HCL ‘ME’ Series

What’s up with me?: After alluring the world with its Leaptops launched last year, HCL made a lot of waves in 2009 with its all new ‘ME’ Leaptop series. The new series claims to be the world’s first ‘One Touch’ that tenders immediate service and support to the user. Moreover, the product line also provided the user some unique features like Lock ME (to prevent data loss), Encrypt ME (restricts unauthorised access of data), et al, along with face recognition and finger print recognition which empowers this range to get an instant recognition among the target audience. Targeted at the collegiate and young executives in the age group of 18-29 years, the product is reasonably priced in a range of Rs.23,000-44,000. With the initial overwhelming response, the consumer has so far conveyed that ‘it’s all about ME’ to the competition.

Pawan Chabra

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
IIPM makes record 10,000 placements in five years
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

Detail of all IIPM branches
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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.

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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
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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

“Rural India believes in Brand Stickiness”

In an exclusive interaction with vareen ray & neha saraiya, Pradeep Kahyap reveals the secret code to crack India’s vast rural market

4Ps B&M: You are the first person who perhaps understood the real potential of rural India. How difficult is it to convince companies?
Pradeep Kashyap (PK): When I started talking about rural markets 10 years back hardly anyone was interested. It took me close to five years to just convince companies. I had to dig a lot of information, data and even write a book on rural marketing and conduct seminars and workshops because people kept doubting whether there was actually a market or not. So, we organised many programmes and even took corporates to villages to make them understand the potential of rural markets.

4Ps B&M: Can there be a single strategy for a company to succeed in the rural market?
PK: All big companies have an export division and have a country specific strategy. If that be the case then states like UP & Bihar are countries or subcontinents in themselves. Then how can companies have a pan India strategy. So my point is that on one hand for urban consumers companies have so many segments like physiographic, demographic but for rural consumers companies just stick to one strategy.

4Ps B&M: Any segmentation example?
PK: Lot of regional companies have done that because they are focused around one state or two states and that is their market, as they have already segmented and rejected the other areas. Companies like Unilever are now getting into segmentation. But it has to be around affordability, distribution, et al. The companies which are doing it are reaping the benefits.

4Ps B&M: Sectors still to realise the potential of rural markets...
PK: Undoubtedly, the durables sector. Several studies have shown that ownership of durables in rural India is one- third the average ownership of urban market. The reason for it is not affordability, but lack of electricity. The rural ecosystem is not conducive to the usage of durable products. If companies can get consumer finance in place then that market is waiting to be explored.

4Ps B&M: Is rural India brand conscious?
PK: In rural India there is concept of ‘Brand Stickiness.’ If a consumer in rural India is satisfied with the brand he uses, then he is reluctant to change that brand. And because of lack of education rural consumers are unable to differentiate between brands. Moreover, rural consumers are still deriving the core benefits of the brand and not the peripheral benefits of it.

4Ps B&M: How is the rural youth different from the urban youth?
PK: Rural youth is driving brands as much as urban youth. Rural youth who were earlier dropping out from school are now finishing college and are more aware than earlier. They are the ones who are exposed to outdoor communication and hence have information about the brand. Now these guys go and purchase the brand, which they see and give them the best deal.

4Ps B&M: How is India’s rural market different from China’s?
PK: Oh, it’s very different. The Chinese market is not uniformly developed. They have used the Porter’s principle to see the strategic areas, which provide the maximum advantage and developed that area accordingly. So they have rationalised their costs at better rates. Whereas India is a democracy. The India rural areas have more consumers than the Chinese. Fortunately the rural consumer base is growing much faster than the urban consumer base.

4Ps B&M: Was rural India affected by the slowdown?
PK: Rural India was least affected during slowdown. Sectors largely affected by the slowdown – real estate & financial – have very little impact in the rural markets, as in rural India nobody buys a house for speculation and they don’t invest money in shares.

4Ps B&M: And what about the role of NREGS?
PK: About 40 million families have benefited from it. NREGS has ensured that one member of each family gets 100 days of work, which makes a huge difference in rural areas. So a multiplier effect builds up in community itself. And along with the loan farm waiver, NREGS helped tremendously to boost the rural economy.

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
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

HE’S NO NANO BRAND!

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat

Late last year, ad man Suhel Seth met with Gujarat’s ‘bachelor’ CM Narendra Modi at his residence in Ahmedabad. Seth who had till then written enough articles about Modi’s (mis)handling of the post-Godhra scenario, was nevertheless impressed with Modi’s infectious ‘passion for development’. In a subsequent article in a daily, Seth wrote paeans about this ‘bachelor’ leader’s eight-year superlative reign as the CM of Gujarat. “His flaws apart, Modi today, is truly a transformational leader. We need many more like him!” he wrote. And that statement perhaps, sums up brand Narendra Modi like no other. The ‘secular’ brigade loves to hate him, but for a majority of Gujarati’s (in India and abroad), Modi is “God” and stands for making Gujarat attract more industry today than all other states put together. His latest claim to fame – an MoU with Tata Motors for setting up the mother plant for manufacturing the Nano at Sanand, Gujarat. Frugal, tough, canny and a master administrator – these are the few associations that brand Modi immediately conjures. When he assumed office as CM in 2001, Gujarat was struggling to get on its feet, in the face of several natural calamities. Modi took over, and created a world record, restoring 8,76,618 houses in just 500 days. That’s toughness! Many claim that Modi’s Hindutva politics will bring about the end of the BJP as we know it today. Perhaps, but conversely, his brand of no-nonsense administration may well put India on another growth highway altogether!

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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.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
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IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

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Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
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Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
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Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

ESPN faces a Googly

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

After an uneventful champions Trophy, ESPN Star Sports is now struggling for eyeballs for the ongoing Champions League. Even the Rs.1 billion marketing budget for the two cricketing events couldn’t boost the audience interest and the ratings. Sample this: While the Champions League’s opening match got poor ratings of 0.9, the average rating of the tournament so far stands even worse at 0.7 (aMap ratings). This puts Champions League’s performance below Champions Trophy, which managed average TRPs of 1.1. To cash in on the huge popularity of the Indian Premiere League’s huge success, ESPN had bought the 10-year rights of Champions League (the first international club cricket event) for a whopping $975 million. Avers Nirmal Dayani, Senior Director – Marketing, ESPN, “After watching tournaments like IPL and T20 World Cup, people can easily relate to the T20 format. However, it may take some time to get familiar with the international club teams. But it has the potential to become a unique cricket property for ESPN.” The channel has reportedly spent Rs.40 crore alone for promoting the Champions League, but all seems in vain. So the big question now is – how much damage will ESPN bear because of this flop show. In fact, it’s not about a single tournament. The channel is stuck with a ten-year deal for a tournament, which is struggling to touch the ratings of even 1.0. And since many of the ad deals are already sealed for the current season, the actual challenge for the channel will be to find advertisers for the forthcoming seasons of the event. Though, the channel plans to spend lot of monies in popularising the format (international club cricket) to attract audience in the forthcoming seasons, but for now the $975 billion deal with ESPN seems to be a bad bet for the broadcaster.

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.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Big buzz for Big Boss!

After the announcement of Big Boss 3 in Singapore with all fanfare, Big B flied down to Delhi to create some additional buzz for this most hyped reality show of Colors. Giving him company were the Channel’s BIG BOSS Rajesh Kamat(CEO, Colors) and programming maestro Ashwini Yardy! Well, despite all these super PR efforts, the opening TRPs of Big Boss third season (3 as per aMap data) are not very impressive. But keeping in mind the controversial profile of some of the contestants like KRK, Sherlin Chopra and Rakhi Sawant’s mom Jaya Sawant, the possibilities of ratings catching up in coming week cannot be ignored!

Pallavi Srivastava

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.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

IIPM Related Links
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Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
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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)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Time was when someone said handsets, and if you happened to be in India, you intuitively thought Nokia, Samsung or Sony Ericssion.

But today, a clutch of small and big players are straining to break the market mould. Surbhi Chawla meets up with some fringe players to get a handle on their strategies for changing the market matrix...

Vivek Bansal, a Meerut (65 kms. away from Delhi) based distributor of mobile phones is very happy these days. And the reasons for his joviality don’t happen to be the Nokias and Samsungs of the world, but a lesser known brand (at least in the case of mobile phones) – Intex. Just a mention of the brand name and that sudden spark in his eyes is proof enough of how fast Intex handsets are flying off the shelf.

However, this was not the situation six months back when Bansal started stocking Intex mobile phones along with the brand’s other computer peripherals. He was sceptical about the success of the brand in a world that was ruled by the big daddies of the handset world. He was surprised (yes, pleasantly) though at the positive customer response. As one of the key distributors for Intex mobile phones in and around Meerut today, Bansal feels that his cash register rings almost every hour. “The business is now getting brisk as dealers are becoming confident about the brand. We are now able to sell about 1,200-1,500 units in a month on an average,” he reveals.

Intex is not the lone player adding to the joy of distributors like Bansal. Of late there have been many new handset makers that have realised the tremendous potential in the Indian handset market, particularly in the entry level segment. Fly Mobile, Spice Mobile, Lava, Karbonn, Lemon, airphone, BYOND TECH, Intex, Orpat, Usha Lexus, Rage, eTouch, Gee Pee, Pagaria, Magicon, Onida, Micromax ... phew, hope you agree that the list of wannabes is really big.

In India, currently about 8-10 million new subscribers are being added every month. Most of these new customers are now coming from India’s tier II and tier III towns. And since despite their best efforts, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola have not really managed to be present in every nook and cranny of the country, these players are happily reporting robust sales in these markets.

Explains a gleeful Shripal Gandhi, VP, Sales and Business Development, BYOND TECH, “The current tele-density in rural areas of the country stands at a mere 10%, but it’s expected to be close to a neat 60% of that by 2012. This means a growth of 600% going forward.” BYOND TECH is a part of the Canpex Group of Companies that had mainly restricted itself to the chemicals business till now. And given the potential, other small and big business groups are also jumping on the handset bandwagon to make a quick killing. Many of them have never been in the B2C segment and are mugging up every page of their marketing handbook to grab a slice of the market.

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.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

IIPM Related Links
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)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

Now this is called a ‘Fear Hug’

Once bitten, twice shy: Fear of risk embraces Mr. Banker and Individual Investor in the same hug without any discrimination

Fear, especially of risk in financial markets, is contagious. It afflicts the money specialist super bankers as well as ordinary individual investors. The pattern in householders’ financial savings and risk aversion among bankers, as a class, shows that the Rat year (the year 2008 was known as the year of the Rat under the Chinese lunar calendar system) has taken the bull out of the Average Joe and Mr. Super Banker without any discrimination. Risk has hugged them all.

The latest data shows that Indian households’ investments in equity shares, debentures and mutual funds have dropped to just 2.6% of their total financial savings in FY09 from 12.4% a year ago. At the same time, their investments in bank deposits paced higher to 58.74% in the year to March 2009 compared to 52.24% previous year.

As at March 2009, according to the latest data released by the RBI, the Indian householders preferred to channel their savings into the safety of bank deposits and reduced their investments in “risky” market related instruments such as shares, debentures and mutual funds with rise in risk perception and extreme pessimism.

Coincidentally, the steep fall in stock market indices and accompanying unprecedented volatility saw Indian households’ investment in shares and mutual funds as percentage of total financial savings nosedived to just 2.60% during the year FY09. In contrast, when the stock market was booming, they were happy to put more money, larger allocation of their financial savings, at the rate of 12.40% into such market instruments during the year ended March 2008. All the euphoria evaporated with one whack of volatility.

The flow of funds into bank deposits seems continuing, as per the latest indications, even though the interest rates offered by banks have dropped significantly over the last two quarters. Despite reduction in deposit rates by nearly 300 bps across maturities, continuing flow into bank deposits shows investors still have to recover from the previous year’s stock market shock and certainly are unwilling to keep pace with the dancing volatility in equity markets. Once bitten, twice shy.

Height of risk aversion among banks those are unwilling to lend lest it dilute the credit quality. They are obsessed with retaining the asset quality, which would otherwise impair their capital. They fear rise in NPAs so much that they are willing to sacrifice the difference in deposit rates offered to customers and the interest earned from RBI at Reverse Repo rate. This is despite the patting and pushing by the banking regulator and even the government mandarins.

Even mutual funds that attracted investors in droves just one year ago with plethora of existing and launch of new schemes bore the brunt of this risk aversion as investors were extremely less enthusiastic about investing in mutual funds, particularly equity oriented schemes. Investors, who pumped in Rs.568 billion in mutual funds in FY08, pulled out Rs.104.78 billion from these in FY09. Equity mutual fund schemes during the year FY09 saw net inflow of just Rs.40.24 billion against Rs.469.05 billion during the previous year.

Recent mutual fund data also reveals that banks are parking record amount of funds in liquid and ultra short term schemes, which would hardly yield – 6% annualised.

Is the end of tunnel in sight? Will the government policies inspire confidence among investors to risk capital and spend, instead of saving more?

Will the banks lend rather than send back depositors with ultra-low rates? Well, these are a trillion, not a million, dollar questions.

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.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!

Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri
IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
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IIPM - Admission Procedure
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A doubtful Ratan Lal Bhagat questions their future...

With negative demand for cabin crews, diversifying into provision of other training courses seem the sole route to survival for cabin crew training institutes.

“I have wasted both time and money by enrolling into this course, as I am still waiting to be placed and looking at the deteriorating situation of the airline sector, I am not very hopeful,” says a disgusted Simran Mehta, an aspiring air hostess, whose flying dreams have been grounded, like those of many others, with the failing financial health of the domestic aviation sector over the past two years. Clearly, the domestic airline sector is going through its worst phase ever in modern years and the domestic aviators are being forced to cut down costs (and therefore manpower count) to stay afloat. As technical staff and pilots cannot be done away with easily, the cabin crew have become the soft targets. The sight of Jet Airways cabin crews taking the street in October last year, in protest of the management decision to lay them off is still fresh in the minds of many. And if you thought that was a phenomenon far too impossible in the present times, the truth is - it is as prevalent! And all this put together have badly affected many air hostess training institutes around the country, whose businesses have literally hit the wall.

Over the last three years, prior to the sectoral crash, a plethora of such training institutes had mushroomed across the length and breadth of the country. Nearly 35 to 40 institutes with as many as 110 branches had spread their wings to fulfill the flying dreams of many aspirants. But failing to cope with the demand-supply mismatch, along with many students opting for better and more fruitful avenues, a number of them have been forced to close down shops. Flying Cats is no more, while the Air Hostess Academy (AHA) has closed down many centres.

Even Frankfinn, which operates through 110 centres and claims to have placed the maximum in the cabin crew business is facing the heat as K. S. Kohli, Chairman, Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training worringly states, “We have registered a 10 to 15% decline in the number of new admission in the past two years. The bad financial state of the airlines and their rumoured retrenchment measures through reduction in the number of crew members per flight has developed wrong sentiments, thus affecting overall footfalls in the training centres...” A worse decline (about 25-30%) in the number of new admissions have been registered by many other such institutes. Even renowned names like Kingfisher Airlines promoted Kingfisher Training Academy, Maples, et al, are finding it tough to sustain during such trying times. In the face of such a predicament, the question is – what are the survival measures that are being adopted by these training institutes?

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.

“We will change your outlook” - The Sunday Indian on B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED! A must read...
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Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!

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1 lakh copies sold in less than 10 days of Arindam Chaudhuri’s “Discover The Diamond In you”

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India witnesses a shift in the mind-set of girls on marriage...

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Educated, economically sound and enterprising are the usual adjectives used for NRI men. Scores of Indian parents and girls have persistently sought out NRIs for marriage and until quite recently parents proudly boasted about their daughters being married and settled abroad. But now, this seems to be a bygone trend. Blame it on the global meltdown or the comfort and opportunities in India, girls in India are now preferring grooms based in their own country.

I remember my neighbour telling my mother about a suitable match that she’d found for her daughter. He belonged to a wealthy family, had a respectable job and was settled in UK. But her daughter was unimpressed and left her disheartened, though she did have her reasons all sorted out. “Why should I get married to someone where I’d have to give up on my high-paying job and start all over again in a new country where there would be hardly any scope of getting a similar job?” she would retort. “I would, instead, marry someone in India, continue my job and live close to my family.” This was not typically the case a few years ago. Dipankar Chakravarthy from Bharat Matrimony explained the psychology behind the fixation on NRI grooms. “A major chunk of South Indian population and people from Punjab look for grooms settled abroad. South Indians usually study IT and hope to establish a better career abroad, which is why they prefer marrying someone already settled there,” he said. The case of people from the North-western belt was slightly different. “Parents of girls who are barely school pass-outs are the ones who look for NRI grooms. This is mostly the case of people in Jalandhar, Ludhiana etc. For them, if their daughters are leading a comfortable life in a foreign country, it serves as a status symbol in their community.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

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

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