Category: Uncategorized
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And Honda does it Again !
Honda has always been like the Intel of the automobile market. It has had a steady stream of products coming out of its shop which has meant that one time Honda owners stayed with them while looking for an upgrade or a replacement. The City platform has seen a steady stream of variants and so…
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DTH Games begin- Elephants will win
The arrival of the telecom giant Airtel has made the DTH arena crowded and fun to watch. Not only was the Airtel’s teaser used by BIG TV, the offers from early entrants like Tata Sky Dish TV have seen a never before decibel levels. At stake is the current 6 million household market which is…
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In the business of breaking (the) news…
I dont spend too much time infront of the idiot box, but I have been a witness to the news blitzkrieg that Indian consumers are forced to live with. With so many news channels, i usually end up pressing the “Up channel” button almost 20 times before I get out of the “breaking news” zone.…
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Why Google launched Chrome ?
Google launched its very own Internet Browser- Chrome- and die hard fans apart, early experimenters also say- that its cool ! While the industry pundits discuss the features and the strategy behind launching of Chrome- i came up with my very own answer- as to why Google launched Chrome? And the answer lies in the…
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Floods in Bihar- India’s lack of focus towards Infrastructure
The flooding of Kosi has brought to fore the apparent lack of focus government after government has had towards Infrastructure development. Lemme explain why. The Kosi it seems has been changing course every year that it flows above the danger mark- apparently due to high level of silt. The only water flow management in its…
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Free Pricing takes toll on non-life insurers
Today’s ET had a front page article with the same headline “Free Pricing takes toll on non-life insurers” where it reported that the once lucrative Fire Insurance segment now makes private General Insurers bleed. Its an interesting and important development because it could well become the case study in What not to do in a…
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TRAI on overdrive ! Telecom business to see a complete overhaul…
The last 7-10 days have been filled with a lot of action in the Telecom sector, and the regulatory authority TRAI seems to be at the centre of it all. Consider these: – 3G policy is launched – BSNL MTNL given a go-ahead for an early 3G launch – Net Telephony proposed by TRAI supported…
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Kashmir : Business or Politics
Many keen observers of the J&K situation say that the current state of affairs has thrown the valley back by atleast a decade or so of development. It is also felt that the simple economics provided the means for the separatist movement to gain momentum again. Its been said that the Fruit growers saw an…
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Killer Apps in motorbike industry
Was reading an article in the ET today, which talked about how Bajaj was trailing behind Hero Honda in the Motorcycle sales in the country. The article went on to identify the reason for the widening gap- Bajaj’s lack of focus in sub 125cc segment where the volumes are still high. While all this might…
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3G now in India… immediate impacts on Telecom Sector
Today’s biz papers were all shouting out loud about the 3G telecom policy now finally being here. For the uninformed like me, it meant too much excitement about half a mark (thats how much of technology leap we would take by this costly migration from strong2.5G to 3G/strong ) on the score card… So I…
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Card Spends and inflation
Was remembering my days in the bank when part of my job was to increase Credit card spends by manipulating credit lines for individual customers or clusters. My friend in the same team had a similar goal, but he could manipulate only the offers that were made available to our carded customers. While the role…
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Fuel costs leading to Closed economies ?
Read a very interesting article yday- wherein the author built a case for changes he predicted in manufacturing services due to the increased crude prices. According to him the labour arbitrage opportunities that many companies/countries could exploit previously, would no longer be as profitable. Reason being that historically the increased shipping costs due to shifting…
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Reinventing the Wheels
There was a time when the best car models in India came with Maggi- Hot Wheels- thats what they were called and I remember myself trying to raise a great collection of Ferrari’s, and Lamborghini’s …. those were the days when there was just an Ambassador or Fiat to choose from- or if you were…
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The Changing Business of Cricket
Cricket has always been the only rich game in the country- with rights being sold for an unimaginable amount- BCCI has always been flushed with funds. But with the new 20-20 format (in its multiple avtars) coming in- the business of cricket will surely see a lot of changes. So lemme try amp; put on…
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The long tail of grocery retailing …
Grocery retailing is considered by most as the toughest nut to crack in any new market. More so in India where Reliance’s Fresh initiative ran into some serious trouble in the Hindi speaking belt. But apart from the political resistance I guess grocery retailing is here to stay- atleast in the metros amp; sub-metros. With…
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Rural mobile telephony: Show me the money !
Remember the famous lines from “Jerry Maguire”-” Show me the money” With the next battles for telecom shifting to the countryside- I guess most of the telco honcho’s are rattling along the same lines…Coz exciting as it may seem, rural cellular telephony doesnt seem “profitable” enough in all its entirety- or maybe I am missing…
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Fairs at Pragati Maidan-Lets Learn to Serve Information !
Was at the Auto Expo yday it was truly amazing how Pragati Maidan has changed over the last 5-6 years. There are a lot of signages ,food-stalls, kiosks now it surely is a better experience. But what hasnt changed is the lack of information for the visitors once inside the PM. We managed to find…
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Reliance Power IPO media plan- abuse of negative tracer?
ADAG has leveraged its customer touchpoints to promote the Reliance Power IPO- including the massive reach of Reliance Communications.They have by default activated the jingle for Reliance Power for ALL of their subscribed customers. Now each caller to any Reliance number gets to hear “Power on to….” as the default call-back-tune ! Its a brilliant…