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The employment scenario, inflation and interest rate have a bearing on the overall sentiment of buyers. Since, houses are bought by people who are confident, these factors will have a role to play and hence cues from government action will be keenly observed. In terms of the commercial office market the performance of the service industry has a significant bearing. The slowdown in global economy which impacts the Indian BPO sector and muted expansion plan of domestic players will exert pressure on the commercial office property market. The commercial office market shall continue to remain subdued on account of weak global and domestic economic indicators. As policy deadlock breaks and reforms gather steam leasing activity shall improve however rentals will remain under check on account of a strong supply pipeline in major commercial centers.
We
as a people have been using Electronic Voting Machines for the past few
years and have a trust on the EVMs but now an attempt is being made to “sow
the seed of doubt” in our minds regarding its efficacy. Before we close the chapter on EVMs we must study all aspects of the issue as dispassionately as possible. Why were EVMs introduced in the country in the first place ? If paper ballot was the best, why was there a need felt to change the system ? One of the major advantage of the EVM is that it discourages booth capturing because the number of votes which can be cast by EVM in an hour even if the booth is captured is very small, around 300 in a booth in one hour. Whereas in case of paper ballot during booth capture hundreds of fake ballots can be cast. The second advantage is that there is enormous saving in terms of printing of stationery and paper (trees) and transportation of large amount of election material. Most importantly while any mistake on the part of the voter while casting his vote in case of paper ballots can lead to invalid votes, EVM system totally eliminates invalid voting . Either your vote is cast in favor one or another. As soon as your vote is cast there is beep and a light to confirm it Invalid voting during paper ballot in several cases is comparable to the difference between the winning candidate and losing candidate . EVMs reduce time between withdrawal of nominations and commencement of polling thus saving in law and order maintenance and candidate expenditure on campaigning. The
counting time is completely cut short giving no scope for any mischief. The EVMs were first put to successful use not now but way back in May, 1982 in 50 polling stations of 70-Parur Assembly constituency during elections to the Legislative Assembly of Kerala. Supreme Court stopped the use of EVMs in 1984 until a special provision for it was not made under law. Interestingly, it was the Parliament which amended the law to introduce EVMs in 1988 by inserting a new section 61 A in the Representation of Peoples Act,1951, which came into force from March 15,1989. So the EVMs have complete legislative support. Parliament would not have amended its law to introduce the path breaking legislation if majority of the legislators and politicians were not OK with it. To
allay the misapprehensions in the minds of people regarding the credibility of
the working of EVMs particularly the issue of whether they can be tampered with
or not, the Electoral Reforms Committee (Dinesh Goswami Committee) which had representatives
of several national and state parties also constituted an expert committee for
evaluating EVMs. The system has been running fine. Yes, there are persons who attempt to sow the seed of doubt in our minds, from time to time but we have continued to repose our trust in the system. Today again there is a sudden stringency in the issue with reports that it has now been proved that the EVM can be tampered with and it has been demonstrated on the ‘television’. Before
we take this issue up. Let us try and look at the EVM itself. The memory of the vote cast is stored in the memory of the Control Unit which can be displayed on a display unit. How are EVM’s safe if the computers of Prime Minister’s office and the Pentagon in USA are hacked ? The answer is simple the EVMs used in India are stand alone and not networked to any system so that nothing from outside can get into the system making it safe from hacking or bugs getting into it. It is not based on any PC based program. The chips used in EVM is a one time programmable chip which cannot be reprogrammed and tinkering with it can only destroy it. What was demonstrated on television and being tom- to med since then is that the number of the votes shown on the display unit of a EVM could be changed from outside by use of a mobile telephone having blue tooth. If this has actually been done, it proves EVMs are not tamper proof . So lets dump the EVM s . Thus runs the argument. Total madness. Why ? Because it was done by replacing the display unit of a EVM by the demonstrator by another similar unit with a blue tooth device embedded in it so that it could pick up signals from a telephone outside having blue tooth device. This display unit was not of the Election Commission. The Election Commission does not make display units with blue tooth device. The demonstrators have also shown that by opening the EVM and putting a clip on top of the computer chip they can fiddle around with the memory in the chip. Fair enough but EVMs are kept in high security and under the custody of Election Commission. Stealing EVM is a criminal offence. If you get hold of an EVM and change its parts. Then it malfunctions - can you call it malfunctioning of an EVM of Election Commission. One could do it for any branded product but it will not be the original product. Theoretically,
any person with devious mind can put these devices inside the lakhs
and lakhs of EVMs to change the election result. This is not possible in practice
because of a highly secure and completely transparent procedure in which political
party representatives are involved at every stage. Before actual voting takes place administrative checks require the machines to be opened just before the election takes place and are checked thoroughly. Even when they are stored after announcement of elections they are properly checked and sealed with special pink paper made by Security Press in front of candidates or their representatives and whose signature is taken on the pink paper. This seal is opened again only in front of the candidates or their representatives in the polling booth before the actual voting is done and the entire machine is checked and trial runs are carried out of the entire voting procedure to see if all parts is running smoothly. After the voting , EVMs are again sealed and stored in high security cover to be opened only for counting. So tampering with EVMs while under the watchful eyes of the Election Commission of India and representatives of political parties and candidates is impossible. Is paper trail the answer where one could have a simultaneous print out of the vote cast. Obviously not. It is likely to hamper the secrecy of vote cast and only adds onto the expense almost like having the paper ballot again. There is provision even now to get voting results printed sequentially but only under orders of a competent courty.
By
Deepak Dayal, Managing Partner , Dayal Legal Associates
The BPLR system has been drawing flak from various quarters on account of the larger percentage of loan disbursals made at sub?BPLR rates, which was a bottleneck for establishing transparency. Under the new regime, the actual lending rates have to adhere to the base rate decided by the bank. Also the lending rates cannot be lower than the base rate. However, according to RBI guidelines, banks will get some time to stabilize to the system of base rate calculation. Banks are permitted to change the benchmark and methodology any time during the initial six month period i.e. till the end of December 2010. While
RBI has given six months to banks to adopt the new system, in the meantime it
is The
old borrowers would not be affected by the change according to RBI guidelines.
However, the limited period offer would be affected or could be withdrawn depending
on the cost of funds. Most PSU banks are expected to peg their base rate in the
range of 8?9 percent private banks What is BPLR? What does BPLR stands for in banking? What is the What is BPLR? What does BPLR stands for in banking? What is the full form of BPLR? What is Benchmark Prime Lending Rate? In
banking parlance, the BPLR meant the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate. BPLR was the
interest rate that commercial banks normally charge (or we can say they are expected
to charge) their most credit?worthy customers. Although as per Reserve Bank of
India rules, Banks were free to fix Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) for credit
limits over Rs.2 lakh with the approval of their respective Boards yet BPLR had
to be declared and made uniformly applicable at all the branches. The
banks in the past may authorize their Asset?Liability Management Committee (ALCO)
to fix interest rates on Deposits and Advances, subject to their reporting to
the Board immediately thereafter. The banks should also declare the maximum spread
over BPLR with the approval of the ALCO/Board for all advances. The
bank rate is the rate at which central bank of the country (in India it is RBI)
allows finance to commercial banks. Bank Rate is a tool, which central bank uses
for short?term purposes. Current
Bank Rate 6.00 percent (from April 29 , 2003) What
is CRR? The Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Bill, 2006 has been enacted and has come into force with its gazette notification. Consequent upon amendment to sub?Section 42(1), the Reserve Bank, having regard to the needs of securing the onetary stability in the country, can prescribe Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for scheduled banks without any floor rate or ceiling rate. [Before the enactment of this amendment, in terms of Section 42(1) of the RBI Act, the Reserve Bank could prescribe CRR for scheduled banks between 3 per cent and 20 per cent of total of their demand and time liabilities]. RBI uses CRR either to drain excess liquidity or to release funds needed for the economy from time to time. Increase in CRR means that banks have less funds available and money is sucked out of circulation. Thus we can say that this serves duel purposes i.e. it not only ensures that a portion of bank deposits is totally risk?free, but also enables RBI to control liquidity in the system, and thereby, inflation by tying the hands of the banks in lending money. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 6.00 (from April 24 , 2010) increased from 5.00 percent to 5.50 percent from February 13 , 2010; and then again to 5.75 percent from February 27 , 2010; and now to 6.00 percent from April 24 , 2010 What
is SLR? Statutory
Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 25 percent from November 7, 2009 increased from 24 percent
which was What
are Repo rate and Reverse Repo rate? Reverse
Repo rate is the rate at which banks park their short?term excess liquidity with
the RBI. The RBI uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating
in the banking system. An increase in the reverse repo rate means that the RBI
will borrow money from the banks at a higher rate of interest. As a result, banks
would prefer to keep their money with the liquidity is injected in the banking system by RBI, whereas Reverse repo rate signifies the rate at which the central bank absorbs liquidity from the banks. Reverse
Repo Rate 3.75 percent (from April 20 , 2010) increased from 3.25 percent from
March 19 , 2010(which was continuing since April 21, 2009) now increased to 3.75
percent from April 20 , 2010 Thus, we can conclude that Repo Rate signifies the rate at which liquidity is injected in the banking system by RBI, whereas Reverse repo rate signifies the rate at which the central bank absorbs liquidity from the banks.
Unit-linked
insurance plans, ULIPs, are distinct from the more familiar policies sold for
decades by the Life Insurance Corporation. ULIPs also serve the same function
of providing insurance protection against death and provision of long-term savings,
but they are structured differently In a ULIP, the insurer deducts charges towards
life insurance (mortality charges or insurance premium), administration charges
and fund management charges . The rest of the premium is used to invest in a fund
that invests money in stocks or bonds The
policyholder's share in the fund is represented by the number of units.The value
of the unit is determined by the total value of all the investments made by the
fund divided by the number of units . The
14 companies mentioned in this order include Aegon Religare, Aviva, Bajaj Allianz
Life Insurance, Bharti AXA, Birla Sun Life, HDFC Standard Life, ICICI Prudential,
ING Vyasa Life, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life, Max New York Life, Metlife India,
Reliance Life, SBI Life, TATA AIG Life The
Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) contends that ULIPs offered by the insurance
companies are a combination of investment and insurance and, therefore, the investment
components are in the nature of mutual funds which can only be offered/launched
after obtaining registration from Sebi under section 12(1B) of the SEBI Act. However,
they have not obtained any certificate of registration from Sebi though the ULIPs
launched by them had an investment component in the nature of mutual funds, as
mandated by the SEBI Act First,
in a reaction to the SEBI order, IRDA retaliated by invoking its power under Section
34(1) of the Insurance Act, directing insurance companies to disregard the order
from SEBI and proceed further with their business as usual. "No
person shall sponsor or cause to be sponsored or carry on or caused to be carried
on any venture capital funds or collective investment schemes including mutual
funds, unless he obtains a certificate of registration from the Board in accordance
with the regulations." Where
by under this section SEBI is of the opinion that ULIP is being in the nature
of Mutual Funds therefore under its ambit as attributes of the ULIPs launched/offered
by insurance companies are different from the traditional insurance products and
they are a combination of insurance and investment. IRDA contends that section 11AA (3) of the SEBI Act excludes 'contracts of insurance' from the purview of a collective investment scheme as enumerated under Section 11AA (2) of the SEBI Act. SEBI
contends that the attributes of the investment component of ULIPs launched by
these entities are akin to the characteristics of mutual funds which issue units
to the investors and provide exit at net asset value of the underlying portfolio. IRDA
says the Sebi Act (as well as several committee reports of Sebi) clearly recognizes
the fact that, conceptually, a mutual fund is in the nature of a Collective Investment
Scheme (CIS), which Sebi is authorized to regulate. Section
11AA of the Sebi Act expressly states that a contract of insurance which comes
under the Insurance Act shall not be deemed to be a CIS. The
Life Insurance business" is defined under Section 2(11) of the Insurance
Act, 1938, inter alia, to mean the 'business of effecting contracts of insurance
upon human life' or 'the happening of any contingency dependent on human life'.
"The said definition indicates that the policy is dependent on the happening
or the non-happening of an event linked to human life," insurance companies
argued. In
terms of section 11(1) of the SEBI Act one of the duties of SEBI is to protect
the interests of the investors in securities and to promote the development of,
and to regulate, the securities market by such measures as it thinks fit. Section
11(2) of the SEBI Act enumerates certain illustrative measures which can be taken
by SEBI without prejudice to the provision of sub-section (1). One
such measure is registering and regulating the working of collective investment
schemes including mutual funds. To carry out the purposes of sections 11 and 12(1B)
ULIPs fall under the definition of Life Insurance products. Unit Linked Life Insurance
Business is defined in IRDA (Investment) Regulations, 2000. Regulation 3(3) states
: Regulators
SEBI and IRDA agreed to settle the issue of jurisdiction over ULIPs mutually at
the High Level Coordination Committee(HLCC) set up by the government. The Government asked SEBI and IRDA to move court immediately on the contentious issue of who will regulate unit-linked insurance products . SEBI, IRDA, Ministry of Finance Officials met and decided to maintain status quo and allow selling of ULIPs,in the market . The final round of talks are still underway and a concrete output is expected soon. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
Excerpts : Q. What are areas identified for investments in Mauritius? Elaborate in details. A.
We are building a multi-pillar economy to create more resilience to external shocks.
The sugar industry, a pillar of development since colonial times, is consolidating
and restructuring. Producers are also expanding into related activities, such
as power generation from sugar cane residue (bagasse) and ethanol production,
and are moving up the supply chain into refined sugar. The development of "flexi-factories"
able to switch production between sugar and ethanol will make the sector more
adaptable and responsive to developments in international markets. In
addition to encouraging the restructuring and modernization of the sugar and textile
sectors, the government is putting much emphasis on the development of the ICT
sector. A growing number of multinationals are choosing Mauritius for our bilingual
workforce, our convenient time zone, state-of-the-art infrastructure and open-economy
environment. Emphasis
is also being made on the promotion of Mauritius as a seafood hub in the region,
using existing logistics and distribution facilities at the Freeport. To further diversify the economic base and generate sustainable growth, the government is also actively encouraging the following economic activities: the land-based oceanic industry, hospitality and property development, healthcare and biomedical industry, agri-processing and biotechnology, the knowledge industry, renewable energy and creative industry. Q. Key areas of your country's industrial growth is losing sheen. What measures do you propose to take to boost growth? A.
Mauritius has survived the worst economic recession in many decades with minimum
adverse impact. We are now seeing encouraging signs of a global recovery. We must
seize the opportunities and shape our recovery so that the growth path can be
more resilient. No
investment means no growth. And no growth means no employment creation. We therefore
came up with measures to boost investment across all sectors. In 2006, we implemented bold reforms. Our development model relied too heavily on trade preferences in a globalizing world. We therefore replaced it with a paradigm centred on global competitiveness supported by reforms aimed at creating greater openness of the country, a re-engineered doing business environment, an accelerated diversification of the economy, a flexible labour market and a simple, more efficient and competitive tax system. As
a result of the reforms, we have strengthened our economy with robust growth for
four consecutive years and foreign direct investment is flowing into the country
at unprecedented rates. Efforts have been made to consolidate and strengthened our traditional economic pillars. At a certain point in time, the agro-industry and textile sectors have been losing competitive advantage following the erosion of trade preferences. However, the textile industry regained its buoyancy after four years of despair and over the past two years, the sugarcane industry has regained vitality and expanded by around 22 percent. This growth is attributed to the transformation of the sugar industry into a sugar cane industry producing higher value added sugar, energy, ethanol and other by-products. As regards textiles we are moving from traditional markets to niche markets and more specialized products. Efforts are being made to diversify our economic base and create new activities and new sectors. Q .What is your growth rate? How much growth do you foresee in the next five years and what are your major policy initiatives for economic development? A.
The recent economic downturn was the worse crisis that the world has ever known.
Mauritius was in no way immune to these turbulences, however its economy proved
to be resilient to such external shocks. Despite the worldwide recession, the
Mauritian economy saw a positive GDP growth of 2.8% and attracted around MUR 8.4
billion of FDI. This exceptional performance was due to several measures that were initiated with foresight and ahead of the rest of the region to strengthen the country's economy. Government initiated a series of far-reaching reforms back in 2005 and, in 2008, it was prescient in saving some 3 percent of GDP in special funds for the difficult times to come. Through
a track record of strong policy responses, government further strengthened the
country's resilience to external shocks. Stimulus measures were implemented, which
proved to be timely, innovative, comprehensive and effective. Government stimulated
the economy through expansionary macroeconomic policies; frontloaded public infrastructure
projects to save and create jobs; supported micro, small, medium and large enterprises
that were in difficulty; protected the vulnerable, the unemployed and the retrenched
workers; and prepared the country for recovery. Today,
the Mauritian economy is resuming its growth path prior to the economic downturn
and its GDP is expected to grow by 4.5% this year. The success of the country's
new development paradigm is today reflected not only in economic figures, but
also in the optimistic mood in the country. It rests on a strong base that we
have built and strengthened over the years, which include economic stability,
strong government support, strong public-private partnership, the rule of law,
transparent institutions, ease of doing business, a business friendly environment
and a modern and reliable infrastructure. The
country's major policies for economic growth are trade liberalization, the cancellation
of price control on certain commodities, the simplification of business regulations,
far-reaching tax reform and fiscal consolidation and sound monetary policy to
keep inflation under control. Mauritius is well positioned to become a new regional base for world class education services. It has a tradition of excellence and a stable living environment. Tertiary enrollment in Sub-Saharan Africa is growing at some 15 % annually. The country's tertiary education sector comprises 9 publicly funded institutions, 37 private institutions with international awarding bodies and 3 regional institutions. In addition, more than 350 private training centres are registered and operational in specialized verticals. There are three universities in Mauritius, all of them dispensing education of world-class level: The University of Mauritius, The University of Technology, The Open University of Mauritius. Furthermore, Mauritius has attracted several internationally recognized tertiary education institutions such as the Apollo Bramwell Nursing School, Birla Institute of Technology, Ecole de Medecine Louis Pasteur, Vatel and JSS Academy. These projects will now be complemented with international public sector capacity building institutions. We are tapping the potential for Mauritius to run a Development Programme of technical assistance and capacity building for African states under the aegis of the Regional Multi-Disciplinary Centre of Excellence (RMCE) and the IMF's AFRITAC South.
A.
We are working on the development of new avenues and new sectors such as the creative
arts industry, land-based oceanic industry and renewable energy which I am convinced
have lots of potential and will materialize shortly. Q. Enumerate new initiatives for economic development. What is your FDI policy? What are factors for flow of investments in Mauritius when FDI is witnessing global slowdown? A
.During the economic downturn, we undertook measures that enabled the country
to resist external shocks. Now that the global economy is recovering, we are taking
measures to shape our recovery. These include the restructuring of funds in view
of changing priorities; investment in infrastructure - building eco friendly infrastructure
(new roads with pavements and bicycle tracks, new runway at the airport, port
developments etc); and shoring up the SME Sector. We will also be developing the
competitive competence that the country needs, for example investing in science
technology and innovation, providing education for all and for development, breaking
new ground for our entrepreneurs ('Work from Home' BPO scheme; allow companies
operating Direct to Home satellite broadcasting in the region, but not operating
on the local market to be 100% foreign-owned) etc. FDI
is today more diversified than in the past, coming from various countries and
flowing into almost all sectors of the economy. Q.. Given special thrust on ICT, IT-enabled/BPO etc what is the blueprint for next five years from 2010. What is the scene of office space market in Mauritius and what are your steps to take it forward? A.
ICT is an emerging sector. In 2005, it accounted for 0.5% of GDP and now it accounts
for 5.5%. We had 40 companies operating in the IT/BPO space employing 4000 people.
By December 2009, the number of companies rose to 300 with employment reaching
12,000. We started with the low end of the market: voice based and contact centres.
We
have now moved to value-added activities such as Financial, Legal, Medical BPO,
Software Development, Multimedia Development, Data Centres for Business Continuity
and Disaster Recovery representing 60% of the activities today. Through
a well developed digital network infrastructure, excellent telecommunication facilities
and access to a scalable and stable power grid, Mauritius is emerging as a regional
hub for the provision of outsourcing services and telecoms switching. The Government
of Mauritius has set the building blocks to position Mauritius as a global centre
for data hosting, disaster recovery, shared services and other high value added
services. Our blueprint for the next five years is as follows. First, we will emphasize the creation human resource and infrastructure capacity. The IVTB and the Outsourcing and Telecommunications Association of Mauritius have started a programme providing training with placement to …….. This programme is being scaled up and expanded to BPO and software development to cater ….. We will also continue our efforts to lower the prices even further. Since
October, Mauritius is linked via fibre optic cable to Madagascar and Reunion island
through the Lower Indian Ocean Network (LION) project. The second phase will connect
the three islands to an international gateway that will increase capacity and
provide redundancy to support development of the ICT sector. The cable when fully
operational in 2011 will increase bandwidth several times at a lower cost. Secondly, we will develop specialization in ICT-BPO services. The country is becoming a major destination for knowledge and BPO in the medical sector. The medical outsourcing market is expected to grow significantly, and Mauritius has what it takes to become a global player in medical outsourcing. A significant number of companies are involved in medical transcription, translation of medical documents, medical image processing, medical claims management and more. In addition, Mauritius is confidently moving towards high-end medical services such as telemedicine and teleradiology. Q. Is there any plan for development of tourism in Mauritius? Describe in detail. A.
The number of tourist arrivals in 2009 was over 871,000. Mauritius is a very popular
as a high-end, luxury holiday destination. We now want to take the industry one
step beyond the established 'sun, sea and beach' image. We
also wish to develop Mauritius as a wellness destination. This would involve spas,
as well as sports (for example, golf, water sports, soft eco-tourism such as kayaking,
canoeing, cyclo holidays etc). Finally, we will be developing the sector for cruises in this part of the Indian Ocean. Government is investing in the development of a cruise terminal, which will be fully operational by the end of the year. Q..
What benefits can Mauritius offer to investors and professionals? A.
Since 2006, bold reforms were introduced to open up the economy and to attract
people to work and live in Mauritius. The Business Facilitation Act makes it easy
to live and work on the island if you have something to offer to the economy.
If you are an investor and have an interesting project, you are encouraged to
set up a business on the island. There is no minimum investment but your proposed
business activity should generate an annual turnover of at least MUR 3 million.
If you are self-employed and want to set-up your own activities, this is also
possible and your proposed activity should generate an annual turnover of at least
MUR 600,000. A professional can also work and live in the country provided that
he has a contract of employment and a minimum salary of MUR 30,000 per month.
The investor, the self-employed or the professional if they satisfy the eligibility criteria will obtain an Occupation Permit, permit that combines a work and residence permit, for three years. The Occupation Permit can be obtained within three working days. Q. How many agreements has Mauritius signed with India?
The
other important agreement that has been signed is an Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement (IPPA) in 1998 to protect the interest of investors investing
in the respective countries. Other MoUs have been signed in different areas and include namely, an MOU on Air Services Agreements, on cooperation in the field of non-conventional energy sources, on science and technology as well as on Sports Exchange and Cooperation. . Q.
Why have you chosen India as a potential country to target investment? A.
Mauritius has special historical, cultural, religious and kinship ties with
India. Nearly 70% of our population is of Indian origin. Even before the country's
independence, people in Mauritius had close relations with the people of India.
Today, the two countries share very close and unique relations which encompass
virtually all aspects bilateral and multilateral relations. The two sides maintain
frequent high-level exchanges. The two countries also share very strong economic
ties. Many
Indian companies have already invested in Mauritius in various fields including
energy (Indian Oil), telecommunications (MTML), banking (SBI), hospitality, the
medical and pharmaceutical fields as well as ICT etc. We want to attract more
Indian players in Mauritius as we feel that Mauritius could be an interesting
platform for them to penetrate the African market. Mauritius has been extensively use for inward investment in India as many investors have been using the Mauritian route to invest in India. However we would like to show more Indian companies using Mauritius as their platform for outward investment. We recently conducted an investment mission to India which was led by the VPM in order to sensitise Indian investors about the possibility of using Mauritius as a gateway for penetrating the Eastern and Southern African markets. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
As a practitioner of brand management I am also a proponent of social media, often
speak endlessly before the client to convince as to how social media is valuable.
But the role of social media is effective only when we make use of a prudent media
mix, including the traditional media, television and social media. Unfortunately, what is happening is that like in the early days of Web design, SEO, PPC, email, and banners before it, there's too much swooning and not enough thinking about social media right now. PR professionals are so engrossed in "how to use it" that they often don't even think "why to use it". The
philosophy of relying on the exclusive use of social media under the pretext of
the target audience being net savvy is in my opinion an anti-thesis of branding.
This is because the very ethos of branding suggests that the brand is built by
audience far greater than those who actually use the product. But at times such
quick-fix solutions seem to be a win-win situation for both the agency and the
client, since this agency also quotes the least price in the competitive pitch. It
seems the US Presidential elections and the emergence of the Social Media President
in Barack Obama has made the public relations professionals across the world vouch
for the use of new age technology to spread the awareness campaign. In almost
all the competitive pitch where we have presented our PR plan, I feel we are not
just obsessed but also suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder as far as the
use of social media is concerned. While it is true that the American President's
use of the social media will go in the folklore of the PR history for the participation
and communication with all American citizens, the question remains: can every
PR campaign or brand recreate this kind of two-way conversation in every society? The
question becomes all the more critical in India since there have not been very
many scientific studies to understand the audience's concern which is always critical
to the success of any PR campaign. As a practitioner of the trade, my understanding
is that it was the overall PR strategy and not mere social media tactics that
was critical to the success of the American President's campaign. After all, it
is the PR strategy that defines the success or failure of any brand or campaign
and Barack Obama's success has been no exception. Public
Relations strategy is all about the process of identifying what is top of mind
in a community and relating your brand, product, organization or campaign to what
is most relevant to your community. That process is really all about listening
to your audience and making what you have today relevant to their concerns. PR
strategists have to first of all become true marketers to understand that what
consumer wants, what they get, where are the gaps and how their product can fit
into that gap. The same logic goes true for the foot soldiers of PR who deal with
the media on a day-to-day basis. Many
of the PR practitioners today would lead you to believe that social media is ready
for prime time and that you should forsake all other forms of publicity. That
is probably a wishful thinking which is too ahead of its time. While consumers
clearly want to engage with brands in social media, the number of social media
users, though growing fast, is not yet overwhelmingly large. Moreover, the fallacy
of "we'll engage with our customers and let them do our publicity for us
by telling their friends" reads well in a marketing plan, but is exceptionally
difficult to execute unless your brand is compelling in a way that most simply
aren't. What
has become fancy but unavoidable today is that more for our own convenience than
any strategic reasons we often try to convince the clients for the use of social
media. This saves the agency from the dirty job of dealing with the journalists
who belong to the traditional media. Social media channels can be highly effective
public relations tools, but they can't replace traditional media entirely. Successful
public relations programs meld social media and traditional media with other communications
tools and techniques. Social Media has the potential to penetrate deep into the target audience but it is finally PR Professionals who have to position themselves as the best qualified to oversee the extent of social media mechanisms an organization uses to communicate with its stakeholders. This is essentially because public relations by its very philosophy puts a high priority on the whole organization-stake holder relationship than marketing or advertising does. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)
While
in a section of the industry there are negative reports of distress selling, a
few realistic realtors in the country are smartly turning this adversity into
opportunity. Eradicating the demand and supply mismatch and coming out with more
and more affordable housing is one of the options. But what is actually proving
to be a saving grace for the industry today is to diversify and foray into other
business which may not be our core of expertise to begin with. I
feel proud to say that a clutch of developers in India have of late shown the
way to the world. These are the realtors who have realised that there is a safe
haven which is also recession proof and hence are chalking up plans to invest
in the education sector. In the last one month, five real estate developers have
announced plans of setting up business schools across the country with the combined
investment exceeding Rs 1000 crore. In the endeavour to catch pace with the growth plan in this emerging sector, the real estate sector has started realizing the fact that they should not be just into the construction business. We have to be a part of the holistic infrastructure development of the nation. What better way to move into that direction than create infrastructure for the education sector. It makes business sense and at the same time it makes the industry become mature and also contribute to the social concern. Critics may condemn the industry for diversifying out of compulsion to keep the show going. However, it is an established fact that even when there was a bull phase with market sentiments appearing very promising, many of the realty companies had diversified into telecom and other sectors. As an industry we must have the conviction to believe that we are diversifying because we feel there is a need to grow beyond our core area of competence as well. Moreover, it is also true that every enterprising business house is always in the look out for greener pastures, whether or no slowdown. So, for many of the realty companies this diversification has been a well thought-out strategy and they had started working on it even before the market had witnessed slowdown. And diversification into a sector which is more or less recession proof with good cash flow only reflects that real estate has been a sector with vision and foresight. This may not be true for everybody but many of the developers have always been forward looking in their approach to the business. That is precisely the reason why the industry is forming the union with various schools and management institutions. This partnership will combine the strengths of both the sectors synergistically. We are pooling our assets holistically to have access to better resources, be it manpower, intellectual capital, infrastructure or finance. Actually both the sectors compliment each other with their respective expertise. The
model has worked successfully in some countries like US and Canada. With diminished
demand for housing and a cash constraint, it is a natural progression for many
developers with available land banks. I feel that this is the right sector for
investment which is upbeat, risk free and where revenue is growing at more than
50 per cent across the industry. The
best of the deal is that the trend is being seen pan India and the builders in
south too have taken a plunge in the sector. The reason for the rush into education
is the burgeoning demand supply gap and also a logical extension into an adjacent
category for builders who have the necessary wherewithal. High rate of returns
on investment coupled with huge imbalance in demand supply is attracting real
estate players towards the sector who will be at ease in setting up the required
infrastructure who already have land banks with them. The diversification won't be an easy one, as similar initiatives have flopped in China. The real challenge would be in the wake of competition among the developers. It is then that the differentiator between chalk and cheese will have to be established. Those who are determined to take the quality Indian education forward to the international platform will emerge victorious. Now that certainly sounds like an attractive proposition for an industry which is new to the knowledge driven sector of education. (editor@thesynergyonline.com) |
+Arabian
Exhibition Management WLL
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THE
Electronic Voting Machine drama reminds me of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Transparency
in the banking structure has been a major issue in the past. Reserve Bank Of India
has taken some major initiatives to bring clarity in the present regime. The latest
change has been the introduction of Base Rate system with effect from July 1 ,
2010. This new change in the system of lending will have a widespread effect on
anybody operating in the economy. The base rates will go on floor and banks will
have to decide their actual lending rates using the base rate as a reference.
The decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to change from the Benchmark Prime
Lending Rate (BPLR) system to Base Rate system comes from the failure of BPLR
system to improve transparency in the lending rates charged by the banks, says
Mr Deepak Dayal, Managing Partner , Dayal Legal Associates, in his exclusive
report.
IT
is no longer enough to be good at ones job . One needs to be better than the best
and more competitive. Obviously, value addition to ones skills is imperative to
do so which not only helps stay on the ball but also helps manage work profile
in such a way that one can climb up the ladder faster than others. This applies
in verbatim to Mr Raju Jaddoo, Managing Director, Board of Investment (Mauritius).
Mr Jaddoo spoke at length to N P Sinha. Editor, Thesynergyonline.com, in an exclusive
telephonic interview on growth strategy and identified key sectors to achieve
double-digit growth in 5 to 8 years starting from 8 percent GDP growth in the
next fiscal year.
RECENTLY
in the wake of a sting of bad press, a large corporate house handed over its
crisis management to the PR agency which suggested the exclusive social media
solutions, since the target audience has been net savvy. This made me introspect
as to whether the social media is fast taking over the prime time or there is
a strategic PR dilemma which is leading to over reliance on this new age medium.
THE
real estate sector in India, like worldwide, is reeling under liquidity crunch
borne out of overall economic slowdown, increasing debt & lowering demand
and an over cautious lending institutions. However, the realty sector in India
has weathered many a storm in the last one decade during its course to the infrastructure
development of the country. I have no doubts that the industry will come out more
robust and mature once the market sentiments improve. But to keep the show going
in times of slowdown has been a tough challenge in the last almost a year now.
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