“Our concern was – How do we manage our rate of debt?”

In the midst of the general concern and uncertainty in the market regarding the realty sector and companies like DLF, the company’s Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar is optimistic of a more evolved market & consistent supply in the coming years. In this exclusive with virat bahri of B&E, Talwar talks about DLF’s downturn adjustments and future vision. Some excerpts
 

B&E: Market reports are highlighting the fact that DLF missed its targets for FY 2009-10. What is your view of the company’s performance?
Rajeev Talwar (RT): This question (by analysts) is unreasonable on two grounds. Firstly, is it due to lack of knowledge about the recession in the developed economies, including Japan, and downturn and meltdown in the other economies? That should answer one half of your question – why the targets were missed. Secondly, real estate is a hugely complex and intricate business. People talk at times of a price bubble in booming economies. There was no price bubble (in India) at all. There was a mere gap between demand and supply. It may take a gestation period of less than an year for a particular processed product in the manufacturing sector; in this sector it takes very often 4-5 years between conception to delivery. Whenever economies boom and there is no regular supply chain, there is bound to be a price rise due to shortage of housing or office space. If the economy grows at 8%, then the CAGR of real estate sector should be around 20%. That is the reason for demand-supply gap and increase in prices and speculators coming in. On the other side, in a downturn, people’s jobs are affected, emotional security is affected; there is an immediate drop in interest to acquire. Downturn and slide is much greater in the real estate sector. We were certain that there is bound to be a tight leash on targets of sales and revenues in downturn. But expenditure targets have to be exceeded, since that is the time when you have to concentrate and focus on execution and delivery. Construction in the last 1 year, which had dropped down from peak levels of 65-70 million sq. ft. (msf), a large percentage of construction in the private sector to 40-41 msf has picked up again to around 56 msf. So we are focusing on execution and in better times to come they would reflect better deliveries and constant supply.

B&E: How do you see the demand scenario picking up now?
RT: A good economy which is coasting along, hopefully a good monsoon, better crops, lower inflation and pressure on RBI reduced to hike up rates and possibly to go back to a low interest economy regime – if that happens, one sees a growing confidence from consumers and strongest demand from the residential sector. A good economy will also reflect that the corporate sector is getting stronger, which will reflect itself in increased demand for office space. In retail segment, while last year’s festive season was good, a good period of economic growth will shore up confidence among people and if there is a good festive season this year, the next fiscal should see some growth signs back in the retail segment.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Where the hell is it? [and why the euro’s finally lost it]

The ongoing sovereign debt crisis has revealed major cracks in the foundation of the euro. Though EU has suggested an amicable solution, it’s definitely not going to work. B&E gets questions answered by the European Central Bank and other experts by Manish K Pandey

Is the currency with the highest combined value of banknotes and coins in circulation across the world (with over €790 billion in circulation) finally headed for the deathbed? The euro! With a name and an inauguration ceremony that slapped the elongated twang out of the dollar, the euro was expected to be the white man’s answer to himself, and of course, the downcountry Neanderthals in Asia (who’ve been trying for long for a common currency) – an answer that was supposed to unify global economies beyond what dainty dear Bush could have ever done in two lifetimes. For starters, the euro magnificently unified at least the EU (well, it wasn’t named the ‘euro’ for nothing, right?) – but before they could start daydreaming, ruthlessly beat the Nordic daylights out of their economies!

‘One currency, one future’ was the call that had earlier united Europe while adopting the euro. ‘One currency, one fate’ is what it sounds like now! Critics now comment that the Euro Zone would actually have been better off without the euro! Harvard economist Martin Feldstein had predicted much earlier of an economic conflict because of the common currency. A closer look at the numbers and one can smell disaster. Hedge funds have already bet $8 billion against the euro (the biggest ever short position in its 11-year history!) and are continuously losing confidence in its ability to withstand the sovereign debt crisis. Well, not to forget, euro has already touched the lowest level against the dollar (1 Euro = $1.2585; as on May 21, 2010) since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

“Such market sentiment can be sufficiently strong (and long lasting) to create its own reality and expose all these countries to a common threat,” says UK based Robert Thomas, Senior Vice President, Moody’s Investor Service to B&E. But in an official communiqué sent by ECB to B&E, Jean-Claude Trichet, President, ECB still seems optimistic on the euro’s future, “I don’t think that there is any such sentiment in the Governing Council. We consider – and, to my knowledge, it is also the sentiment of all Heads of State or Governments who I know – that belonging to the euro area has brought an enormous number of advantages, as we have always said.”

Well, the advantages don’t seem so attractive right now. The ongoing credit bubble has left several southern European nations gasping for air. Countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece are struggling with unbelievable foreign liabilities standing at 91% ($1.20 trillion), 108% ($225.35 billion) and 87% ($264.82 billion) of their GDP respectively. The others don’t seem better off either. The latest country-wise data reveals that the correction of the large fiscal imbalances will require a significant stepping-up of current efforts. Fiscal consolidation will need to exceed substantially the annual structural adjustment of 0.5% of GDP set as a minimum requirement by the Stability and Growth Pact. And if this does not happen, chances are high that the Euro Zone’s common currency collapses. A deeper examination of the situation and it feels that the common currency can only survive if EU gets control over the spending power of its members.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Only the smarter race qualifies!

Telecom players in India are flocking to the ‘app store’ band wagon. But it’s an idea much before its time, as masses don’t even know the ‘app’ from the ‘store’ says b&e’s Surbhi Chawla

3G and 4G are still delusions for companies and numbers for the layman. Meanwhile, the latest trend that is picking up in the Indian telecom sector is the trend of application (app) stores. The trend was started by Aircel, which announced its partnership with Infosys to launch its application store in January 2010.

Without much ado, Bharti Airtel launched its app store by the name of Airtel App Central on February 10, 2010. For starters, around 1250 applications have been made available on this platform to support over 550 device. (Atul Bindal, President, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel, said, “With the Airtel App Central, we are offering a one-stop shop open 24x7 to meet all our customer’s personal device needs. We are empowering our mobile customers to transform their phones into smart devices.”)

The company has attempted an assortment of free and paid content, which is currently divided into 25 separate categories (like books, games, entertainment, social networking, heath & fitness and weather to name a few). As of now, the paid content starts for as low as Rs. 5 and the cost of a particular application would be either added to the monthly bill in the case of post paid subscriber or deducted from the talktime of the pre paid ones. Airtel is trying to cater to even its non-smart phone customers, but unlike Aircel, there are no applications for now that would be accessible with voice commands or SMS.

Reliance Communications (RCOM) has also announced that it would be soon entering this sphere through its RWorld. Mahesh Prasad, President, Reliance Communications, tells B&E, “It is our constant effort to offer our customers a ‘wow experience’ and with the launch of the Reliance Applications Store, we will be taking a giant leap in that direction. Application Stores have benchmarked the overall VAS experience of customers globally, and the launch of Reliance Applications Store in India will provide consumers with a broad selection of relevant, fun and exciting applications to choose from in the easiest possible way.”
 

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Will Mukesh Have the Last laugh in 2010?

It’s slated to be the largest non-pharma deal this year (till date), if successful. But the Bharti-MTN deal is much more than that, for it can potentially be a major game changer in corporate India’s most high profile sibling rivalry – that of the Ambani brothers
 
We still remember the blistering summer of mid-June, 2005 in Mumbai, when this magazine was launched in a glittering function at the Taj. Virtually all the guests were gracious enough to have a few words of praise for Business & Economy. But once the polite conversation got over with, it was back to the BIGGEST story of those days-the public spat and the looming split between Mukesh and Anil Ambani. There were whispers about how a battle over family crown jewels between the two had been transformed into a deeply bitter and rancorous personal feud that had ostensibly dragged even close lieutenants and spouses into the quagmire. Mumbai denizens were wondering which brother had better access to the corridors of power in Delhi. There were apocryphal tales about how the head honcho of ICICI Bank K. V. Kamath was desperately working out a deal whereby at least a public façade of an amicable split would be maintained. South Mumbai residents talked in awe of how the matriarch Kokilaben was holding all night counselling sessions at Sea Wind, the multi-storied Ambani residence in Colaba. Even as we talked a little and gossiped a lot more, mobile phones started twittering with calls and text messages announcing a final and formal split between the two. We knew what the cover feature of the second issue of Business & Economy would be.

Beyond the headlines, the real story was the gut wrenching emotions and angst that haunted Mukesh Ambani when he had to part with his brainchild, his passion and his personal tribute to his father – the late Dhirubhai Ambani. That was Reliance Infocom. Though these things can never be accurately verified, people close to the split swear that Mukesh swore that he will reclaim his dream and passion sometime in the future. Meanwhile, within weeks of the split, every company and employee of the companies that came under the control of Mukesh abandoned their Reliance phone handsets and connections.

Guess who benefited from this public demonstration of the bitter spat and subsequent split? Sunil Bharti Mittal and Airtel because Mukesh and the thousands and thousands of his employees switched over to Airtel connections!

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Winners show How to beat the pants off your competition in a downturn...

First came the slowdown avalanche, they continued climbing... Then came the storm, they climbed further... Then came competitors criticising their weaknesses; but they’d reached the summit by then! B&E’s manish k. pandey & deepak r. patra closely analyse how the ‘best’ got the better of the ‘worst weathers’, and a lesson for those with ‘weak feathers’...

“Our greatest competition is with ourselves.” Or “Our greatest challenge is how to continue to provide value to our customers.” How often is it that you have heard our good ol’ CEOs utter these angelical words, and how many times have you believed them? We hear such statements, albeit rephrased in many different ways, just about all the time; and as far as believing them goes, all we can say is that being politically correct hardly remains a domain exclusive to politics!

That’s because there is no business establishment that can survive in this marketplace by just looking at the customer’s needs. A company has to view its entire business environment in a holistic context, and competition, in particular, has to be studied closely, all the time. Even as we speak, there are new competitive benchmarks being consistently set in every industry, and it’s quite obvious that all of them do not come from one company. There are precious few companies like GE, which develop benchmarks far ahead of the competition and can afford some complacence (even GE hasn’t been immune in fact!). And there are times when these benchmarks can make all the difference between winning and losing. So there is no reason to disbelieve the fact that if companies just focus on customers and turn a blind eye to competition, they are headed for testing times.

And economic slowdown is the mother of innovation. When the pie gets smaller, competitors search for newer ways to grab a greater share, and it becomes all the more important to outmanoeuvre them when and where it counts. But the key question is – what will work? What magical formula can a company use to win in the downturn, or even to insure itself better against future downturns?

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)