Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2016 i Business Today

One of the biggest casualties of the first dotcom crash of 2000/01 in the US was a company called Webvan. It was founded in 1997, and headquartered in Silicon Valley. It was envisaged as an online grocery business, taking orders and delivering on-demand fresh produce. It had a raft of big venture capitalists’ backing, and was considered a business that would revolutionise groceries much the same way that Amazon was trying to revolutionise the book sales business. It raised almost $400 million from venture capitalists and then another $345 million in an IPO in 1999. At its peak, it was valued at over $5 billion. In 2000, it bought out a smaller rival called HomeGrocer.com, which had started operations one year before it did. Webvan spent millions on infrastructure and…

11 TECH-ENABLING INDIA WHAT: i-Bharat 2016 WHEN: January 11, Federation House, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The second edition of the FICCI-Department of Electronics & IT event is titled ‘Embracing Technology: Transforming India’. It aims to discuss the various technologies and government policies that could enable smart cities, implement Digital India and e-governance. 14 - 15 REACHING OUT TO KOREA WHAT: India-Korea Business Summit WHEN: January 14-15, Le Meridien, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK FOR: More than 100 top executives representing the largest Korean companies, South Korean government officials, besides Indian CEOs. The summit will focus on emerging business opportunities in India in infrastructure, ICT, power, smart cities and manufacturing. 21 REALITY CHECK WHAT: National Real Estate Summit 2016 WHEN: January 21, PHD House, New Delhi WHAT TO LOOK…

IN ESSENCE, USERS GET TO ACCESS ONLY THOSE SITES FOR FREE WHICH FACEBOOK APPROVES. TO ACCESS OTHERS, HE OR SHE PAYS THE FULL DATA USAGE CHARGES Rarely has any company spent so much money to promote an ostensibly “free” service. Facebook took full-page cover ads in most major newspapers to tout the benefits of Free Basics, a supposedly free Internet service. Facebook is trying very hard to make the Indian telecom regulator, TRAI, give an approval for the Free Basics service. Under the Free Basics scheme, users won’t have to pay data charges for accessing Facebook and certain other sites that it approves, through a mobile device using a Reliance Communication connection in India. (Free Basics is being offered in 38 poor countries in partnership with a different telco in…

“The beauty about the GST is that it is self-enforcing. It goes after corruption, but not in a heavy-handed manner like other legislations” Immediately after taking charge as India’s Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) in October 2014, Arvind Subramanian had identified macroeconomic stability and spurring investments as top priorities for the Centre. CEA’S mid-year analysis of the Indian economy indicates that while the country has done well in macroeconomic stability, a lot more needs to be done to boost growth and investments. In an exclusive interview with Business Today’s Joe C. Mathew and Sumant Banerji, Subramanian explains why India’s growth indicators are mixed. He also asserts that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) can be the best enabler of economic growth. Edited Excerpts: The mid-year economic review is giving mixed signals…

On December 6, Venezuela underwent a transformation. A coalition of opposition parties – the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) – won 109 of the 167 seats in elections to the National Assembly, the unicameral parliament. The ruling Socialist Unity Party (PSUV) won 55. Some 15 million, 75 per cent of the electorate, voted. President Nicolas Maduro, anointed as successor by Hugo Chavez before his death in 2013, has fallen in public esteem. Elected for a six-year term by a narrow margin of just over 1 per cent in April 2013, he has ruled by decree for most of his presidency, backed by a Parliament dominated by the PSUV. With its two-thirds majority of 112, the non-PSUV legislators can amend the Constitution promulgated by Hugo Chavez in 1999. The MUD, formed in…

In the past fortnight, two diametrically opposite business calls captured the dilemma in one of the hottest segments of India’s fast-growing e-commerce industry — grocery e-tailing. While instant grocery delivery firm Grofers, which has raised $167 million in three rounds from Softbank, Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital, decided to stop operations in nine cities, and LocalBanya, among the top five players, halted operations, Sanjiv Goenka group-owned Spencer’s Retail bought New Delhi/Gurgaon-based startup meragrocer.com and announced that it would scale up to 35 cities. The dichotomy — of two players scaling down due to lack of business and the other one scaling up — sums up exactly what is happening in grocery e-tail. Over the past three to four years, this business opportunity has spawned over 60 multi-city start-ups and hundreds…

Six years ago, Dilip Shanghvi, the promoter and Managing Director of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, was clear and confident when asked two questions that were key to the company’s future — Is it risky to over-depend on the US market? And, is it possible to maintain the sky-high margins of more than 40 per cent? “US is the biggest market, and is going to remain so in the future. Margins may go down as base increases, but we will try to maintain ‘above industry average’ growth and returns. We are looking at giving maximum shareholder returns every year,” he had said. This was the period when Sun was considered a miracle wrought by Shanghvi. In 2007/08, for instance, its net profits were over 44 per cent of sales. A year before…

Founder-Partner, India Quotient"We did invest ahead of the curve in this company. But that only means we will make money in six years instead of three, which is fine with us" The son of a Professor of Veterinary Sciences, Rana Atheya had become a pet expert by the time he was a young man, picking up details about domesticated animals from his father. But in pursuit of his engineering degree from MJP Rohilkhand University, Uttar Pradesh, and later an MBA from Coventry University, UK, the dog-lover in him waited in the wings only to reappear as a blogger on his pet subject – how to adopt animals, train them and what to feed them. Finally, in 2007, the trigger to migrate from BlogSpot.com to DogSpot.in came from a friend. “Why…

The book provides an insight into the world of Jack Welch, and how he ran GE When the “greatest manager of the last century” (Jack Welch, Fortune 1999) and a successful ex-editor of “the world’s most influential business magazine since 1922” (Suzy Welch, Harvard Business Review 2002) get together to publish their second book, you can expect an engrossing read. And The Real-Life MBA: Your No-nonsense Guide to Winning the Game, Building a Team, and Growing Your Career does not disappoint. Amidst the profusion of business literature on innovation, disruption, uncertainty and everything else, The Real Life MBA emerges as a refreshing read. It’s simple in messaging, pointed in focus and action-oriented in guidance, despite being aggressive in tenor. Business is like a game, and winning matters. Following a few…

Best Wishes for BT’s Majestic March This refers to Business Today’s 24th Anniversary Issue (January 17, 2016). First of all, kudos to BT for successfully completing 24 years in the turbulent media industry. It is a remarkable feat. The excellent suggestions by experts in the last edition have depicted innovative means to speed up the progress of the Indian economy. With abundant resources at our disposal and a vast talent pool, the policymakers must accelerate reforms and disinvestment, attract huge investments, bolster governance, ensure timely execution of the revamped plans, and make India a global economic and military giant along with the US and China. Many of the measures and weapons that are recommended by Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd.) in the defence policy arena are yet to be brought into…

THE FIRST MONTHS OF 2016 TOO ARE LIKELY TO BE UNCERTAIN BUT MANY EXPERTS FEEL THE DANGERS ARE FOR THE SHORT TERM ONE IMPORTANT SILVER LINING FOR THE EQUITY MARKETS IS THE GROWTH OF MUTUAL FUNDS, ESPECIALLY THE RISE IN THE NUMBER OF RETAIL INVESTORS USING SIP The first shock of the year has already registered. On January 7, the BSE Sensex fell 554.50 points – or 2.2 per cent – to touch 24,851.83, its steepest drop in the past three months. Indeed, stock markets around the world followed suit, all due to China devaluing its currency by 0.51 per cent to 6.5646 against the US dollar earlier in the day – its lowest levels since March 2011. But to many market watchers, it came as no surprise. “Equity markets…

It is a no-brainer when you think about it really. Any event you plan, whether it is a global conference or a small networking mixer, is social by design, right? Hence, it is certain that social media would be key to every aspect of event planning. Yet, strangely enough, for many companies, hosting an event means throwing together a Facebook page to tell people when the event is happening, along with a few tweets or LinkedIn posts. Shouldn't you instead use social to start a nuanced, long-term conversation with your attendees? If you are involved with planning an event, consider these tips for weaving social into your event’s fabric, so that the buzz prevails long after the last cheque is cleared. At the beginning, you would want to decide your…

Estimates suggest the global industry is burdened with massive excess capacity of around 550 million tonnes (approx. 25% of global capacity). The biggest overcapacity of 250-300 million tonnes is in China alone Narendra Singh Tomar’s office is abuzz with activity these days. The gamut of visitors who have sought the attention of the Union Minister of Steel and Mines in the past month includes industrialists such as Essar Group CEO Prashant Ruia, JSW Steel Chairman Sajjan Jindal, and Tata Steel Managing Director T.V. Narendran. Even Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, walked across the few blocks that separate her ministry from Tomar’s in Udyog Bhavan, to meet him. In an unregulated sector like steel, this kind of frenetic activity is far from usual. The only other time…

Although RCom’s strategy is to gain market share, there is a question mark over the kind of customers it will acquire from Aircel and MTS WHAT IS ANIL AMBANI THINKING • The three-way merger will create India's largest telco • It is necessary for RCom to survive the telecom battle that’s going to take place after the full-fledged 4G rollout • The reduction of debt through sale of tower and fibre optic businesses will create a new entity with much less debt on its books • The impending tie-up with Jio will create a mega entity with huge amount of 4G spectrum across the country For years now, Reliance Communications has been a fringe player, more in news for its debt and plans to trim it, than rising profits or…

Over the past decade, the technology world has grown at an exponential rate. From HD to full HD to 4k resolution in televisions and smartphones, to wearable gadgets and the advent of hybrids, a lot has happened in the personal technology space. The future, on the other hand, holds great promise for technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. A lot has already been achieved in the technology space, such as Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, but 2016 promises to showcase what these innovations are capable of – it would be a year of evolution and may not be about revolution. INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT): It has almost become a household name following all the talk around connecting electronics, software and sensors through a network…

By JamesMontier Wiley Price: 299 Written in a straightforward style, the book will enable you to eliminate behavioural traits that can hinder your investment endeavours and shows you how to achieve superior returns. BUSINESS BESTSELLERS* Thinking, Fast and Slow By Daniel Kahneman Penguin Books Price: 499 Elon Musk By Ashlee Vance Virgin Books Price: 699 Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson Little, Brown Book Group Price: 550 Arise, Awake By Rashmi Bansal Westland Books Price: 200 The Mystery Manual By Robin Sharma Jaico Publishing House Price: 199 *Top books by sales for Dec 20, 2015 - Jan 2, 2016; Includes only books released after January 1, 2015; Information provided by…

“Don’t just harvest what others have sown” R.S. Sodhi, Managing Director of Amul, talks to Ajita Shashidhar about what it requires to be a delightful consumer brand and give adequate value to the 3.6 million farmers feeding milk to his organisation. What is your mantra for running a not-for-profit co-operative brand? We take decisions keeping in mind only two stakeholders – milk producers (farmers) and consumers. Dealers and distributors are not priority for us. We pay the highest possible rates to farmers for their milk; also help them with nutritious fodder for their cattle and provide veterinary support. This has helped us win their trust, and they, in return, give us the best quality milk. For every litre of milk we sell, 80 per cent goes to the farmer. We…

THE SCIENCE & THE CIRCUS Indian born Nobel Laureate Venkataraman Ramakrishnan calls the Indian Science Congress a “circus” in a newspaper interview after hearing some of the topics discussed in it, including Homoeopathy and Astrology. SHIA-SUNNI OR OIL RIVALRY? After Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia executed 47, including Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, its Embassy in Shia-dominated Iran was attacked and ransacked by an irate mob in Tehran. Saudi Arabia announced breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and its allies Bahrain, Sudan and UAE also either broke off ties or downgraded their relationship. But more than the Shia-Sunni rivalry, analysts see the event as the after-effect of oil rivalry. Both sides have refused to curtail production to steady global oil prices. THE H-BOMB North Korea leader Kim Jong Un claims his country has…

Multi-lingual Texting Instant messaging platform Hike has launched its app in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. “This launch means that people and communities across the length and breadth of India can now be in touch with their families, friends and contacts in their own native languages, defying the English language barrier erstwhile felt in messaging apps,” the company said in a press release. The app, available for Android phones, features a multi-lingual keyboard that allows the user to type in nine languages including English. The multi-lingual interface helps users choose a language as soon as they download the app. Users can also use the glide functionality at the bottom of the chat panel to swap languages. Drone Selfies Twitter has attained a patent from the…

2009 12 Aug: First DTC draft released 2010 15 Jun: Revised discussion paper on DTC issued, addressing 11 major points raised over the initial draft 2011 30 Aug: Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2010, introduced in the Lok Sabha, then referred to Standing Committee on Finance 2012 09 Mar: Standing Committee on Finance submits report 2013 20 Aug: After considering Standing Committee report, note sent to Cabinet to withdraw DTC Bill, 2010, and introduce revised DTC Bill, 2013 2014 1 Apr: Fresh draft Bill released 26 May: NDA government sworn in 2015 28 Feb: “There is no great merit in going ahead with the Direct Tax Code as it exists today,” says Finance Minister Arun Jaitley…

A dramatic surge in import of steel from China, Japan and Korea has battered the domestic steel industry. Numerous policy interventions have not helped. Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar tells BT’sRajeev Dubey andSumant Banerji that while the government is considering more measures to restrict imports, the sector may remain under stress for some more time. Edited excerpts: BT: How severe is the distress in the domestic steel industry? Tomar: This sector is deregulated and keeps fluctuating as per the overall market. It is true that there are lots of problems right now and we are aware of it. Industry is also trying to wriggle out of it. After a long time there is stress in this sector. The impact of this is…

“ Diesel forms approximately 80 per cent of our volumes as we have gradually developed this portfolio on strong domestic demand” Roland Folger, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India 25% is Delhi-NCR’s contribution to luxury car sales in India The Supreme Court order banning registration of new vehicles with two-litre or heavier engines in the Delhi-NCR region – Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad – until March 31, has thrown the Indian luxury car market into turmoil. The court’s verdict has eliminated more than 60 luxury models from the country’s biggest car market. Of course, the 2,000 cc and above ban covers more than four dozen models of Toyota, Tata Motors, Chevrolet, Skoda, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Ford India, Hyundai, Isuzu and Force Motors as well. Delhi-NCR accounts for 15 per…

AMASS A LARGE USER BASE • Leverage existing user groups • Use publicly available data as a substitute for one user group OFFER STAND-ALONE VALUE • Add a service that is useful even if few others join the platform RECRUIT MARQUEE USERS • Pay them to join • Buy the marquee brand REDUCE USERS’ RISKS • Offer pay-as-you-go pricing • Subsidise early users ENSURE COMPATIBILITY WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS • Offer just enough compatibility to attract new users • Anticipate resistance from legacy systems…

The book points out that Indian family businesses lack gender diversity Indian Family Business Mantras is a very comprehensive and well researched book written by family business expert, and a partner at Deloitte UK, Peter Leach along with Tatwamasi Dixit, a globally acclaimed Vedic scholar and one of India’s leading family business consultants. Lucidly written and well presented, the book focuses on family owned businesses and provides guidance in the arena of family dynamics, growth, change and transitions. The book summarises and provides mantras on how to overcome stiff challenges and achieve success in managing family businesses. It speaks about three types of issues present in the family business, namely 1. Personality issues, 2. Structural issues and 3. Business issues. The authors address these three issues very comprehensively by dealing…