It has been in the air for quite some time. A day after Mukesh Ambani stated at Reliance Industries annual general meeting that the group would invest $ 3 billion in telecom operations, Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), and Reliance Communications (RComm) announced the signing of an agreement to share RComm's telecom towers infrastructure. Under the deal, RComm will get Rs 12,000 crore over the lifetime of the agreement. Reliance Jio Infocomm will use 45,000 telecom towers of RComm to roll-out its broadband wireless access services across the country. "The agreement provides for joint working arrangements to configure the scope of additional towers to be built at new locations to ensure deep penetration and seamless delivery of next generation services," said a press statement.This is the second deal that RJI has done with RComm over the past couple of months. In April, RJI had done a Rs 1,200 crore deal with RComm for an inter-city optic fibre sharing agreement. In between, RJI had also announced that it will utilize Bharti Airtel's i2i submarine cable that connects India and Singapore.So what does all this mean? The big gainer is no doubt RComm which is bogged down with a net debt of Rs 38,864 crore at the end of FY 2013. It will be a boost to RComm that had a net profit of Rs 671.6 crore on revenues of Rs 21,778 crore in the last fiscal. In 2011-12, RComm had notched profits of Rs 928 crore on revenues of Rs 20,382 crore. It remains to be seen how quickly RComm will be able to retire some proportion of its net debt.As far as RJI is concerned, it is quite clear now that it is following an asset light strategy. Instead of setting up its own infrastructure, it will use existing infrastructure. It remains to be seen if RJI will join hands with other tower companies too to increase its reach across the country.
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Risks are part of any business but new figures are a wake-up call to both business developers and future investors to act on the fast depleting natural resources. Recent estimates place the global cost of environmental impact of businesses at a staggering $ 4.7 trillion – highlighting numerous risks like scarce raw materials and community conflicts. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)’s 2013 report has estimated these costs stating that a large part of the damages of business processes from procuring, transporting and manufacturing to selling a given product are invisible. TEEB formed under the aegis of UNEP and the G8 nations released ‘Natural Capital at Risk – Top 100 Externalities of Business’ report in April, 2013.Environmental impacts across 500 business sectors have been divided region wise and are based on green house gasses emissions, loss of natural resources, loss of nature based services such as CO2 storage by forests, climate change and air pollution related health costs. South Asia is rated among the worst in terms of land use, water use, water pollution ad green house gas emissions.$ 4.7 trillion a year is 65 per cent of the total primary sector including production and processing. The sectors include agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining, oil and gas exploration, utilities, steel, cement, pulp & paper and petrochemicals. Put together these have an externality cost of US $ 7.3 trillion, which is 13% of the total global output in 2009 says the TEEB report.Pavan Sukhdev the study leader of TEEB says we need to change the way we do business in order to ensure its longevity. The report states none of the sectors with high environmental impact generate sufficient profit to cover their environmental costs and calls for immediate action. TEEB constituted to provide a case for conservation of natural capital in its report has attempted to put a cost on the invisible impacts. Companies and investors alike can use the report analysis to assess the possible scale of direct, supply chain and investment risks.“The externalities estimated in this study are third party costs of production processes. For example the damage by CO2 and CO emissions of thermal power plants is completely unaccounted for because a certain need is met through the electricity produced. The by-product of CO2 and CO is not measured in terms of its impact on people –the third party,” he explains. Sukhdev, formally a banker moved to consultancy and founded GIST advisory – a specialist firm that helps governments and corporations discover, measure, value and manage their impacts on natural and human capital.Though the figures are approximates Sukhdev says they are a point to begin from rather than behaving like there is no impact to take into consideration when running businesses. “The Gross Domestic Product is also an estimate... The externalities are estimates in a similar manner and are a lot more accurate than zero – the attitude of most business operatives who do not take into account the stress on natural resources that they are causing,” he says.
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The Union Cabinet, on Tuesday, 4 June '2013, cleared the much-awaited Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, which seeks to redress the shortcomings in the private residential housing sector by setting up a regulatory authority. It has invited tremendous opposition from the real estate industry. BW|Businessworld's Ankita Ramgopal gets a builder, a buyer and an analyst to debate the merits of the Bill.BUILDER: 'Get Ready For Prices To Go Up'Harinder Dhillon, Senior VP, Raheja DevelopersAs a developer there are still several problems that need to be tackled. The Bill has made little difference to us. If I take the buyer’s perspective, the Bill is trying to make life simpler. But, for clarity on the super built up area v/s the carpet area, we already are required to submit a declaration deed which has these details, so I don’t understand how it will be different now. If we’re made to sell on carpet areas, the price will simply go up since the common areas which are accounted for in super built up area have to be charged to someone. The developer is not going to pay out of his own pocket.When talking about the stringent measures on delays prescribed by the Bill, the government is taking no responsibility of their own in case of infrastructure development. How am I, as a developer, supposed to build a project when there are no roads, no sewage facilities etc. How does the government expect the developers to take all the responsibility? Also, several times the delays that happen in most projects are caused by the multiple approvals that are needed from government officials. There should be single-window which is created for all clearances and approvals.Having said that, there are some positives steps in the Bill that will prevent fly-by-night developers from fleecing customers. It is important that funds for a project are channelised in the right direction and not wasted away in other projects, because that only causes delays. But, now, my only concern is that with the regulator in place, will we be facing one more level of bureaucracy. For the developer, will it mean more approvals that we need to take? Read Also: For Home Buyers Or For VotesRead Also: What It Means For The Home Buyer BUYER: 'Sceptical But Ready To Welcome The Bill'Abhay Upadhyay, president of KWIC Buyers' Welfare AssociationUpadhyay has been fighting against the delay in the Kolkata West International City (KWIC) project located in the Howrah district of West Bengal. He says: “Since I have been a part of the buyer’s welfare association which has been protesting for a project which has been delayed for 5 years now, I feel a regulator is essential. Right now the market has absolutely no regulations, which is why buyers like us are getting fleeced. In our situation, the agreement was such that compensation for the delay would be provided as soon as the project is handed over. Since the project has not been handed over, we have not received a single rupee. So now, if the penalties which are prescribed by the Bill are enforced in the right manner, I’m sure it will be helpful for similar such cases in the future."While I am a bit skeptical about how effective the regulator will be, if it is passed, I think something is better than nothing. I know the developer will argue that there is a delay in projects because of delay in clearances, but as a consumer I am not interested in the excuses. So, as a consumer, I welcome the Real Estate Bill.”ANALYST: 'The Bill Will Clean Up 80% Of The Industry'Mayank Saksena, Managing Director, Land Services, Jones Lang LaSalle IndiaThis is a Bill that was much required by the Industry, but the form in which it has come is extremely stringent. The concern now is that it shouldn’t become a roadblock for better development rather than a push for it. There are both positives and negatives. The Bill states that residential units will now be sold on ‘carpet area’ rather than ‘super built-up area’. This is an extremely helpful move for the buyer, because it will expel all the ambiguity associated with the ‘super built-up area’ which leaves buyers in a blind spot since it is extremely confusing for them to ascertain the built up area of a plot. The super built up area of each development is determined differently so it is very project specific. The carpet area is the habitable area inside the walls of a development and it is easy to define it.In terms of delayed projects, they happen for two reasons. One issue is when the funds for a particular project are diverted for other land projects, it gets tied up and therefore the delays happen. This has been taken care of by the Bill with the clause which states that 70 per cent of the funds will have to be deposited in an account and the developer cannot use it for other projects. This will definitely be a step up. However the second reason why delays happen is of no fault of the developers, but rather the laxity on the part of government officials. The delay in approvals and certification often delay the entire project. So while these reforms are helpful, we still need reforms on approvals.Also, the Bill will weed out a lot of fraudulent brokers and discourage the malpractices that are prevalent in the industry. However, it is important to realise that the top-notch developers of the country already follow most of the practices like the one that ensures the developer’s responsibility for a building deficiency for up to one year. They provide repair free of cost. So I would conclude by saying that the Bill will clean up about 80 per cent of the industry which does not follow these practices.
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On Tuesday midnight of June 4/5, barely minutes after the Indian website of the world's largest e-tailer Amazon went live on amazon.in, it received its first order from an IIM Ahmedabad student.It's been more than 8 years since amazon.in was registered. Amazon's India entry has been widely speculated ever since. As a stepping stone 15 months ago Amazon re-launched Junglee (the site it bought from Rakesh Mathur and Ram Shriram and shut down one year later in February 2012) as a comparison site. Amazon.in, however, comes in as an e-tailer. Since foreign investment is banned in multi-brand retail in India, Amazon launches as a marketplace where buyers meet sellers, similar to eBay or tradus.com.Amazon's Vice President, International Expansion, Greg Greeley and Amazon India Vice President and Country Manager Amit Agarwal, met BW|Businessworld's Shrutika Verma and Rajeev Dubey on the day of the launch. Excerpts:Why did it take so long for Amazon to come into India even after buying Junglee in 1997?That purchase was for a very different purpose. In 1997 we did not have a marketplace. We weren't allowing other merchants to sell on our platform. It was introduced in 2000. There are a lot of things that go into infrastructure. And it is so early for e-commerce in India. The difference between being in India five years ago or now is very little. It will depend where we end up being ten years from now. When was the decision taken to come into India?We are not revealing that. There have been people working super hard on this for a number of months.Is there anywhere else in the world where you started out as a marketplace and not retail?No, this is the first country where we have started with a marketplace.What was the biggest hurdle you faced in setting up amazon.in?The hurdles are around how you localise the global strategy. Building a local fulfillment centre, local delivery, 3D secure payments, India has complex taxation laws… we are constantly thinking about how to keep customers away from that mess.The biggest hurdle would be how to simplify the complexities that are inherent in India. Read Also: Amazon Is Here But Flipkart Fails To Raise The Ante How big are the two categories that you have launched?We are starting with 7 million local and imported books and TV and movie shows with 12,000 titles. Why only the two categories?This is where we are getting started with. We know what our end point is and we would keep adding additional categories at the right time. Categories like mobile and cameras are the ones you should expect us to launch very soon. What will come next?This is something we are not ready to talk about at this moment because we know our end goal. You can pretty much look at the order in which we launched categories outside India. You can easily guess what is going to come next. Why doesn't the mobile app have the India site?We don't have it yet. We have the mobile site up but it is a very obvious need that we should fulfill. One way to look at is — look at amazon.com that offers us a map as to where we want to be. There is no reason for us to make every single service that is available globally to make available in India.What is in store for the seller and buyer on Amazon?A consumer should expect to find a vast selection of products starting in two departments - books, TV and movies, offered by over a hundred sellers to start with. The sellers continue to register with us every day. And given the large number of seller base competing for the same customer, a healthy competition will drive lower prices. Customers would also experience fast and reliable delivery on products that are being fulfilled by Amazon. All of this is layered on top of our convenient and trust worthy online shopping experience that we have built over the years in other market places. Customers in India get every amazon.com kind of experience — our search technology and innovative features like search inside the book. We have more than 1.3 million scanned books on amazon.in that allows one to search keywords inside a book. There are richer descriptions; we are syndicating reviews from amazon.com.For Sellers: There are two services we are launching for the sellers — selling on amazon and fulfillment by Amazon. Both of these offerings are globally proven with our base of two million sellers. These two offerings provide a scalable and robust e-commerce platform for sellers to grow their business online. With these two products… we want the retailers to focus on what to sell and how to price. Everything else like payments, warehousing, delivery and returns is just a distraction from the core business. Sellers can list unlimited number of products on our website — it is free of charge. They automatically benefit from our shopping experience that we have created, our technology our innovation. We are driving traffic, getting eyeballs for them, they use our payment infrastructure.How will amazon.in make money?We charge the retailer for three things: Monthly subscription fee, referral fee or transactional fee and closing fee for each unit they sell.As a promotion, monthly subscription has been kept free for the first year. Our referral fee has been discounted from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Closing fee is around Rs 10 per product. A seller can decide to ship on their own, or use Amazon fulfillment or decide to use both. If he uses our fulfillment service, we charge them for storage too. They pay us monthly based on per cubic space used. Every time we ship their product a shipping fee is charged and there is a referral fee of 1 per cent. It is a pay as you go structure. break-page-breakWill you charge for listing on amazon.in? Do you do that anywhere outside India?No listing is free anywhere else in the world and so listing is free in India as well. We want to incentivise trials and not penalise them. Are you offering COD?All the items are eligible for COD and these are delivered in a trackable mechanism to the end consumer and if a customer wants to return we collect it from the customer, put it back in the warehouse without charging the seller for it.How do you track the shipments being shipped by the seller directly?We don't track it but if the customer has issues with the product they can file with Amazon for refund. We deal with the situation and customer gets the refund. Over time we will introduce what we have in other geographies — allowing the seller to give us the shipping information so that we can track it for them. How soon can we expect same day delivery to happen in India?I think it is early to say that because our first objective is to deliver the products to customers reliably. Our goal gradually is to be fast and reliable. Can a seller opt to use just your delivery network without using the warehousing option?No, right now we are not allowing that. We do not support sellers storing it, and we picking the product from their warehouse. We don't do this elsewhere in the world too. Are you also doing logistics and warehousing for people who are not listed on amazon?Not yet. In other countries we do that but we are not doing right now in India. Best way to look at this is that whatever we do in other countries we would want to do that in India at some point.Who decides what products will be listed on your website — is it the seller or is it Amazon?Once we launch a category we don't care what the seller sends. Why should a seller choose your delivery network over others?If you are a book seller in India, it costs you Rs 30-50 to ship the book. COD is additional Rs 25-50. In total, it takes Rs 55-100 to ship the book in the hands of the customer, and all this, only if you have great negotiating power with the Blue Dart of the world. I haven't priced in your cost of storage, labour cost, packing, returns, and customer service. If you look at the standard rate of shipping at Amazon and do the math for the same book it will cost you Rs 60 and you don't have to do any of the other stuff that I spoke about. In the first year, the rate that we are offering is Rs 26 per shipment, which is cheaper than the freight cost of shipping the product alone. Are you subsidising it or have you negotiated this with the logistics players?We think about a business how it would look ten years from now. We are investing for that scale and which is why we can offer rates which sellers otherwise might not be able to. Do you have your own people employed for shipping and last mile delivery or you are partnering with third party logistics providers?We have a mix of both in India. We use our own delivery network and external couriers as well.What is the mix right now?We are testing both. Our goal is to ultimately provide fast and reliable shipping and by trying both we will figure out what should be the right mix. How many people do you have on foot right now?That is something we do not disclose.How many logistics partners do you have?We are working with a lot of them like Blue Dart, Fedex, Indian Postal service etc. Our goal is to work with whoever can provide a great customer experience. Are all the sellers who are on Junglee already on amazon.in?No. The vision for Junglee is very different from amazon.in. Junglee was started to organise all selections in India, and make it easy for the customer to to buy anything anywhere whether offline, online, within India or outside India. It is a map of sellers and products. Amazon.in's vision is to be a one of the places on that map where customers can trust and buy from.Do you have something like Junglee anywhere else in the world?No, it is unique to India because retail in India is so unorganised. Search engines are organising documents and not products. How many sellers do you have? How many of them are offline and how many are online?We have 100 right now. We have nationally reputed distributors like, Sameer Audio, Pritam Music, UPS, Crossword, Oxford, Delhi Book shop, small law book shop from Kochi. We have a lot of online players who are listed on Junglee.What payment gateways do you have currently?We are using Indian payment processes. We don't disclose what our strategy is. Payments go into the list of hard things in India. You do not have your own payment gateway? Not at the moment. Are you planning to have one in future?We cannot disclose that at the moment. Are you also doing logistics and warehousing for people who are not listed on amazon.in?Not yet. In other countries we do that but we are not doing right now in India. Best way to look at this is that whatever we do in other countries we would want to do that in India at some point.How does the logistics pricing compare anywhere else in the world?Amazon Simple Pay of the product is lower in category like media. So it might become more expensive there. As a percentage it is probably in line with other markets but as absolute value they are definitely lower than Europe. What is the vision for amazon in India?It is exactly the same as our global vision. We want to be the most customer-centric company and we want to build a place where customers can find, discover and buy virtually anything online. This means that until we get to earth's biggest selection we won't rest. The only thing that we do in other markets but are not doing in India is that we participate in the marketplace as one of the sellers. And because of the regulations we are not entering as a seller. What kind of investment has gone into India?We do not disclose that. We have a long term view and we ask ourselves where do we want us to be in next 7-10 years and hence where should we start and that is how we decide how much to invest.Where are your fulfillment centres?We are starting with one in Mumbai.How big is it and how does it compare to some of those outside India?It is about 150 thousand square feet. That is consistent with the first fulfillment centre we put in each country. It is actually bigger than what we do in some of the countries. What is the biggest centre you have?It is as big as a million square feet. As we figure out the foot print we want…that will mean building some big fulfillment centre in certain parts of the country and some smaller ones in other parts of the country. This is the same road map we followed in other countries.Where will be your next fulfillment centres?At this point we don't have a timeline on that. In some countries we make do with one massive fulfillment centre and in others we might position in different places. All of it depends on where is consumer demand and where is seller demand. And what is the need to get closer to this demand versus just expanding the one that we start with. Does that indicate demand is more in Mumbai market?No, we look at which places allow us to optimise consumer and seller demand. So you could argue that Mumbai, Delhi any could be a starting point. But in terms of expanding the footprint we would constantly look at which place allows most sellers to use our offerings because India has taxation issues and inter-state tax rules. We have to see where both seller and customer will benefit the most.
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As the world goes increasingly mobile, the needs of corporations are also changing. In the coming years as mobile data services increase, the focus will shift to machine to machine (M2M) operations. However, in such a situation, the focus will be on data security. That’s what US-based Verizon Enterprise Solutions is offering to a wide swathe of Indian industry. Robert Le Busque, area vice president, Strategy and Enterprise Development, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, Asia Pacific, spoke to BW|Businessworld's Anup Jayaram on data security and the solutions that companies are seeking for in today’s networked world.How do you see Verizon catering to the needs of companies in India?There are three key things we would like to identify in driving the Indian market. First is the maturing of 4G, LTE (long term evolution) networks in India. This will create a significant change not only in the consumer space but also at the enterprise level too. The best way to describe this would be to imagine a scenario, where an enterprise extends its private IP networks to the private MPLS networks through a mobile network or a mobile device in a secure manner, rather than building fixed infrastructure. This, one change will deliver tremendous benefits.The second is around cloud technology. When we talk about cloud, we actually determine a hybrid technology — a blend of public as well as private technology — that will end up being a dominant player particularly in the enterprise market. It will be like that because enterprises will ultimately look at more agile, low cost based offerings.The third is the growing awareness and requirement around data security. We would specifically identify security in terms of identity management, managing and verifying online identity and being able to manage them for an enterprise as well as consumers.You are talking about maturing of 4G; we are still in an early state of 3G here. When do you see 4G happening?Well, it is really about the confidence emerging. The maturing of the market depends upon thinking, and that is when you will start seeing change in the Indian market. Moreover, we are confident because we have seen that part of change in strategy.You are bullish on telematics. How does it play out in India? And how is it compared to the rest of the world?We are moving very aggressively into this space. We are looking at various opportunities and are optimistic about the opportunity it provides. If you look at the Indian market, the first thing you would find is the increasing rate of mobility and increasing penetration of mobile infrastructure. That is the key to implement telematics or M2M. But there is one thing you cannot deny and that is the world of connected machines. There will be more than 60 billion devices connected in some way or form with the network by the end of the decade. Therefore, this is significant market and opportunity for enterprise to provide value to the customers. We are again at a developing state of this technology and India is no different from any other developed nations that are benefiting in terms of these technologies.So M2M will be the way forward?M2M will not be the only way forward. There are other technologies which are important. But, the one thing that remains the same is the requirement to protect information and data both from a corporate perspective as well as the regulatory and legal perspective will always be there and will always be a very important part.What kind of solutions do Indian companies seek from you in the cloud computing?When we talk about cloud computing the underlying trend is to remove capital out of the IP infrastructure and the kinds of solutions we are seeing whether it is Indian companies or other foreign companies it is pretty much the same. They are looking for agility and flexibility in cloud computing provides but at the same time they are looking at a model that allows them an element of control of their data and information and at the same time they will be able to control the security and access control over the information. So the key demands with regards to the private cloud, public cloud or the blend of the both. The demand is straightforward; agility, control of the data and security.How have the demands from Indian industry changed over the past couple of years? What can you read from this?The demand has been changing and in the past it was more network-centric. The demand in some cases has been for unmanaged network services. When I say unmanaged services, it is the services that did not provide management tools. We are now seeing a change, the demand for service based model appearing very rapidly with the Indian customers.In the past the customers were saying that give me the technology and I will manage it, run it in a way it will perpetrate the business. But now they are saying that we want the technology but we also want your expertise to run and manage it. So I would like to say that I said in the start that there is a change in the demand we are seeing in the network based services, application based services, cloud technology, managed services, security is really and are the result for the change in demand. anupjayaram (at) gmail (dot) com
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Broadcasters all over the world are often concerned about television ratings on account of its nexus with advertisement revenues. In India television rating system has been often reproached for not being transparent, accountable and representative of the actual viewership. Recently, Broadcasting Corporation of India (BCI), a government company which operates Doordarshan and All India Radio (both of which are free to air terrestrial broadcasts having vast reach particularly in rural India), filed an information with Competition Commission of India (India's anti-trust regulator) against TAM Media Research Private Limited (TAM), a joint venture between Neilsen (India) Private Limited and Kantar Market Research, which runs the most significant television viewership measurement firm in India. The Competition Commission of India has accepted the contentions of BCI on a prima facie basis and has referred the matter to its Director General to conduct further investigation.As an informant, BCI alleged that TAM has a dominant position with respect to measurement of viewership and has abused its dominant position. The allegations against TAM are manifold, including (i) inadequate sample size of 8150 homes, which represents a population size of 150-200 million television households; (ii) samples not being representative of rural India; (iii) methodology of the process being unaudited; (iv) cross holdings between the rating agencies and the broadcasters, advertisers and the advertising agencies and therefore conflict of interest issues; and (v) ratings by one agency and therefore the issues related to credibility.The Competition Commission of India is not the only government agency which is concerned by the alleged defective television rating system in India. India's telecom regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also issued a consultation paper on "Guidelines/Accreditation Mechanism for Television Rating Agencies in India" (Consultation Paper) to address the issues linked to television rating system in India. Based on the comments/views that TRAI would receive from the stakeholders, TRAI would provide recommendations to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for laying down comprehensive guidelines for television rating system, to ensure transparency and accountability.The Indian television and broadcasting sector is slated for a tremendous growth, however, it is increasingly being felt that continuance with an inadequate television rating system will hamper the growth of the industry as all financial decisions are largely influenced by the television ratings. Accordingly, a pro-active approach by various government agencies is a welcome step.The issue of television rating systems in India is not new. In the past, vide recommendation dated August 19, 2008, TRAI had proposed to set up a Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), a self regulator, to commission market research and provide accurate television rating in a transparent and objective manner. The said recommendation was made in line of the United Kingdom, Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) model to govern the rating system in India, and to recommend entry of a second rating agency in India. The BARC was recommended to be constituted out ofequal representations from Advertising Agencies Association of India, Indian Society of Advertisers and Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Further, it was recommended that the BARC would not undertake audience measurement directly and shall resort to an open, transparent and competitive bidding process for the various stages involved in the rating process; including establishment survey, panel design and equality control, recruiting and metering, data collection and processing, and audit.The Self-regulating system through BARC has failed to be operationalised till date and MIB made a reference to TRAI on August 31, 2012 expressing urgency in the matter and to recommend comprehensive guidelines to ensure fair completion, better standards and quality of services by television rating agencies.TRAI has, in the Consultation Paper, come up with two models for the rating system and each of the models has two components; i.e. the accreditation of the rating agencies and the ratings of the accredited agencies. The two models are based on whether the new rating system should be free from Government/regulator intervention or not. One view is that since the television ratings mainly affect the business decision of the advertisers and advertising agencies, it should be free from such interventions; the contrary view is that since the ratings largely affect the audiences and commercial interests of various stakeholders, there is a need for the rating systems are free from any bias and therefore the intervention is necessary. Irrespective of the model that may be followed, the Consultation Paper provides for certain minimum standards/guidelines and eligibility for accreditation of the agencies.The Consultation Paper also provides for guidelines regarding methodology of audience measurement, including manner of selection of households, panel size, secrecy of panel homes and privacy. It has been suggested that the selection process of the sample household for the measurement process should be random and every household in a particular area should have equal chance of being chosen. Further, in order to ensure transparency, the methodology for selection should be clearly obtainable from the website etc. As pointed out earlier, the panel size has been an issue with the current rating system. It has been recommended to increase the panel size by up to four times, cover rural areas and also cover multiple delivery platforms.Cross holding between rating agencies or between the rating agencies and broadcasters, advertisers, media agencies and advertising agencies would make the system biased. Therefore, the TRAI has recommended that (i) there should be no cross holdings between rating agencies and broadcasters, advertisers, media agencies and advertising agencies; (ii) no person shall have substantial stake in more than one rating agency; (iii) promoter company/ director of the rating agency cannot have stakes in broadcasters, advertisers, media agencies and advertising agencies. Competition in rating systems is another sensitive point. Current there is only one rating agency. There is surely a need to create more agencies so as to ensure an unbiased rating system.Continuance of the present ostensibly inadequate television rating system will hamper the growth of the television industry as several financial decisions, production of content and its scheduling are largely dependent on the television ratings, therefore a robust guidelines for television rating system, to ensure transparency and accountability is required. It needs to be seen if the present approach by the CCI or the TRAI would result in a transparent, reliable and robust television rating system or would meet the same fate as that of proposed BRAC.Saurav Kumar, Principal Associate and Ambarish, Senior Associate at Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff
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As the charter plane full of delegates attending the WEF East Asia Summit landed in Nay Pyi Taw from Bangkok, we were transported to a world that hadn't changed much in 50 years. The recently built airstrip and terminal were mint fresh like the rest of entire capital city of Myanmar. Nay Pyi Taw was completed less than than half a decade ago when the government shifted the capital to the geographical centre of Myanmar. It was built from scratch and in many ways is still being built. The area next to the runway is muddy with puddles from recent rains. Workers with straw hats are still adding finishing touches. Commercial flights are not allowed yet but the terminal is large and modern.The roads are broad, new and empty. A 20 lane road leads to the Parliament. The entire capital has clear zones. One for hotels, one for ministries and another for markets. The residents are mostly government officials who live in apartments colour coded by the ministry they work in. The 900 people attending the World Economic Forum's East Asia summit are among the largest bunch of foreigners to have reached Nay Pyi Taw in many decades. This bunch is also special since it includes business leaders, global media, international aid and human rights agencies. These categories of people were either not welcome or uninterested. Among these are about 40 global CEOs of MNCs. These include Indra Nooyi of Pepsi and Martin Sorell of WPP. Co-chairs of the summit include S Ramadorai, vice chairman TCS, Tony Fernandes Group CEO of AirAsia and Yorihiko Kojima, Chairman of Board of Mitsubishi Corporation. Global roaming for mobile phones does not work but the government is now in the middle of inviting bids for two notional mobile telephone licences. Over 10 companies have bid for it. Mobile phone subscription is 2.5 per 100 compared to East Asian neighbour Hong Kong with 250 per 100.Myanmar's minister for economic development Dr Kan Zaw says reforms are being implemented on four fronts: political, economic, public administration and private participation. He says that over 95 per cent of population of population is literate thanks to monastic system of education. Most investors are hoping to build on this foundation to meet the growth needs of 60 million in Myanmar. India is keen to take advantage of its legacy relations that go back to 19 th century. About 500,000 people of Indian origin still live here. Many education, telecom and infrastructure companies have advanced plans to invest here. Myanmar is the only member of ASEAN that shares a border with India. While Chinese influence is high, Myanmar is keen to get global economic players to be present in the country. This basic dynamic will shape the future of Myanmar. (Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com)
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The mood couldn’t be more contrasting at the offices of the two cola giants India in Gurgaon yesterday (20 June). While Coca-Cola’s colourful office was bubbling with energy after the elevation of its go-getting India president and CEO Atul Singh as head of the Pacific group, at rival Pepsi, employees were reeling in shock over the news pouring in of the exit of their India president Manu Anand.While Pepsi chose not to comment on the exit only saying that Manu Anand was leaving to join another company, there are conjectures in FMCG corridors that a series of misadventures -- the IPL association (Pepsi invested Rs 160 crore in sponsoring the controversy plagued T20 league alone against a total spend of close to Rs 175 crore last year without adequate returns), the lukewarm response to its new launch Atom, and the falling marketshare in India (Nielsen figures show its snacks portfolio losing share to regional players) -- had a role to play in the India president leaving the company.While Pepsi bid Rs 400 crore for a five-year franchise of the IPL, the No. 2 two bidder was Bharti Airtel at Rs 320 crore. Industry officials point out that Pepsi had miscalculated the value of the IPL property.Thum(b)s UpOn the other hand, it was the opposite story at Coca-Cola. Atul Singh, who came in to take charge when Coke was plumbing its depths in India, with the pesticide controversy raging, was seen as instrumental in turning around things here. And this was right after he had effected a similar turnaround in China. His elevation to a role, where he will be handling a geography that contributes 18 per cent to Coke’s worldwide revenues is seen as a big thumbs up by the global leadership on his performance. “He has turned around two large markets – India and China, delivered 27 consecutive quarters of growth – it’s a recognition of these achievements,” informs a Coke insider. One of the immediate tasks before Singh, who will continue to be based out of Gurgaon, is to ensure that growth picks up in China, where the performance has not been up to company expectations. Although the per capita consumption of carbonated drinks in China is three times that of India. The Rs 14,000-crore soft drinks market in India is dominated by Thums Up (a Coca-Cola brand). The Rs 5,000 crore juices market, where Coca-Cola has been making a big push recently with its Minute Maid and other brands, has seen Maaza (again a Coke brand) spurting up to grab 36 per cent market share. And growth has been clipping along at double digit figures -– so there’s a sense of satisfaction evident at Gurgaon's Enkay Towers. Venkatesh Kini, currently senior vice president, operations, India, has stepped into Atul Singh’s shoes and will look after India and South West Asia henceforth. He will continue to report to Singh. Meanwhile, Pepsi which has been focusing more on (some say ‘almost distracted by’) its foods division in India than the core beverages (which yields 60 per cent of its revenues) has seen market share in both Kurkure and Lays slipping (a 2-3 per cent dip was reported last year). Regional players that have come up with me-too snack products are challenging Pepsico's snacks play. So, is Manu Anand's exit a performance issue? The FMCG industry that has been affected by the slowdown, rising input costs, has certainly become a competitive playground with great store set on holding on to marketshares. Also, remember Pepsico has been plagued by other exits recently – notably Varun Berry, who headed the foods division and who has gone on to now heading Britannia, in turn, leading to a change in role for the high profile Vinita Bali. Many see deeper meanings in Bali’s shift and the reorganisation of leadership at Britannia. Pepsi also lost Sandeep Singh Arora, executive VP (marketing) for Colas and Geetu Verma, who was VP innovations.However, industry observers caution against forcefitting a pattern to these changes taking places. “Sometimes these are isolated cases brewing within organisations – and I would caution against weaving a narrative to these at this stage although it's tempting to say slowdown demands higher performances,” says Santosh Desai, MD and CEO at Futurebrands and a social commentator. Indian Stars At Coca-ColaWith his elevation as Deputy President, Pacific Group of Coca-Cola, Atul Singh is the first Indian to have a star status in a global operational role. Of course, there are many other Indians at senior positions in the Atlanta headquartered beverage giant. Notably, Stan Stanunathan, who is VP, Marketing Strategy & Insights, a sort of knowledge officer. Then, there is Sanjay Guha, CMO, Greater Britain and Ireland (and formerly in charge of North west Europe and the Nordics). The second in command for sports marketing at Coca-Cola – a very important portfolio for the company given its affiliations with the Fifa world cup and the Olympics is Arnab Roy.businessworldonline (at) gmail (dot) come
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