When freebies fail to fulfill?

IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years

Certainly, growth in the mobile subscriber base (since 2002 India has evidenced 94% CAGR in mobile telephony and has reached a subscriber base of 347 million) is definitely a reason to offer this service, but it’s not the only reason. Factors like ubiquitous reach, convenience, time saving, and low costs are some other key advantages influencing mobile subscribers to become mobile banking users. “From the bank point of view, mobile banking helps cut down costs as it is even more economical than branch banking or any other mode of electronic banking like ATMs and online banking. If accepted by consumers, mobile banking will cost one-fifth what ATMs cost and only 40% what Internet banking costs per transaction,” reasons Rajan.

Apart from this, mobile banking can also act as an effective tool to bring unbanked rural customers into the banking umbrella. In regions where accessibility, infrastructure, illiteracy, and foolproof identity are still issues, banks and service providers are considering mobile banking as an effective and robust tool to carry on banking activities. For banks, it is nearly impossible to build a retail brick-and-mortar infrastructure in rural India, thus making mobile banking the best available alternative with a relatively low investment.

Though the numbers that these banks are quoting (as far as mobile banking is concerned) are still relatively low, what is impressive is the pace with which these numbers are growing. In fact at the end of 2008, private banks like ICICI, IDBI, HDFC and Kotak had close to 12.5 million registered users for mobile banking. Even public sector banks are not behind when it comes to the use of mobile as an interface to interact with their huge customer base. While India’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has reported adding more than 20,000 customers in the last two months – just in mobile banking, the Union Bank of India (UBI) has seen it’s mobile banking customer base increase from 1,700 in June to over 11,000 in August. In fact, banks are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to testing the efficacy of their mobile banking initiative before launching it on a pan India basis.

HDFC Bank, for instance, has tied up with Bharti Airtel (the telecom service provider) and Eko (the technology provider) to launch the ‘Abhilasha’ savings account. This is a pilot-project that has enabled over 2,000 low-income individuals in Uttam Nagar, West Delhi, to access banking facilities without having to visit bank branches. In this pilot phase, chemist shops, general stores, residents, NGOs, or individuals can register to become an authorised outlet. These authorised outlets will then help mobile banking customers conduct banking transactions which include facilities like money transfer, cash deposit and withdrawal, wage and salary disbursements, micro-insurance, microcredit, and payments on behalf of the bank. To make it happen the mobile banking services are powered to the customers on all mobile phones including the most basic models, without WAP or GPRS applications.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM enters into media education


TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

‘RED’EFINING RADIO!

However, on the contrary, Jagdeep Kapoor, CMD, Samsika Marketing Consultants avers, “Youth is the most attractive target segment for any business today for the simple reason that India is a young country and I see no point in Red FM not extending the recent repositioning exercise beyond Delhi. In fact, in the case of a radio channel, it will not only appeal to the youth but also to people who want remain young at heart forever.”

Moreover, the promotions have so far been limited to on-air promotions and the company hasn’t gone off-air to promote the refreshed positioning. Though, experts claim that the on-air attempts have been more than welcomed by the target consumer, the moot question is – Will the move really make a big difference for a radio broadcaster? Will these efforts fetch the desired results for Red FM?

If the words of Singh are to be believed, “The response has been great so far, listeners are appreciating our revamped playlist and all the innovations we have done so far. In fact, a 50-year-old man recently called us to say that he feels 20 years younger when he now tunes in the new Red FM.” No doubt, Red FM’s tagline ‘Bajaate Raho’ has been an instant hit nationwide and the company, which has always focused on the youth, is once again pressing the right touch points to make it to the big three in the Indian radio industry. Even the recent listenership rating released by Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) shows that there have been a significant increase in Red FM’s listenership after they changed their positioning (see table).

Further, it’s not just the promotion, Red FM has all guns blazing in order to make it to the big league. In fact, the channel has recently launched two new shows – Kabir ka Double Bed and a new comedy programme Shanky and Panky in which two college drop outs share their take on Delhi – only to further strengthen (also showcase) its commitment.

The way the repositioning was done in the middle of the festive season (which is considered to be one of the busiest seasons for all the radio stations across the country), experts claim that the channel may have got the maximum benefit as the advertisers were also looking to tap the youth during the season. Even as per the industry estimates, apart from many new advertisers coming under the radio umbrella, the regular advertisers had increased their ad-spends by around 10-30% during the festive season.

No doubt, the efforts of Red FM have been appreciated by the advertisers as well as the listeners, but the fact that the channel is not moving beyond the national capital with its new positioning may set a hurdle for it in the long-run. In fact, with 2010 being considered as a crucial one for the radio industry (as experts are expecting the third phase of expansion for the radio industry and are estimating a mind-boggling 700 additional frequencies for private FM players to be added and introduction of FM stations in 90 new cities in the country) Red FM clearly has a lot of work on its plate before the competition gets intense.

But, for now, the repositioning has surely helped this ‘aaj ke zamane ka channel’ to create a unique set of consumers in Delhi. And if the company is able to get some more creative ideas right in the region, the channel surely stands a clear chance to make it to the ‘Big Three’.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
TSI exposes b school ranking scamsters Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Premchand Palety of C fore. - For Complete Sting Operation Video Click Here

Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy
Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
Detail of all IIPM branches
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri