago, the turnaround is phenomenal.

The company expects the foods business, with brands such as Bingo, Sunfeast and Aashirwad covering 200 product lines, to report revenues of over Rs 2,200 crore this year — up 25 per cent over the previous year.

Sunfeast, the biscuit brand, already has a market share of 12 per cent, while Aashirwad accounts for 45 per cent of the branded atta market. Snacks (Bingo), confectionery and basic spices are also making fast progress.

So what led to this super growth? Chitaranjan Dhar, chief operating officer of the foods division, says ITC Foods is focusing on delivering value at competitive prices. Dhar says all the food categories are moving fast with staples, snacks and biscuits leading the way. “We have been able to develop relationships through transparent practices with the trade,” he says.

Dhar also says the company’s procurement and manufacturing synergies across divisions have helped it reduce costs. “We do believe ITC’s tremendous reach through its extensive distribution chain has been a competitive advantage. Fundamentally it is all about the details; you need to engage in each one of them,” he says.

Consider the nature of this “engagement”. The company’s e-choupal model for direct procurement is well known, under which ITC partners with over 100,000 farmers for spices and wheat procurement and an even larger number for oilseeds. This kind of rural pedigree is hard to beat.

The company is now strengthening this reach further by setting up more production units closer to the market and is increasing the number of contract manufacturing units from the current 40. Currently, a plant services markets up to a distance of 550-600 km, and the company wants to bring it down to about 250-300 km. While the units will be owned by outsiders, the company will invest in machinery and control the processes to ensure quality.

The new plants will be for segments such as biscuits and staples (like atta), the quality of which deteriorate when transported long distance. It’s obvious why increasing the biscuits manufacturing capacity by at least 15 to 20 per cent is a key focus area. The Rs 9,000-crore biscuits market in India is growing at over 20 per cent annually and contributes over a third of ITC Foods’ top line at present.

Analysts agree its well-leveraged distribution muscle remains the key to the success of ITC Foods. For example, look at the meticulous planning while launching Bingo, the snacks brand which has given the market leader Frito-Lay a run for its money. Apart from keeping procurement costs low, ITC Foods distributed more than 400,000 large racks to display the brand at all points of sale. The racks created so much impact that even Frito-Lay introduced its own version of wafer racks.

Bingo’s hugely successful launch campaign was the other key reason. Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), the agency which handled the communications for Bingo, says the focus was to position the brand as youth-centric.

What works in snacks is novelty and variety. So, from the beginning, Bingo focussed on variety to sustain consumer interest in the brand.

The variety came through irreverent and fun campaigns — consumers were asked to design the ads for Bingo using the angular shape of the chips as the central theme. Marketers call this “crowdsourcing”, which serves two purposes – it engages the end-consumer and the campaign is done at the lowest possible cost.

The second part of the variety came from the recipes. The chefs in the company’s hotels suggested 16 flavours with twists like bindaas masti chaas, chatkila nimbu achar and tandoori paneer tikka-flavoured potato chips, chilli and tomato-flavoured mad angles — inspired by khakras — and other snacks.

The importance of Bingo is evident from the fact that potato-based snacks are the largest product segment (85 per cent share) in the Indian snacks market, followed by snack nuts, chickpeas and other pulse-based savoury snacks.

The success hasn’t come easy, though. ITC Foods, which entered the market in 2001, had to compete hard with established players like Hindustan Unilever, Parle, Britannia, and several other small and regional brands. In 2003-04, it introduced Bischips, which had to be phased out because of poor demand. Its ready-to-eat brand ‘Kitchens of India’ may also be in the process of being phased out as retail sales are negligible due to its non-availability in most areas.

Analysts say there are still many gaps in the company’s portfolio as the business is heavily dependent on biscuits and staples. In order to be a complete foods company, it has to be present in areas such as chocolates, powders or cake mixes, for example. The company also does not have a full non-vegetarian range like seafoods offered by competing brands such as Forstar.

Also, competitors are not sitting quiet and are getting into the health snacks space quiet aggressively. Parle Agro, the maker of Frooti and Appy brand of beverages, for example, is the latest entrant in the Rs 6,500 crore branded snacks segment with the launch of a baked health snack brand– Hippo. PepsiCo India’s foods division Frito Lay that manufactures the Lays, Cheetos and Kurkure brand of snacks, launched its baked health snack Aliva last month. Marico recently launched its premium health snacks under the brand Saffola Zest.

So maiden profit or not, ITC Foods has got some tough competition ahead with Hindustan Lever also trying to shake off its initial lethargy in the foods business. For, the potential is just too huge. The Indian food market is around Rs 2,50,000 crore, of which value-added food products comprise Rs 80,000 crore, and this is estimated to double in another 10 years.

Sapna Agarwal

Television advertising accounts for close to 40 per cent of the overall advertising revenue of around Rs 22,000 crore. In calendar year 2008, the medium recorded a 20 per cent growth. Due to the overall economic slowdown, the outlook for 2009 was bleak with various media planning and buying agencies predicting a single-digit growth for the medium. LV Krishnan, chief executive officer, TAM India, tells Sapna Agarwal that the outlook has improved and the growth would be much more than what was predicted earlier.

A joint venture company between AC Nielsen & Kantar Media Research/ IMRB, TAM Media Research is a TV viewership analysis firm. TAM also monitors advertising expenditure through its division AdEx India. Edited excerpts:

Now that we are halfway into the year, do you think we are being conservative with our estimates for the advertisement industry?
Television accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the advertising industry. In 2008, television grew at close to 20 per cent to Rs 8,500 crore. While we don’t expect to see the same growth as last year, we are revising our estimates from single-digit to anywhere between 10 and 15 per cent in this calendar year. However, an important factor for this growth would be timely monsoons.

What has caused this revision in forecast?
Contrary to our expectations, the medium has done really well this year. The growth in the April to June period is close to 50 per cent over the corresponding period last year. This was largely on account of political or social advertising and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

How has the slowdown impacted advertisers?
The slowdown has not affected the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector (the largest advertiser) as the sector’s top line grew at an average of close to 20 per cent. This has translated into a proportional increase in the advertising spends of FMCG companies. However, sectors like consumer durables, aviation, education and retail have reduced their overall advertising spends, especially in print. If monsoons are normal, we hope to see the revival of these sectors and this will help the overall industry as well as the print ads to grow.

Is sports as a genre for advertising still limited to cricket?
Sports as a genre is going beyond cricket. With India hosting the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, there is bound to be a lot of advertising interest in the event. Then there is the Hockey World Championship also taking place here. Next year there is the Federation of International Footballers Association (FIFA) event. All these various sports are seeing the genre evolve.

Sapna Agarwal

Take market leader Frooti, which had virtually no presence online till recently. The Parle group beverage brand, which went through a major revamp with its new tetra pack and ‘Why grow up’ campaign, is now shedding its initial reluctance. To begin with, Frooti will have a microsite focused on its new campaign. “The brand will take these fresh initiatives to avoid staleness,” Raj Kurup, chairman and chief creative officer, Creativeland Asia, the advertising agency for Parle Agro’s brands like Frooti and Appy, says.

Even Maaza, the premier juice drink brand, is working on a strategy to leverage the online media. Currently, the brand’s communication is limited to the mass media advertising, out-of-home (OOH) media, point of sale merchandise and on-ground initiatives. “We are constantly evaluating innovative options to connect with our consumers and a recent example of that is our clutter-breaking Out-of-Home initiative in Kolkata, which is a personification of a billboard into a tree which bears the Maaza tetra packs. As far as online media is concerned, it is an evolving space but one that can offer significant advantages in enhancing consumer connect. We have plans to leverage the online media in the Maaza brand strategy and are already working towards it,” a Coca-Cola spokesperson said.

Similarly, post the relaunch of Slice last year with Katrina Kaif as its brand ambassador, PepsiCo too has begun to engage with its audience and consumers on-line. It has set up a micro-site www.mangoslice.com and offers exclusive content on Katrina, including wall-papers and photo-galleries on the site.

“There is a lot of user-interest and excitement around us online. Going forward, we have plans to increase our presence on the web and leverage the net for building stronger connect and engagement with our audience,” says Homi Battiwalla, business head, juice & juice drinks, PepsiCo India.

Not everybody is as gung-ho, though. Rasna, for example, had experimented with the online medium two years ago and spent Rs 50 lakh for space on some of the popular sites like Yahoo. But the experiment didn’t succeed, as Rasna has decided to stick to the traditional advertising space.

Phiruz Khambatta, chairman and managing director, Rasna, feels the online medium is more effective for auto, telecom, finance sectors where one needs to do research to take a decision.

A part of the raison d’etre of the Unique Identification Card (UID) project, given to Nandan Nilekani to implement, is to facilitate a more effective delivery of government services (through more accurate identification of the intended beneficiaries), or paying the equivalent value in cash hand-outs. Given the vast budgets for the programmes that would benefit, and the scale of leakages that is widely believed to exist, the UID project would (or should) help the government to save tens of thousands of crores of rupees. Once enough UID had been issued to attain critical mass, the government would (or could) transfer funds to these smart-cards, using technology that already exists. At one stroke, as it were, the government would save on the vast overheads involved in service delivery and supervision, as well as the leakages. If indeed it is true today what Rajiv Gandhi said two decades ago, that only 15 per cent of the money spent reaches the intended beneficiaries, a properly implemented UID project would pay for itself many times over

If the government accepts this logic, there is little sign of it. The outlays on the kinds of programmes that could quite easily be replaced with cash transfers, are the ones that have got massive hikes in outlay. The scheme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), for instance, is to be expanded from Rs 16,000 crore in the Budget estimates of 2008-09 to Rs 39,100 crore in 2009-10, and a pilot programme is to be conducted in 115 districts to see how this can be dovetailed with existing agriculture schemes. If money can be directly transferred to the poor—without distorting the labour market, as is said to be happening—shouldn’t the government be moving in that direction instead? Similarly, a National Food Security Bill will be ready soon for consultation, the intention being to guarantee 25 kilos of grain at Rs 3 per kg to every poor family in the country. But delivering that grain is going to be a problem; the cost is at least another Rs 3, and no public distribution system exists in large parts of the country, especially in the areas where the poor are concentrated. A cash transfer would be a superior alternative—and without distorting the grain market.

Bear in mind that the food security programme will cost Rs 15,000 crore as grain subsidy, and perhaps another Rs 5,000 crore as overheads. The employment guarantee scheme is already costing Rs 39,000 crore. Since the number of families below the poverty line is about 50 million, these two outlays alone could be substituted with monthly payments of Rs 1,000 to each poor family. Mr Nilekani’s card was supposed to be the way out of all this. It might be argued that the card is still only an idea, and that making it a reality for millions of people will take years; therefore, all the existing government programmes have to continue. There is logic to this position, but what needs to be displayed at the same time is some preparation for a regime that will move from transfers in kind to transfers in cash.

Mihir Mishra & Surajeet Das Gupta

The civil aviation ministry has drawn up a plan for revamp of Air India, which proposes a ban on grant of new bilateral rights to international carriers, whose liberal distribution in recent years has come to be seen as a reason for the national carrier’s woes

The proposals include flying Air India Express, the low-cost service, on domestic routes, the mother ship doing away with loss-making flights, and a revamp of its board of directors. The total bailout package may exceed the estimates of Rs 4,000 crore floating in the air.

On routes in countries in West Asia or those such as China, the civil aviation ministry grants seats to carriers based on agreed bilateral rights with each of those countries.
RECOVERING LOST GROUND
Carrier No. of seats per week

2004 2008
Emirates Airline 12,400 48,600
Etihad Airways 1,600 8,500
All West Asia (per year) 2.5 mn 7.5 mn
Source: Airlines

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who held this portfolio in the first government of the United Progressive Alliance, too, has so far followed a liberal open-sky policy, sharply increasing the number of seats offered to West Asian airlines on flights connecting India. According to internal figures available with airlines, the total number of seats offered to West Asian carriers rose from 2.5 million in 2004 to 7.5 million last year.

Emirates, one of the largest West Asian airlines and the third largest connecting India (after Air India and Jet Airways) got to increase its India-related capacity four times from 12,400 seats a week in 2004 to 48,000 seats a week in 2008. In the same period, seats on Etihad Airways’ India-related flights rose from 1,600 seats a week to 8,500.

This created a pocket of turbulence for Air India, which used to earn its bread and butter, and bacon and eggs, mainly from the West Asian sector. The airline now has only 23.55 per cent of the total seats on international flights connecting India, according to CAPA. West Asian carriers have 26.7 per cent.

The government has directed SBI Caps to prepare a restructuring plan, to be submitted by the first week of next month.

A senior official in the ministry confirmed all these proposals, and said: “There are four vacancies for independent directors, which will be filled by top CEOs of the country. They could be from financial institutions and the private sector.”

Asked whether Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata would head the new International Advisory Board of Air India — speculation is rife that he might — the official said: “It is unlikely he will, but he might nominate one of his CEOs.” A statement issued by Tata Sons said its chairman “has not yet taken any decision” on the government’s offer.

Patel has asked his ministry and Air India to come up with a plan in 30 days to pull the airline out of the financial mess it has got into, with losses exceeding Rs 4,000 crore.

A ministry official said, while the equity capital of the company, at Rs 140 crore, was in line with that of other carriers, it will be raised after the restructuring.

Asked how the government intended to handle Air India’s 31,000-strong manpower, the official said: “The manpower of Air India is also used to service other airlines (for instance, they do ground handling for international carriers for a fee), so a comparison with other carriers which run only their own aircraft is unfair. I am not saying the number is low, but we have still not decided how to bring it down.”

Upasana Kaur

Real, the new kid on the Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) space, pitched it as India’s biggest reality show. But when Sarkaar Ki Duniya ended its four-month long journey on Friday last week, the only person who was laughing all the way to the bank was Puneet Mishra, the winner of the Rs 1 crore prize money.

The GRP, or gross rating point, of the mega show was a poor 0.2. For comparison, look at the May 30 grand finale of Zee’s reality show, Dance India Dance, which notched up a GRP of 5.5. A GRP is the sum of all rating points for a channel or a show over a specific time period.

Real Global Broadcasting, a joint venture of Turner International and Miditech of the Alva brothers, was banking heavily on Sarkaar where 18 Indians were asked to transform a rural island under the scrutiny of an autocratic ruler. But the experiment obviously didn’t click.

Cumulatively, Real has managed a GRP of just 12 (Source: TAM Peoplemeter), which means it is still in the least watched category. Though the reach has increased from the initial days, it still remains way below that of its peer group. NDTV Imagine, for example, had done much better in its initial days with 55 GRPs, while Colors created a stir in July last year, notching up 81 GRPs.

This is despite the fact that Turner, which already has a distribution joint venture in India, Zee Turner, will pitch in with distribution support. That gave Real easy access to cable and satellite homes.

So what went wrong with the new experiment targeted at the neo Indians: the urbane, upwardly mobile and aware consumer of 15 to 34 years who speaks Hindi? The channel also wanted to be clearly differentiate from its established competitors and therefore steered clear of the high-voltage saas-bahu serials.

Real’s Director Sunil Lulla, however, says the channel is on the right track. He thinks the new format (”real stories which provide joy and are aspirational”) takes time to grow on viewers. “We are not chasing a pole position, but do wish to grow the franchise with distinctive programming. Real has performed reasonably well in our target segment. With time, we do believe Real will grow,” he says.

It’s true the channel has managed to pull in advertising from some of the biggest brands — State Bank of India, Coca Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Lever. A media analyst says even though the GRP is low compared to other entertainment channels, the fact is that the numbers aren’t small in absolute terms. Around 17 million people watched the programmes on the channel in the first week of its launch.

Besides, advertising rates were lower than other channels — enough reasons perhaps for Real’s advertising volumes to record an increase to 83,000 seconds in June from 6,000 seconds in March.

Some of the advertisers say there were quite a few interesting shows on the channel like Vicky Ki Taxi where unusual stories unfolded in the unique setting of a taxi, with taxi driver Vicky playing the role of a reluctant messiah. The channel is now getting ready to launch new shows.

Real executives also say such only-reality show channels have worked abroad. “It’s just a question of one of the reality shows clicking. The rest will follow,” they say. That could well be true as a third of the total television advertising of Rs 9,000 crore flows into the Hindi GEC space, but it’s equally true that advertisers are not known for their loyalty for long.

So for Real, it’s now or never.

Aabhas Sharma

Gaming is no longer a pursuit to be frowned upon as it has emerged as a lucrative career option.

It’s extremely common to have a passion for something which is frowned upon by others, who think it’s a waste of time and fits the profile of a good-for-nothing fella. Gaming, as far as India is concerned, fits well into the above description. Yet, it remains one of the most sought after career options as, here, you actually get paid to live your passion.

In fact, during our last Google search with the keyword ‘game testing jobs in India’, we were presented with about 10 lakh results and about 4,800 listed jobs on Naukri.com.

Take, for example, Raghavendra Madhavan, who has really made it big in game testing. From testing games for free with Bangalore-based RelQ Software to becoming the project leader of Gameshastra, a game development outfit in Hyderabad, Madhavan has gone a long way.

“Back then, gaming was still a nascent industry and I was just happy playing games,” he says. In the last six years, Madhavan has been involved with testing over 300 games across all gaming consoles. “It’s great fun to be part of a game project from start to finish,” he says.

Sharing his enthusiasm, Mihir Shah, product head at www.Games2Win.com, narrates a similar story. Shah, who began as a game tester, now brings home a ‘fat’ paycheck and loves his job immensely. “Game testing is great fun but don’t overlook the hard work and concentration it demands,” he insists. Just like gaming is a serious business, so is game testing. According to Shah, game testers are unsung heroes. Though they spend countless hours testing games and making them bug-free, they don’t get so much recognition, he adds.

Typically, a video game tester analyses video or computer games to find software defects, commonly called bugs.

Shah’s twin brother Milind also started off as a game tester but now works as an activation head at www.Contests2Win.com. “Testing is a lucrative career but it often tends to become a stepping stone for bigger things in the gaming industry,” feels Milind.

According to a NASSCOM study, the Indian gaming industry, which was $212 million in 2008, is set to touch $1,060 million by 2012 at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50 per cent. Professionals who can create, deliver and satiate the growing gaming appetite are an integral part of this sunshine industry.

No wonder that young men and women are now looking at the gaming industry as their first career option soon after completing graduation.

Take the case of Ashutosh Ingle, who finished his graduation in computer engineering and decided to take up gaming as a career. Today, he works with an animation outsourcing company and draws a salary of close to Rs 50,000 a month. “You have to work on all the nuances and think from a gamer’s point of view,” says Ingle.

And, this job of game testing is not always idyllic. It brings difficult moments too. Citing an example of a recently-developed game, Ingle says he wasn’t too impressed by the game, but yet was required to devote endless hours testing it and communicating the glitches to the developers.

Gameshastra, points its CEO Prakash Ahuja, is always looking out for game testers. Finding dedicated game testers is often a tough task and keeping them happy is an even bigger challenge, he notes. But Rohit Sharma, chief operating officer (COO), www.Zapak.com, feels that the industry needs a deeper talent pool to consolidate its growth.

“It’s an industry that stands on the cusp of explosion, but we need more professionals who can play new games and assess them for the customer,” says Sharma.

So, the next time you are frowned at for playing video games, you might just end up having the last laugh.

Anoothi Vishal

Who makes the best haleem in the business? Whose is the oven-fired pizza to die for? Who catered for Sunil Mittal’s daughter’s wedding? What is Italian restaurateur Ritu Dalmia’s secret for her Thai dishes? Marut Sikka, Nikhil Chibb, Karen Anand, Nelson Wang… names as familiar as the kebabs and khaosweys, the preserves and oriental dishes that they sign their reputations on. Over the last decade, as Indians eat out in the pursuit of culinary excellence, the chef has been re-branded. So, the day Imtiyaz Qureshi takes a break from retirement to rustle up a biryani, Delhi’s cognoscenti will lick their fingers in anticipation. In Mumbai, they’ll pay top dollar to eat at Hemant Oberoi’s Chef’s Table. The chef is now that recognisable ingredient that keeps diners queueing up for more, but can no longer get away with just dishing out the curry. The chef as a brand means his influence must make itself felt not just in the kitchen but in the restaurants he oversees, in marketing, brand extensions and more.

And yet, do we know who deserves to sit at the head of India’s top table? How do you make that choice (even if the proof of the pudding is in the eating)? Besides culinary skills, what matters most — innovation, experimentation, consistency, training? Or, is it something else, something mystical? The belief in “good hands”, for instance? Imtiyaz Qureshi, in his omnipotent days at Dum Pukht, would be asked to “touch” dishes by juniors to ensure perfect flavour. For others, it’s about having a “good heart”. Corporate chef Manjit Gill of ITC Hotels explains: “I firmly believe a chef has to be a good person too… not negative or insecure.”

Nelson Wang, the Mumbai restaurateur credited with “founding” Indian-Chinese, names Jaffer Bhai of Dilli Durbar as one of his picks for the top chef. “Their biryani has remained consistent for the last 30 years,” he reasons. “I don’t know how he has taught his assistants because when I cook a dish, and when the chefs I have trained cook it, there is a difference.” Jaffer Bhai’s offerings may be rivalled by the qorma at Karim’s or kulchas at a street stall in Amristar, but if you don’t find those gentlemen mentioned here, it isn’t because we are elitist but because our pick is restricted to “chefs”, not “cooks”. It is a distinction that needs to be understood in India.

A “chef” is a chef not just because he can follow a recipe to perfection but because of his larger understanding of cuisine and its cultural context. He is someone who can research regional roots, bring a recipe to the mainstream, adapt it and give it a creative edge. Above all, he is someone who makes not just a superb meal but influences the way we eat. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the Business Standard list of top five chefs, in ascending order.

5. Madhu Krishnan, Executive chef, ITC Gardenia, Bangalore (opens in September)

Being a woman in the rough and physically demanding hotel kitchen is not easy; to excel there, even tougher. Recognised by her peers as an exceptional chef, Krishnan’s big moment was when she was credited for her contribution to the West View, ITC Maurya, that opened in 1996. “She brought in the best of ingredients like scallops and cheeses, olives and Parma ham at a time when no one had these and people were not ready to accept anything raw and uncooked,” says food consultant Marut Sikka.

The restaurant was a precursor of the “new world” dining so trendy today — a cuisine, point out her peers, of which, Krishnan’s understanding is unrivalled. She moved on to ITC Grand Maratha, where, again, she was able to set and maintain high standards. “Her biggest quality is her enthusiasm,” says Ritu Dalmia, chef and restaurateur, “she is very hands on.” Sikka adds: “She has never turned in a bad meal, that shows a commitment.”

4. Bakshish Dean
Executive chef, The Park, New Delhi

Which is the best Indian restaurant in India? If you don’t agree with Bukhara (“overrated”) or Dum Pukht (“too heavy”, despite its elegance), or the newer, fusion-Indian Varq or Indian Accent, you will probably hone in on Fire at The Park, New Delhi. Credit for it should go to Dean, who has bridged the gap between contemporary sensibilities and traditional recipes without compromising on taste and authenticity. So his haleem is haleem even if the finesse goes beyond Hyderabad.

Dean is known to be a superb stylist of food. His recipes are well-researched, healthy, and presented imaginatively. And he has novel ways of working: Each time a new menu has to be introduced, he is known to ask members of the hotel staff to get dishes that “their mothers make well”. “He has single-handedly raised the level of The Park’s F&B,” says consultant Sudha Kukreja, herself an untrained but instinctive chef par excellence.

3. Ritu Dalmia, Chef and restaurateur, Diva, Delhi

Till Diva came along, almost a decade ago, Indian diners had just two choices — either a hotel restaurant, or a Pandara Road-style “family” place for a heartier, less expensive meal. Stylish standalones simply didn’t exist, and people were not comfortable with Italian food till Dalmia changed the rules with Diva, her “lifestyle” restaurant.

Ten years down the line, she remains steadily at the helm and continues to cook out of passion, using the best ingredients (Diva has one of the best wine lists of any restaurant in the country), while ruing the fact that her food costs are inordinately high and profits low. “Chefs tend to become mercenaries and pen-pushers and we burn out,” she says. But she hasn’t.

“Hats off to her that she can say I don’t care about the cost, I will only have the best,” says Manu Chandra, executive chef, Olive, Bangalore and Mumbai. She makes it to this list because of sheer talent and because she still cooks a lot herself, unlike, say, Indigo’s Rahul Akerkar, another worthy contender. In fact, forget Italian, try Dalmia’s oriental spread at one of her new spa cafes — a recreation of flavours she tasted on the streets. “It is not Thai food,” she will warn you. But you will understand her genius.

2. Imtiyaz Qureshi and Ananda Solomon (Master chef, ITC; executive chef, Taj President, Mumbai)

Qureshi redefined restaurant food in India even as he stuck with Muslim food from Uttar Pradesh, while Solomon brought the traditions of the Western coast — food from Malvan, Sindhu Durg, his native Mangalore, the Konkan belt — into the mainstream. If “good hands” are the measure of a great chef, both Qureshi and Solomon are gifted with “light fingers”, a term Solomon uses.

For someone who has always upheld the special taste of his mother’s fish curry, Solomon says that “just like a gardener needs to feel the soil with his hands, so should a chef, even at the highest level, be ready to dirty his hands”. Both the Konkan Café and the Thai Pavilion, credited to Solomon, have been winning concepts. If you eat at The President, vouches The Park’s Dean, it is impossible to get a bad meal.

Qureshi’s legend, as everyone knows, grew with Dum Pukht. Beyond being gifted, what set him apart was that he was always ready to work in unusual ways, remembers consultant Marut Sikka. “There are so many chefs of that generation who say that this recipe can only be done like this, but not Imtiyaz.” Every hotel kitchen in India today possibly has a chef from the khandan carrying on the legacy, most notably Ghulam Qureshi, master chef at Dum Pukht, Imtiyaz’s son-in-law.

1. Hemant Oberoi, Corporate chef, Taj luxury hotels

A “super chef” who has fed prime ministers and visiting presidents as well as Hollywood and Bollywood celebs and corporate heavyweights, last year saw Oberoi’s most successful outing ever. Not only did he introduce Varq, the contemporary Indian brand at the Taj with creations like Varqui crabs, Martaban ka meat, Parmesan naan et al, he also launched Japanese restaurant Wasabi in Delhi with an incredible vegetarian spread making up almost 50 per cent of the menu. “He was always ahead of his time,” says Bakshish Dean, who trained under Oberoi. “At that time (in the early 1990s) he would make us work on things like pasta with oriental sauces, though they only came into the market 10 years later.” “I call him gold fingers,” says Nelson Wang, Oberoi’s friend, for whom the chef cooks personally when he visits the Zodiac Grill, another of Oberoi’s big concepts.

It is not as if India’s top chef does not have his detractors: They question his “real talent”, call him a media creation, point to some of his concepts like the Masala series of restaurants that have fizzled out, and add that with the resources at his disposal (“fly to Paris to check out a single recipe”) he should be doing what he is. But in the end, that Oberoi has been able to drive the Taj’s F&B to the top and has been consistently delivering over three decades is a measure of his worth. That so many of his students have gone on to redefine culinary niches in India, and abroad, means that no one else comes close to his stature.

MOST PROMISING YOUNG CHEF
Much before Delhi-boy and St Stephen’s alumnus Manu Chandra started training at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, he was already learning the basics of a professional kitchen, as a 16-year-old at the West View, ITC Maurya. “I was really passionate about cooking and would do birthday cakes and parties for friends ever since I was 12 years old,” says Chandra. Post CIA (including work at Michelin-starred places like Daniel in New York), Chandra sought to return to ITC for his first job. He was asked to do the standard thing: Take a trade test. He refused. Luckily, A D Singh was opening Olive in Bangalore (in 2004) and took him on. In under a year Chandra was elevated to the top job. At 28, he is one of the youngest executive chefs and has, this year, taken charge of Olive’s Mumbai operations too.

There is no dearth of talented young chefs in the country today, experimenting with newer concepts. Take Old World Hospitality’s Manish Mehrotra, for instance. Through sheer talent and grit he’s made it to the top, opening, first, the Oriental Octopus chain, then the much-talked about Tamarai in London, and, this year, Indian Accent in New Delhi. But Chandra leads the pack as much for his skills as for redefining the image of the chef in India: Saif Ali Khan might have been playing him when he played the role in Hum Tum.

Peer talk
We asked the country’s top chefs to rate their top chefs

Manjit Gill, corporate chef, ITC
1. Rahul Akerkar, Indigo
2. Ananda Solomon, Taj
3. Imtiyaz Qureshi, ITC
Criteria: Must be able to put together a meal himself. Must be a good person.

Bakshish Dean, executive chef, The Park
1. Hemant Oberoi, Taj
2. Ananda Solomon, Taj
3. Imtiyaz Qureshi, ITC
Criteria: Apart from talent, a chef must be a good teacher and a people’s person.

Ritu Dalmia, restaurateur, Diva
1. Madhu Krishnan, ITC
2. Hemant Oberoi, Taj
3. Ananda Solomon, Taj
Criteria: Should be hands-on, innovative and enthusiastic.

Sudha Kukreja, restaurateur, Ploof
1. Bakshish Dean, The Park
2. Hemant Oberoi, Taj
3. Ritu Dalmia, Diva
Criteria: Should be able to do simple things without expensive ingredients, yet make it worth your money.

Hemant Oberoi, corporate chef, Taj
1. Imtiyaz Qureshi, ITC
2. Urbano do Rego (Chef Rego) and Ananda Solomon, Taj
3. Rohit Sangwan, Taj Land’s End
Criteria: Should be doing good work.

Ananda Solomon, executive chef, Taj President
1. Madhu Krishnan, ITC
2. Hemant Oberoi, Taj
3. Chef Rego (Taj), Imtiyaz Qureshi (ITC)
Criteria: Should be passionate about cooking and be of such a calibre that only he can make a difference to the product. He should lead by example and should be able to train his juniors so that his cuisine should not die with him.

Marut Sikka, food consultant and restaurateur, Magique
1. Imtiyaz Qureshi, ITC
2. Ananda Solomon, Taj
3. Ritu Dalmia (Diva), Bakshish Dean (The Park)
Criteria: Must be an exceptional chef and have made a difference .

Swaraj Baggonkar & Danny Goodman

Delivery of the first Nanos by Tata Motors is set to commence this month. However, auto parts suppliers are still undecided on whether they will set up a manufacturing base in Sanand in Gujarat, where the Nano mother plant is being set up. The plant is expected to begin production of the first cars by year-end

Seema Sindhu

“We will further strengthen our brand positioning in India through an advertising and distribution expansion. Over three years, we have more than tripled our distributors (around 1,400 currently). We are increasing our marketing spends, too,” Anupam Dutta, managing director, Kellogg India, told Business Standard. He, however, did not give any figures.

Kellogg claims to have cornered 70 per cent market share of the breakfast cereals market in value terms. The company is also betting big on its Kpak (Rs 10 pack) strategy to add new consumers. In November 2007, it launched Kpak to lure more consumers. Dutta says, “Kpak is helping us adding new consumers. The response has been very good. Consumers are picking up multiple Kpaks and upgrading to larger packs.” Small packs also help add new consumers on basis of available variants.

PepsiCo and Heinz too recently entered the market. “While PepsiCo’s Quaker Oates has been doing quite well, it’s not an immediate competitor. But in future, if PepsiCo introduces cereals products, it will cause tough competition. Heinz is a more serious competitor. Also because of its Complan brand, it fits the category better,” according to Anand Ramanathan, Manager, Business Performance Services, KPMG.

Dutta says the company has no plans to diversify in other categories in the foreseeable future. Adding, “Breakfast cereals’ market In India has enough room for us to grow. We will continue to focus on this in near future.”

Ishita Russell

State-owned telecom service provider Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is ready to join the league of private players by offering a stake to a foreign telecom entity, as an alternative to an initial public offering (IPO) which faced stiff resistance from employee unions.

Officially confirming the change in tack for the first time after months of speculation, Kuldeep Goyal, BSNL’s chairman and managing director, told Business Standard, “Foreign partners definitely bring in some expertise that will help the company improve its performance.”

Explaining the logic for inducting a foreign investor, Goyal said, “All of us at BSNL want to fight the competition pro-actively, for which some measures will have to be taken. We cannot go on like this, the employees will also have to realise that we have to take some tough decisions.”

He, however, declined to discuss details such as the shareholding BSNL is willing to offer a foreign investor.

The BSNL board had cleared a plan to divest 10 per cent through an IPO last year to raise about Rs 10,000 crore.

Goyal also made it clear the new plan would be discussed with the union for its concurrence. “We have to talk to our employees about whether they would prefer a foreign partner or an IPO,” he said. “We also have to see what the government wants,” he added.

The union has chosen not to comment until the issue is discussed with the management. “We have to talk to the chairman and managing director first to understand the proposal and the actual situation, after which we will be in a better position to comment,” said V A N Namboodiri, president, BSNL Employee Union.

He added that the union would probably issue a statement after July 9.

Big foreign telecom operators like AT&T, France Telecom and Oman Telecom have been eyeing the Indian telecom market.

BSNL is the country’s largest telecom company after Bharti Airtel, with 82 million subscribers (53.6 million of them mobile users) and has a country-wide network coverage.

With a turnover of Rs 38,000 crore and a net profit of Rs 3,000 crore in the last financial year, it will be a lucrative target for foreign players.

The company will also require cash to pay for third generation (3G) spectrum, which has now become more expensive with the recent decision to raise the reserve price of 3G spectrum to Rs 4,040 crore. The company has a head-start over private competitors in 3G services, having been given government permission to begin operations even though private players are waiting for licences to be auctioned.

Commenting on the steep price of spectrum, the radio frequencies that enable mobile calls, Goyal said, “We started our 3G services in February without knowing the price of spectrum. But if the cost of spectrum is too high then we might have to adjust our price to consumers accordingly.”

The company has 10,000 3G customers in over 70 cities and is targeting 100,000 customers by September this year.

The company is currently fighting a court case against telecom equipment vendor Nokia Siemens which had alleged unfair allotment of a tender for 93 million lines.

BSNL’s move to induct a foreign partner is part of a trend among private telecom operators to infuse cash, technology, or reduce investment costs by leveraging bulk-buying discounts for equipment.

Tata Teleservices, for instance, sold 26 per cent to NTT DoCoMo for Rs 13,070 crore. The Japanese telecom giant is now playing a key role in the Tata telecom company’s roll-out of GSM services and in introducing its value-added services.

New entrants like Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless were able to sell stakes even though they have not yet started services.

Swan Telecom sold 45 per cent to UAE-based Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) for around Rs 4,140 crore.

Unitech Wireless, sold 60 per cent stake to Norway’s Telenor for Rs 6,120 crore

The shipping ministry is planning to award six port development projects worth Rs 2,183 crore in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka as part of its 100-day agenda programme.

This apart, it has proposed to declare Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep as major ports, taking the total number of major ports in the country to 14. The projects would come up under the public private partnership (PPP) model, said shipping minister G K Vasan.

The projects include a Rs 1,407-crore container terminal with a capacity of 1.5 million twenty foot equivalent unit (TEUs) at Ennore Port, near Chennai.

The second project involves development of a container terminal with a capacity of 470,000 TEUs for Rs 312.23 crore at the Tuticorin port.

The ministry is also looking at commissioning a small ship division at Cochin Shipyard Ltd in Kerala at an estimated cost of Rs 98.63 crore.

Among others, the Phase II of capital dredging of National Waterways No 3 on the west coast canal from Kollam to Kottapuram along with Champakara and Udyogmandal canals in Kerala will be implemented at Rs 89.74 crore.

A mechanised iron ore handling facility as a backup requirement to deep draft at the multipurpose Berth No 14 would be developed at Rs 277.11 crore at the New Mangalore Port in Karnataka.

Looking at an aggressive multi-fold growth with an emphasis on technology, quality, innovation, value and services penetration, Videocon Group has unveiled its new eco-friendly green brand identity and tagline: ‘Experience Change’

The ‘V’ in the new Videocon logo is composed of two animated green, lava-like shapes — called Chouw and Mouw —with distinct identities of their own. Chouw and Mouw are ‘live’ characters, and will be used through a series of short videos to tell simple stories. Both have certain personality traits, based on their physical attributes.

KR Kim, vice-chairman and CEO, Videocon Group, said: “The brand reinvention will involve our employees and keep them engaged, energised and rewarded — as a strong workforce results in even stronger products.”

Lesline D’Monte

As India’s largest private telecom operator, Bharti Airtel has over 100 million cellphone subscribers. Now it has launched an application which can take advantage of its wireless network, and be installed on any mobile handset to enable enterprises to access their data and do business from anywhere around the world.

The concept is similar to cloud computing initiatives initiated by several companies, wherein managers and salespersons (also known as the field force) access business data using the internet from their personal computers (notebooks and desktops) to transact business online.

The difference here is that executives can now use Airtel’s GSM network on any mobile handset to access their business-critical data like their enterprise resource planning (ERP) databases, email and intranets. Users can install a client application called the Mobile Applications Tool for Enterprises or MATE from Airtel on their handset. MATE is an integrated telecom & IT platform, and enables authorised users only to access their business data through mobile devices.

For instance, a field agent can record symptoms of a patient in a rural area, and send it to a city-based doctor for his online prescription, and deliver the medicine to the patient — all in a matter of a few minutes, since the agent is using his mobile and the GSM (and GPRS or internet) network. The device can be integrated with a bluetooth printer to get a printed prescription, too. Similarly, retail, media, logistics and courier companies too can use this solution to cut their sales cycles to a few minutes. Due to the mobility, for instance, a logistics company will not need to invest in brick and mortar branches.

“The platform promises to be a great proposition for various industries that depend on their field force like retail, media, FMCG, etc. Depending on the requirements, Airtel will deploy MATE platform to help organisations in operations and ultimately deliver better customer service,” says David Nishball – President, Enterprise Services, Bharti Airtel. Without divulging any names, Nishball says he has “received the maximum interest from segments like media, logistics, BFSI, and to some extent, from the government sector, too”

The move also makes business sense for Airtel, which derives around 22 per cent of its total revenues from the enterprise segment. MATE adds value to the proposition. The mobile VAS industry is expected to grow at 70 per cent over the next two years, to touch Rs 16,520 crore by end-June 2010. Enterprise VAS is playing a crucial part in the VAS industry, offering high-value tailor-made solutions and services to enterprises. It is expected to be about Rs 1,000 crore in about three to five years.

But the proposition is not entirely new. Enterprises today offer mobile-enabling enterprise services like capture field force data, supply chain information, sales /customer data, information from retail outlets, data about your raw material sites and more. “Field force integration is the key to business process automation, which could fill the gap effectively that PC-based internet could not address,” counters Rajiv Sehgal-Head, Enterprise Mobile Solutions.

There is an inexorable shift happening from the PC-centric world to a mobile-centric world and simultaneously, we are seeing an emergence of cloud computing architecture, concurs Alok Shende, Principal Analyst of Ascentius Consulting. Airtel’s new offerings on enterprise VAS, he adds, is contextualised to these emerging paradigms. “With the launch of one of the first mobility platforms in India,” he concludes, “Airtel has not only upped the ante on competition, but also created solutions that purport to cut layers of cost for their customers.”

‘Business on the go’ is the key word here, given that, on an average, 36 per cent of employees spend a day or more away from their primary workspace.

And as a US group study indicates, by 2011, 46.6 million corporate employees will spend at least one day a week teleworking globally and an additional 112 million will work from home at least one day a month. Solutions like these, note analysts, will only help the cause.

K Rajani Kanth

Mobile service operator Idea Cellular Limited is currently working on an innovative initiative christened ‘Idea Madhur’ “to bring to the limelight the forgotten artistes and keep the grassroot-level music intact,” according to its chief marketing officer Pradeep Shrivastava.

“Of late, we have been putting a lot of focus on localised content. The idea behind the Idea Madhur programme is to create content with like-minded people and provide it as value-added services (VAS) including dialler tones, background tones and SMS tones on the mobile to our over 45 million subscribers,” he said.

Shrivastava was speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of a curtain-raiser press conference on Monday on the forthcoming 56th IDEA Filmfare Awards 2008 (South), scheduled to be held in Hyderabad on July 31, 2009.

As per the internal statistics of Idea, four out of 10 subscribers of the company use dialler tones. While VAS currently accounts for 10 per cent of Indian cellular operators’ overall revenues, this is expected to grow to about 25 per cent in the next five years, like in China. “Music and filmy content form a major chunk of VAS. And, the rural markets are bigger than urban areas now,” he said.

Shrivastava said Idea had identified select markets to unearth authentic folk music and had already started a pilot in Andhra Pradesh. “At present, we are working with music companies and grassroot-level artistes to create content based on seven genres of folk music in the state. However, it will take a couple of months for us to introduce this content on the mobile as it requires high-quality music recording and then converting the content to the mobile format, before launching it in other regions,” he added.

© 2009 Business Standard

Shuchi Bansal

The Times Group’s new business channel, ET NOW, leverages on the combined resources of the channel and its print sibling, The Economic Times. Will the model work?

The fight for the Rs 325-crore advertising market in the English business news segment has intensified with the entry of ET NOW, the long-awaited television channel from Times Global Broadcasting Corporation Ltd, the television arm of Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. Times Global Broadcasting currently operates the company’s three-and-a-half-year-old general interest news channel, Times NOW. Launched on June 21, ET NOW is India’s fourth English business news channel which will compete with CNBC-TV18, NDTV Profit and UTVi for eyeballs and advertising.

But being number four does not ruffle Chintamani Rao, the CEO of Times Global Broadcasting: “I have said this before and I can say it again, for us there is only one competitor — CNBC-TV18.” ET NOW has clearly trained its sights on CNBC, the 10-year-old market leader from Raghav Bahl’s TV18 Group. According to TAM data, between May 10 and June 13, CNBC-TV18 enjoyed a channel share of 68 per cent, followed by NDTV Profit at 25 per cent and UTVi at 7 per cent.

In its pursuit of leadership in the segment, Times Global Broadcasting has set out to create a distinctive business model as well as positioning for ET NOW. For a start, the channel is using the same brand name as its successful print product. (Bennett, Coleman & Company publishes India’s largest English business daily, The Economic Times, popularly known as ET). “At the risk of sounding pompous, I could say that ET NOW is a world first. In business news, no print and television products share a brand name,” says Rao.

Come together

In fact, the common brand name has its genesis in the concept of creating an integrated newsroom where the channel draws on the resources of the newspaper and the newspaper feeds on the television channel. Explains Neeti Chopra, brand director for ET who now manages ET NOW as well: “The very fact that the brand functions of the newspaper and the business channel have been integrated and that the editor for the paper and the channel is the same explains the model we are following.”

ET NOW has a dedicated staff of 300 people, including the editorial team. However, in addition to this, The Economic Times reporters also appear on television. The news breaks in print are put on air and vice versa. That, Rao claims, is the unique selling proposition or the differentiator for the channel.

ET NOW is not a pure stock market channel, a position occupied by CNBC-TV18 and later followed by NDTV Profit and UTVi. “ET NOW is not a ball-by-ball commentary on the stock market. It’s a mix of stock trends and business news,” explains Rao.

Clearly, the differentiator is reflected in its positioning as well. The channel tagline says, The Economic Times Advantage. “We could have said we will change your life or we will make you profitable, but the truth is that we’re bringing The Economic Times’ core strength of breaking business news to the viewer,” says Chopra. To promote its business channel, Times Global Broadcasting has liberally used its print media brands, The Times of India and The Economic Times, for publicity. It also made use of the outdoor (Times owns an outdoor company as well) with bus shelters in Delhi and hoardings in Mumbai.

Who’ll rule?

But being backed by India’s largest media conglomerate does not mean that ET NOW is devoid of challenges. For starters, Jehil Thakkar of KPMG feels that in the medium- to long-term, there is not enough room for four players, though ET NOW may help grow the market initially.

Then there is competition. Media analysts say that though ET NOW could offer great coverage, CNBC-TV18 is a formidable brand. Adds KPMG’s Thakkar: “ET NOW is a strong brand with access to the newsroom and content of The Economic Times. There is a synergy there. However, CNBC-TV18 is the leader by far. The real battle will be between the two.”

A senior TV18 executive does not agree and says that the new channel will first need to contend with NDTV Profit and UTVi before eyeing the leadership slot. However, Shantonu Aditya, executive director of UTV Global Broadcasting Ltd, feels that there is opportunity for differentiated content in the Indian market. “We are positive about UTVi’s future… We are the only business news channel that gets a higher weight of viewership in cable homes from the young in the 25-44 years age group, unlike the older channels where 45-plus and 55-plus viewers form the core.”

Other than stiff competition from existing players, channel visibility could be an issue. The new channel is not available in parts of the country.’

Rao claims that distribution deals have been signed with most cable operators in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and the whole of Gujarat. “We will now focus on making it available on the DTH (direct-to-home) platform,” says Rao, promising to scale up distribution quickly. Rao admits that carriage fee paid to cable operators for distribution is steep and upsets the cost structure of TV channels. “It is a fact that new entrants pay more than their predecessors,” he says without divulging the carriage fee that ET NOW has had to pay.

Rao insists that the channel has saved on cost as it shares the sales and marketing team as well as the human resources team with Times NOW.

Will it work?

So will the integrated news room experiment work? It’s the first time that there’s been a complete convergence between print and TV. Says Aditya of UTV Global Broadcasting: “I cannot recall any line extension in media that has worked. TV channels are driven purely by content and not by ownership. Television as a product is quite different from print… and, therefore, while promotion does play an important role and line extensions give that definite edge to a new entrant, the real success depends on the quality of the product that follows.”

Rao insists that there is no question of the experiment going hay wire. “It’s not that suddenly we got up one day and decided to use the newspaper reporters. The entire organisational structure has been designed according to our business model.” There are integrators whose job is just to integrate the operations. “It could become a new model for others to follow,” adds Chopra.

But the TV18 executive says that the question is not about the model but how viewers react to the channel. Conventional wisdom says that the launch advantage stays for only about four weeks. After that, the channel has to perform.

Surajeet Das Gupta

There is a simple rule of business which says that if you have too many rivals in the market place, differentiate your product to keep your head above water. It improves your brand recall and breaks the clutter. Easy advice, difficult to implement, especially if the market happens to be mobile telecom services in India. Though it is the fastest-growing market in the world, there are about half a dozen service operators in each of the 22 telecom circles and more are ready to join the bandwagon. Out-of-the-box thinking could burst at its seams here.

Tata Teleservices, after a lacklustre performance in the CDMA space, has launched GSM services in Chennai and Tamil Nadu with a bunch of new promises — pay only for the time you speak and not for 30- or 60-second pulses, pay for SMSs according to their length and enjoy next-generation Internet experience right now. It is still early days to say if the strategy will pay off. But what is certain is that Tata Teleservices plans an aggressive push in the market armed with these tools.

After Chennai and Tamil Nadu, it plans to cover all the southern states in the next two weeks as well as Orissa and become a pan-India operator (it has not received spectrum in Delhi so far) by October. The bill for the roll out will be Rs 9,600 crore ($2 billion). Though Tata Teleservices Managing Director Anil Sardana does not want to divulge his market share targets, he says that he wants his brand and service to be amongst the top three under consideration by potential consumers in the circles in which Tata Teleservices will operate within the next two years.

Vying for space

This is a tough challenge. As a CDMA player, Tata Teleservices did not really set the market on fire. With around 37 million customers, it is way below rivals like Bharti Airtel (100 million customers), Reliance Communications (80 million), Vodafone Essar (74 million), Idea Cellular (45.4 million) and state-owned BSNL (48 million). Though the market is projected to expand at a fast clip from 400 million now to 700 million by 2012, the top three players in GSM command over 60 per cent market share at present.

Also, Tata Teleservices’ earlier attempts at innovation hardly invoke confidence. It had launched Virgin Mobile — a niche service targeted at the youth — some time ago, but has managed to get only three or four lakh subscribers, a high-decibel advertising campaign notwithstanding. On the positive side, the average revenue from these customers is very high.

But Sardana and his men are confident that this time they have got the right mantra for success. On offer is a pre-paid connection pack for Rs 49 and customers have to fork out just one paisa for every second of usage for a call across the country. That is dramatically different from rivals who charge according to the pulse rates — for instance, you pay for the full pulse of 60 seconds even if your call lasts only 30 seconds. The company will use the same model for value-added services too. Thus, SMSs will be charged according to their size and the time taken to reach the recipient.

Sardana explains the logic behind the pay-for-usage model which was pioneered many years ago by Orange in France. He says that 18 per cent of what the subscribers pay in their monthly bill is for services which they have not used and which they don’t realise. For instance, apart from the extra pulse time, a subscriber may be unknowingly paying Rs 30 for caller tunes every month, though he might not have changed his tune for six months!

Rivals, as expected, are not too enthused by the plan. “Reliance Communications offered an entry-level pack which was half that price and most pre-paid packs are available at the same price. So, the Rs-49 offer is not cheap. Also one paisa per second translates into 60 paisa a minute and there are existing offers much below that. We don’t see a customer churn because of the offer,” says an executive of a leading GSM service operator. Analysts, on the other hand, are impressed. “The tariff structure ensures that customers do not pay for call drops which have become a serious issue. Regulators across the globe are trying to move towards this direction. I think that it is a big plus,” says telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal.

Interestingly, Tata Teleservices had attempted to introduce a pay-for-usage plan for its CDMA service two years ago — a customer could pay five paisa per second of usage or Rs 1.80 for a minute. “This worked out a tariff of Rs 3 for a one-minute call. Since we also offered Rs 1.80 for a minute, so anybody who spoke for more than 36 seconds on every call preferred it. We realised it won’t work,” says a senior executive of the company. As a result, the plan was withdrawn.

The DOCOMO edge

Apart from the pay-for-usage model, Sardana has the NTT DOCOMO connection to flaunt — the Japanese company had last year bought 26 per cent of Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion (Rs 13,120 crore). Compression technology provided by NTT DOCOMO (turnover: $45.28 billion, customers: 54 million) will help subscribers to download at speeds comparable to a 3G network — a next generation network for which spectrum has not yet been allocated to private service operators. In fact, Tata Teleservices has kept a dedicated data channel (spectrum) for this. Services like i-Mode for Internet mobile and wallet services to use the mobile phone as a credit card will be introduced. There will be customised value-added services on offer. For instance, the subscriber can choose what kind of news, from which newspapers he wants on the ticker. Through timed SMS services, he can affix the time and date when he wants the message to reach its destination. To begin with, Tata Teleservices will open 600 retail stores in the South which will, apart from other things, give customers the NTT DOCOMO technology experience.

On Sardana’s target clearly are middle- and high-level customers who look for add-ons. In fact, Sardana admits that he will not chase mass-market subscribers. “We are aware that the market is already cluttered. But our surveys show that over 70 per cent of the customers are not satisfied with their existing service providers. So there is a large scope for us to get in,” says he.

Industry estimates suggest that though tariffs in the country are the lowest anywhere in the world, subscriber churn is as high as 50 to 60 per cent per annum. In other words, more than half the customers change their service operator every year. And this despite the Rs 3,000-crore mobile service operators spent on advertising last year. (The number is expected to be much higher this year with the entry of new players.) Tata Teleservices reckons that price is not the key reason why a subscriber opts out of a service — it is the quality of the service. No less than 53 per cent said in a survey carried out by the company that the network is the biggest factor that drives the churn.

Customer call

Thus, Tata Teleservices will focus on those 50 per cent of the existing customers who are in search of a better network, or a market size of around 250 million subscribers by the end of this year when the total subscriber base is expected to swell to 500 million. Not for it the ten million new customers that are added every month. The company also has on its crosshairs that customer who is unsatisfied but has decided to hang on to the existing operator because he doesn’t want to give up his mobile number. Till mobile number portability kicks in, Sardana says he will offer this customer a similar number (same last five digits, for instance) and alerts to all contacts stored on his phone about the change in the number. According to Sardana, 14 to 20 per cent of post-paid subscribers in the metros fall in this category.

In the final analysis, will the GSM foray attract customers to Tata Teleservices? Competitors say that it will only eat into the company’s base of CDMA subscribers. The argument is based on the fact that CDMA services are more data-centric. “CDMA is a data-friendly technology. But by wooing customers on the value-added data platform through NTT DOCOMO’s Internet services, it is talking to the same customers,” says an executive of a rival GSM operator.

Sardana is not convinced. He says these are two different markets — CDMA is targeted at the mass market where the entry barrier is low, while the GSM offering is for high-value customers. “A customer has to pay Rs 999 to become a CDMA subscriber with a bundled phone. GSM, where you have to buy the phone, is more expensive. In GSM we will sell a range of value-added services. So, it is different,” says he. The market just got more interesting.