Showing posts with label IIPM Article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Article. Show all posts

Saturday, October 06, 2012

We’re Doomed!

If This is the Best The US has Against us, The World is...!

It’s amazing how one woman, who apparently could well become the next Republican presidential candidate, has the capacity to continuously churn out one gaffe after another, giving fright-nights to global leaders about the fact that the lady lacks factual command of international issues and might even bomb the wrong nation one fine day. Here’s a look at some of her rib-tickling output:

October 1, 2008: In an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, she was asked to name a few newspapers she reads. Unable to name any, she said, “All of ‘em, any of ‘em that have been in front of me over all these years.”

November 5, 2008: In an interview in Fox News, she said, “We spend a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible diseases.”

July 18, 2010: “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate,” Palin tweeted, inventing a new English word.

November 22, 2010: In an interview with Sean Hannity, she commented on her role to media, “I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism... I have a communications degree.”

November 24, 2010: In an interview on Glenn Beck’s radio show, commenting on the Korean tension, “But obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies.” Later, she corrected herself.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 10, 2012

“The few defaults are due to Migration & Natural Calamities”

M. R. Rao, CEO, SKS Microfinance Ltd.

Launched in 1998, SKS Microfinance is one of the fastest growing Micro Financial Institutions (MFIs) in the world, which has served more than 5 million women members in poor regions of India till date. Of course, the company has been in the news for the wrong reasons following the unceremonious exit of its ex-CEO Suresh Gurumani. Current CEO M. R. Rao talks about the company’s business model and challenges it faces:

B&E: Tell us about SKS’ entire delivery mechanism. What are your other major business growth drivers?
MR: SKS targets the poor and upper poor class. The upper poor class consists of families earning Rs.25,000-Rs.50,000 per annum like medium farmers, small entrepreneurs and families falling just above poverty line like landless laborers. This is the segment of the poor that can most benefit from microfinance. Overall, SKS’ target constitutes of rural (74%) and urban (26%). Through its NGO, Swayam Krishi Sangam, SKS works with the ultra poor or the destitute who need far more intense involvement and a kind of spoon feeding to nurture them and make them use their loans effectively. SKS provides the ultra poor with vocational training, social awareness and health awareness over an 18-month period and also provides these families with assets, which they are taught to manage.

Apart from income generating loans, SKS also offers insurance products jointly with Bajaj Allianz. We have covered nearly 2 million lives across our network with this product. SKS also provides life enhancing products like water purifiers, mobile phones and solar lights at a better prices than the existing market price. Also, SKS is providing housing loans and education loans, which are in the pilot phase. This February, SKS has tied-up with Metro Cash & Carry to supply inventory to SKS members who have Kirana stores.

B&E: How does SKS Micro Finance define its eligibility criteria?
MR: SKS follows the peer-lending model developed by the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. There are two parts involved – formation & administration of the group. A group is a collection of five individuals who come together to gain access to credit. Groups are the building blocks of the peer-lending model, and strict credit discipline starts with strong groups. SKS uses five-member groups. Experience has shown that a five-member group is small enough to effectively enforce group peer pressure and collective responsibility on a unanimous basis. Groups must be self-chosen as only then will members be able to serve as guarantors to each other. Groups must have the following characteristics: Poor, close proximity of members, no close relations in order to avoid personal problems, mutual trust and the adult members should not be above the age of 55 years.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Monday, September 03, 2012

US: Pranab is still the External Affairs minister

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department considers Pranab Mukherjee to be India’s foreign minister! More similar gaffes inside...

Truth is stranger than fiction, but fiction does appear to have an irresistible appeal for two of the world’s largest administrative agencies, the US State Department and CIA. The official web portals and communiqués of the US State Department and CIA are splattered with notable misinformation and errors that would be necessarily considered highly affronting at a diplomatic level.

Last week, we showed how both the State Department and CIA confidently misrepresented India’s map (and showed Kashmir as part of Pakistan) on their websites. We had no idea there was more to come – perhaps even ‘the’ reason for why the Americans seem to be making no headway with India on foreign affairs. The US State Department’s official website mentions that the Minister of External Affairs of India is (still) Pranab Mukherjee! S. M. Krishna, the current Foreign Minister of India since May 2009, has been notably left out of the State Department’s official communiqués. Incidentally, Krishna has also met Barack Obama in various forums, including at New York in September 2009. Not all listed information is wrong, though. Some US government letters are thankfully still reaching the right addresses in India. The Home Minister of India is correctly named as P. Chidambaram; and so are some other Indian politicians.

Mistakes on the CIA and State Department’s websites are not only India-centric but can be found in the case of other countries too. What’s interesting is that, in spite of the official websites of these respective countries portraying genuine information, the US has failed to recognise the same in its own records. First, the comical. In South Korea, three years ago, a series of protests against the CIA finally forced the agency to correct the information about South Korea’s origins (CIA had earlier amusingly stated that “South Korea has been a nation for a millennium;” South Korea, apparently a stickler for dates, protested en masse as this nation has been in existence only since the last 4000 years).


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

IN THE FAST LANE

Last year’s slowdown was a blessing in disguise for the public sector behemoth SBI, forcing it to become truly competitive. And the bank has only moved ahead since then. Avneesh Singh finds out how

Financial inclusion may be a buzzword for India Inc. but when it comes to groundwork, a majority of them falter. But not this “Banker to Every Indian” for whom ‘inclusion’ is about carpet bombing the Indian geography with its presence, a strategy that has seen it (leave aside the associate banks) reach over 12,450 branches and 16,584 ATMs across India. In fact, in the next two years, the drive is barbarically brobdingnagian (if one could use such a term) for SBI wishes to now get 1,00,000 un-banked villages in its connectivity map! What’s more? At a time when trust was witnessing a free fall, this bank everyday attracted more than `1.7 billion average deposits (during FY2010). While deposits were up by `620 billion (a 8.36% yoy growth – from `7.42 trillion in March 2009 to `8.04 trillion in March 2010), gross advances too were up by `929.40 billion registering a growth of 16.94% from `5.48 trillion in March 31, 2009 to `6.41 trillion in March 31, 2010.

Not surprisingly, the net interest income rose by a significant 13.41% to `236.71 billion in FY 2010 (up from `208.73 billion in FY 2009). And the reason for all this is interestingly in one area. When banks were shunning retail customers, SBI took the lead in lending to the ‘shunned class’ and consequently became the single largest retail lender in India (education loan up by 34.61%, auto loan up by 45.44% and housing loan portfolio up by 31.69%). Even in corporate lending, SBI diversified its loans across segments, thereby minimising the probability of loss. In fact, the large corporate loans reported a significant jump of 18.51% during the last fiscal. But that does not mean that it has completely ignored the bottom of the pyramid, which for the fact makes over 90% of India’s total population. As part of its microfinance programme SBI has credit linked more than 1.71 million self help groups across India with cumulative credit of `115.62 billion.

When asked about the secret behind this stellar performance, S. K. Bhattacharya, MD, SBI told B&E: “performing well has become a habbit for employees at SBI. No doubt, top management devices strategies and policies, but the real business takes at the branch level. So, it’s the employees of the bank who should be credited for this performance.” Further, thanks to a resurgent focus on maintaining a cost effective operating architecture, the bank has successfully brought down the average cost of deposits by 50 basis points to 5.80% and kept its net NPA (non performing assets) at 1.72% (of gross assets) as on March 31, 2010. In fact, the ratio of high cost bulk deposits to total domestic deposits too has come down from 10.74% in March 31, 2009 to 1.79% in March 31, 2010.


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Friday, August 31, 2012

BUSINESS BEYOND PROFITS!

As the world emerges from global recession, businesses should focus on restoring their profitability. But only short-sighted businesses do so at the expense of the pursuit of a broader purpose, writes Amit Bhatia, scion of the l. N. Mittal group, founder of Mittal Champions Trust and Swordfish Investments

The past few years have seen growth rates drop everywhere – even in emerging economies like India and China. That process has not only affected nations and businesses but also lives of ordinary people. As the focus of governments, businesses and the ordinary man turned to survival, many personal aspirations were put on hold and major infrastructure projects, such as the construction of new roads and hospitals were shelved or not built as quickly as they might otherwise have been.

As the world starts to readjust to the new normal of a period of prolonged economic austerity, it might be tempting for companies to reign in programmes that make no discernable contribution to the bottom line as they come under pressure from investors to increase profitability. But now is exactly the time when companies must stay true to the ambitions they laid out in more prosperous times and remember that, over the long term, companies with a purpose beyond profitability will enjoy the greatest success.

There are many who would argue that by simply producing its product, being profitable and providing jobs, a business is already making a substantial contribution to an economy. But over the years the accepted view has become more sophisticated. Business, it is often argued, is in a unique position to help make a broader contribution. As part of its license to operate, it should act responsibly at all times and seek to actively engage with the communities in which it is present. This, advocates of corporate responsibility claim, will generate long-term and sustainable advantages for the business in terms of growth and profitability.

I agree. Of course profitability is crucial. A business has no future if it cannot be profitable, something that will have severe consequences for all stakeholders. But equally businesses must look beyond profit, and also pay attention to the quality of life, in the broadest sense, of the communities in which they work.

I have actually always been very impressed by the emphasis leading Indian companies place on Corporate Social Responsibility. The winner of the Corporate Responsibility Award at the Financial Times/ArcelorMittal inaugural Boldness in Business Awards in 2008 was Selco, an Indian social enterprise that provides sustainable energy solutions and services to under-served households and businesses.

There are many examples of leading Indian companies who make a healthy profit, but utilise a proportion of this profit to make a meaningful contribution where they believe they can have a positive impact such as education and health.


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

H. W. Park, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motors India talks to B&E on the present challenges

H. W. Park, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motors India talks to B&E on the present challenges – both internal and external – and the plans of his company for both the domestic and export markets

B&E: The company has been experiencing labour issues for the past many years in the Chennai plant. In fact, this very year, there have already been three such incidents reported. What is the current state of affairs at the plant?
HWP: The factory is now in a relatively safer state and we are currently in a review stage with the labour committee at the plant. We will be in a better position to comment about it after the review stage is over.

B&E: The overwhelming growth in the domestic market has brought about problems of production shortages for many companies. Is Hyundai one amongst them as well?
HWP: Not really. The impact has been minimal and the shortage lag only lasts for a day or two at worst. That is manageable.

B&E: So you do agree that there are shortages. Do you believe that the company will be able to recover from the situation of component shortage anytime soon?
HWP: Surely we will be able to do so. But it also depends on the health of the overall auto industry in India. The industry is growing at a fast pace, something which wasn’t initially expected by anyone. Hence, there has been a minor shortage from the component supplier side, but because we are a big player in the Indian automotive industry, we can handle the problem by adjusting our exports and domestic ratio.

B&E: If the company had been in a situation with no production constraint, would you have produced more cars?
HWP: No. As mentioned before, even today, the production constraint problem is very much negligible, as the lag only appears for a day or two.

B&E: There have been reports of Hyundai India manufacturing electric i10 for the parent company. Your comment...
HWP: For the electric i10, we are only providing parts for the chassis and the engine. This is because chassis for the model can not be locally assembled for the product that will be sold in Korea.

B&E: Initially, Hyundai focussed heavily on exports. So are your views changing in favour of the domestic market?
HWP: We at Hyundai enjoy such a liberty. If the demand in the local market is high, we can always adjust it by reducing the export volumes. As the Indian market is getting bigger, we are gearing up to cater to this rising demand of the Indian consumers.



          
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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Have movie-makers ended up distorting

Image is to the mind what perception is to the soul. Have movie-makers ended up distorting both in an attempt to deliver ‘happy’ stories?

If one reads the research papers by anthropologists like Desmond Morris and by authors like Barbara & Allan Pease, one can draw how these movies are an additional burden for the already-very-different-species called men and women! According to their researches, men and women have evolved differently. “Nest-defenders, to safeguard their family’s survival, needed to be able to pick-up small changes in the behaviour of their offspring that could signal pain, hunger, injury, aggression or depression. Males, being lunch-chasers, were never around the cave long enough to learn to read non-verbal signals or the ways of interpersonal communication,” as quoted in one of Allan and Barbara Pease’s books, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women can’t Read Maps.

While the above may be true, it’s difficult to ignore in the film the tender moments, the glances and words, and even more difficult to deny oneself the possibility of a life so complete. After all, dreaming is the first step towards fulfilling a dream! But living and working towards just one dream (of love) isn’t the brightest idea either!


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Israel: Keep the faith

The tour started on a serious note. In fact, serious is a definite understatement. I would rather call the experience solemn. How else would you describe a place which has been the point of the Crusades for centuries, where all the three People of the Book go to pray within 500 metres of each other, a place whose religious diversity would shroud the entire region’s polity for an eternity? Climbing up the stairs of old city, I took the same path that Jesus Christ had taken en route to the Church of the Holy Sepulchur where he was crucified. Amid the frenzy of the faithful gathered all around, I managed to kneel down and touch the stone on which the Pilate drove the nail in. That touch proved to be fateful, setting the mood of my trip. While quick visits to the Wailing Western Wall, holiest place for Jews, and the Dome of the Rock, holy to both Jews and Muslims, only added to the heavy weather forming within myself, I did not have recourse to a load of feni to take care of the faith overdose. There was the lovely Kosher wine from the Golan Heights but I will come to it later.

I was in Jerusalem, a city where history and faith, civilisation and myth, ethnicity and religion make an incendiary broth.

The city exacts an opinion about it. I found it thoroughly captivating but eerie, maybe the present-day political situation of the region adding to the tension in the air. There is something extreme about this place; it never lets you relax even if it be an endless stroll through the Arab or Jewish quarters.

The next day turned out to be a whole lot different. It involved a visit to a kibbutz, Israel’s equivalent of a commune. Today, socialism has been totally replaced by nationalism and community interplay by private ownership. Well, one could argue if Zionism was a desired conclusion of the community experiment but this isn’t the proper forum. Just a stone’s throw from Kibbutz Ein Gadi, was the Dead Sea, lowest point on earth. The proverbial dunk in the mineral-rich waters proved to be refreshing, while being afloat all the way.

Masada, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the complex of palaces and fortifications built by King Herod, stands on a horst on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert. The place was scene to a two-year-long siege by Roman forces during the First Jewish-Roman War. At the end of the two years, the Roman garrison went for an all out offensive, leaving the 900-odd Sicarii rebels with the only option of surrender. The rebels opted for mass suicide and the Romans occupied the City of the Dead. Till date, the opulent baths, storage houses and the hanging palace of Herod stand firm, beautiful witnesses to a horrific and heroic act in defence of faith. This was a heavy experience too. Today, members of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) hold their swearing-in ceremony on the top of Masada. It ends with the pledge: “Masada will not fall again.”


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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The intrigue of the islands

A mysterious and fascinating set of islands lie in the Bay of Bengal, ready to give your most adventurous imagination wings…

The British came here and so did the Japanese, but the mystery of the group of islands that is Andaman and Nicobar islands was never quite unravelled. Even after years of studies and observations, practically little is known of the origin and the people of these islands and this sense of intrigue and the feeling of a mysterious air about the place will overwhelm you if you happen to land on these islands – any of the 572 of them cradled perilously in the Bay of Bengal.

There is a sense of the primordial among the flora, fauna and the indigenous people of the islands – the most fascinating bit about exploring the Andamans. Always inhabited by aboriginal tribes, many of whom still live the lives of hunters and gatherers, the inaccessibility of the islands had made them an object of fascination. The existence of the islands had been known for centuries (they find reference in early historical writings of Roman geographer Ptolemy) but the first attempt at an outside settlement on the islands was by the British in 1789. They had to abandon it seven years later because of the inhospitable locals and the immense logistical challenge of connectivity to the mainland.

Oddly, they returned in 1858, this time establishing a penal settlement – the dreaded and the feared ‘Kaala Paani’ or the Cellular Jail. The jail held mutineers from the First War of Indian Independence, even some criminal tribes and refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan apart from other freedom fighters later on. My visit to the jail was a unique experience because a first-hand experience of the conditions there is enough to make your hair stand on its end. You can go around the courtyard, see the cells and the gallows and also look over the horizon from atop the wings. One bit of trivia I got to know was that the sight of the lighthouse and the island imprinted on our twenty Rupee notes is a view from the top of the wing facing the sea. The prison initially had seven wings, with the watch tower at the centre. Today, only three remain (the rest had been destroyed by the Japanese during World War II), and it has been branded a national monument. The Japanese briefly controlled the islands from 1942-1945, a period in which though innocent blood was shed, there was development of the basic amenities, especially in Port Blair.


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Monday, August 13, 2012

A new chapter in moral science

With most illegal activities occurring in the dark of the night, researchers have now illuminated the effect of light on our morals

Author Anton Chekhov’s story ‘The Robbers’ brings to mind images of stealthy, sly and lustful robbers’ lamp-lit den where the on-set of night didn’t signal terminating all activities, but rather incited setting spirits to satiate their beastly cravings. Characterising the darkness of the night in myriad metaphorical ways, Chekhov kept the reader’s pulse racing till the end. If merely repetitive mention of darkness can set a person’s heart racing, could the cloak of darkness embolden some to commit crimes too?

A recent study by psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Vanessa Bohns of the University of Toronto and Francesca Gino of the University of North Carolina suggests that it isn’t only the fear of exposure that leads to increased incidents of misconduct in darkness. Rather, it is darkness that triggers some of the destructive emotions that may lead one to misbehave! It was the unanimity of the results of the experiments conducted that led to publishing the research in the journal Psychological Science. Participants in dimly-lit surroundings were seen to cheat more than those in the brightly-lit set-up. While in another set of participants, who were only made to wear sunglasses and asked to divide $6 amongst each other in any way they wished, it was noted that ‘darkness increased their self-interested behaviour’!

Dr. Sanjay Chugh agrees and adds to the theory here, “I would agree with this. No one likes to be caught when doing something wrong. So, people try to hide or do it on the sly. Darkness provides the best cover. 


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Friday, August 10, 2012

Enemies in the shadows

As Sri Lanka negotiates the detritus of a long and tragic ethnic conflict, huge challenges loom over the tentative reconciliation process. B&E’s Surabh Kumar Shahi reports from Vavuniya

Ponnambalam Ramanathan was part of Sri Lanka’s tragic war. It was a long time ago. He is now part of the wobbly peace now. Four years ago, a LTTE veteran of ten years, he accompanied a small assault team that detonated a bomb inside the office of a political entity which was a constituent of the government alliance then. Ramanathan does not remember exactly how many were killed. He just remembers that no one was left. He killed two people.

Sitting inside a rehabilitation camp in a suburb of Colombo, he does not want to recall those days. He surrendered in 2006 outside and promptly threw away the cyanide capsule that any LTTE cadre, was supposed to swallow to evade arrest. He is now learning carpentry and is almost impervious to any emotions. But he regrets the violence.

Such optimism seems misplaced in today’s Sri Lanka. To overwhelm the LTTE, the regime had augmented the war machine to match the callousness of its opponent. It is now tackling the fallout of that war. As it confronts accusations of human rights abuses, the regime tries to alleviate the uncertainty and mistrust among ethnic Tamils after the conflict that lasted close to 30 years. The president, therefore, has an uphill task of reconciliation before him.

In the refugee camps in the North many Tamils are still struggling to survive. Between 150,000 to 300,000 refugees are still there. They somehow managed to survive the last stages of the battle. However, the end of the conflict has triggered questions regarding their future and the odds of co-existence between the Sinhalese and Tamils.

The first step is to allow the remaining refugees to return home. Without this, all talk of reconciliation would be meaningless. Talking to B&E, Wickremabahu Karunaratne, leader of the New Left Front, says, “The government has stressed it has sifted about 10,000 rebels from among the refugees. Then what are the camps for? Let the people return and take the initiative in the peace process.”

The government too understands the issue and is keeping it on its priority list. However, the process is painfully slow and ridden with red-tape. The regime’s non-clarity over their plan to develop and reconstruct the north and east is not helping at all. With the elections out of the way, the regime needs to take local communities and political leaders into confidence before beginning the process of reconstruction. “The military influence over policies and control over the population need to end. Only demilitarisation can lead to confidence-building,” says K Sarweshwaran, a political scientist based in Colombo. The regime must also allay fears that demographic changes could dilute the Tamil character of the north.

Restoring land comes next. A huge section of the Tamils sent out of the IDP camps have not returned home nor have they been resettled. Instead, they have been sent to “transit centres” in their respective home districts. These are essentially schools, government buildings and places of worship which are far away from any means of livelihood. Also, the homes of many of these Tamils were either partially damaged or fully destroyed during the conflict. And most of these houses have also been relieved of household items and any items of value. The regime must come up with adequate compensation so that the people might restart their life.

Return of agricultural land will be another essential step. But there are teething problems. Large tracts of farmland, riddled with land-mines laid by the LTTE, are yet to be de-mined. Farming is impossible on these plots. Even in areas that have been officially de-mined, the exercise had been done only up to “battlefield use” standards, not up to “humanitarian” standards.

The government on its part has done a few things that will help mend ties. For example, the allotment of rice for the northern and eastern region has been increased so that till the time agriculture is impossible, there is a constant supply of rice. Also, the government and financial institutions have decided to reduce interest rates and taxes on loans in these regions. This will encourage investors as well as bring in much-needed change in infrastructure in the area. Tender for a new railway line connecting the region with other parts of the country has already been floated. In some of the sections, the work has already started. All these initiatives are part of the regime''s “Northern Spring” initiative.

Strengthening of democratic institutions would be equally crucial. Sarath Fernando, moderator of the Movement of Lands and Agriculture Reform, told B&E, “A country needs strong democratic institutions for confidence building. We are no exception.” A strong independent media is the need of the hour. One of the conflict’s casualties has been an independent press that can openly criticise both the parties without any fear of retribution. Sri Lanka’s ranking in a press-freedom index has slid in recent years as prominent journalists critical to both the Rajapaksa political family and the LTTE have been assaulted, threatened and even killed.


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